Gundy's 'I'm a man' changed Oklahoma State

Source: San Antonio Express-NewsSept.儲存倉 04--STILLWATER, Okla. -- To some, Mike Gundy's career remains marked by a classic 200-second soundbite that endures as one of the most memorable moments in recent college football history.Gundy isn't the same coach today as he was nearly six years ago. His defense of a player from the harsh criticism of an Oklahoma City columnist provoked the kind of volcanic intensity that will one day be prominently mentioned in the Oklahoma State coach's obituary.That was long ago. Now instead of fuming at reporters and turning his back on his defense along the sidelines during games, a changed Gundy has developed his program into one of the Big 12's best. The No. 13 Cowboys are the conference's highest-ranked team coming into Saturday's game at the Alamodome against UTSA.For his part, Gundy said that his "I'm a man, I'm 40" rant might have been the defining moment of his career.Statistics back him up. Before the tirade, OSU was 13-15 with one bowl trip and had never been ranked with him as coach. Since then, the Cowboys are 55-20, have been ranked in 60 of the past 78 Associated Press polls, claimed their first Big 12 championship and BCS berth in 2011 and have won four of their past six bowl games.Gundy became the winningest coach in OSU history last season. It all turned, he believes, when he stood up for Bobby Reid after criticism in that article questioned his quarterback's toughness and attitude."It changed a lot of things," Gundy said. "It certainly helped us in recruiting and helped me a lot. Even though I thought what I did was right, it showed I needed to be calmer and make decisions better.""The rant" has become a part of pop culture, inspiring more than 3.3 million YouTube page views, commercial parodies and even becoming the chosen ringtone on pop star Justin Bieber's telephone."It drew so much attention," Gundy said. "Did it help? Yeah, but I wouldn't want to do it again because it would be around so long with the social networking today and the way things are driven. Would I do it again? Yeah, although I would have done it privately out of respect for that person."I still would have brought it up because I thought I was right. I thought the story was very unfair. That's my opinion, and we all have our opinions."Despite Gundy's support at the news conference, Reid lost his starting job to Zac Robinson and eventually transferred out of the OSU program. He finished his college career at Texas Southern and later told ESPN the Magazine that Gundy's rant didn't seem genuine, adding that it "basically ended his life" at OSU.Several years later, Reid returned to Stillwater and made peace with Gundy. After talking for about 90 minutes, Gundy told Reid to call him if he ever wanted to go into coaching.Today, Reid is back in the OSU program working in an administrative role as he ponders starting a career along the sidelines."I did it becaus迷你倉價錢 I think he can help our program, but also because I think it's a good sign to people in life that you can work together in life," Gundy said. "I think it's been very positive for our program."Reid has declined all interview requests since joining the OSU staff.Gundy's reaction after his earlier comments shows that he has matured, and his personal growth is coming as OSU has developed into a vibrant program. Using seed money provided by super-booster T. Boone Pickens, the Cowboys have some of the nation's best athletic facilities. Their most recent addition earlier this summer was an indoor practice center that might be one of the country's finest.Despite OSU's recent surge, Gundy hasn't been universally happy. He flirted with openings at Arkansas and Tennessee last season after philosophical differences with OSU athletic director Mike Holder and Pickens about the Cowboys' non-conference scheduling surfaced.Gundy would prefer to take a measured approach to building his team, playing softer opponents leading into conference play. Pickens said he was embarrassed by OSU's 84-0 season-opening victory over Savannah State last year, calling it "a waste of time." And big money paydays such as those provided by games against Mississippi State last week in Houston and next season's opener against Florida State in Arlington help balance OSU's athletic budget."The truth of the matter is that the athletic director and I talk about a lot of things, and on 95 percent of them, we get along," Gundy said. "But I have to have a 100 percent feeling that everybody is doing what we can for our players to be successful. So we had issues on preseason scheduling."Pickens said last week that OSU's department needs to be run like a business and the profits provided by attractive non-conference games are crucial.He also told reporters last week in Houston he was disappointed by the Cowboys' finish last season on the heels of their Big 12 title and Fiesta Bowl victory the previous year."I didn't like last year, 7-5 is not what I'm looking for," Pickens told the Stillwater News-Press. "But we had a good year the year before."We were close on a couple of games. I don't want OU and Texas beating us, like they did last year."In the past, Gundy might have flipped after reading those comments. But the now-mellower coach held his tongue and kept working."I've changed considerably," Gundy said. "I believe in what we do. I believe in our system. We're not always going to have NFL players at certain positions, but when we do, we can compete and have a chance to win the whole thing."But when not, we do compete because we have a system in place. And I think because of it, confidence is instilled in our team."tgriffin@express-news.netTwitter: @TimGriffinBig12Copyright: ___ (c)2013 San Antonio Express-News Visit the San Antonio Express-News at .mysanantonio.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉