I'm going to add my two pennies into the Mike Gundy debate. For those that aren't familiar with what happened, read this column, that appeared last Saturday before the Oklahoma State Cowboys played. Then came coach Mike Gundy's post-game news conference:
Finally, here's the rebuttal column from the sportswriter.
When a coach goes on a rant like this, it's the product of a lot of frustration that boils over. Coaches deal with a lot on their plate on a daily basis, and the responsibility doesn't ever get easier. The highest duty is always to the athletes under your command, and good coaches get very possessive of "their" kids. We really become surrogate parents. Like parents, it's okay for us to discipline our kids, but look out if anyone out there says anything bad about our kids. Then papa bear comes out, and it makes for entertaining television. I really understand where Mike Gundy was coming from.
The national sports media had a wonderful few days with this. It made for great sound on sports stalk radio. ESPN radio had morning hosts that agreed with Gundy and supported his point of view and a midday host that called it insane and predicted Gundy's immanent departure from the college coaching ranks. Both points of view got passionate calls, which is what talk radio wants. I believe the media missed who was the target audience for that rant.
Gundy was going off for the consumption of his players. He had made a difficult move to switch starting quarterbacks, his defense had just been shredded in a shoot-out which the team did win, but controversy was swirling around the team, being fed by a columnist. She needs readers, so "stirring the pot" gets her attention. How does Gundy respond to this situation? Usual coach-speak might work, but won't take any attention away from a possible quarterback controversy or a week of questions about his defense.
So Gundy made it all about him, while making a very important point to his athletes: Coach has my back. It's us against everyone. We're a team, a family and coach will go to the mat for us. I'm sure the offensive players would love to exult about their great performance and the team's win, but I'm absolutely sure that Gundy's boys will follow him into hell after his rant on the media, because they know and they've seen that he cares deeply for them. Deeply enough to deal with a week or more of media insanity for them.
As a final side note, I think the columnist is disgusting. She claims "sources and facts," but actually claims not one. No quotes, interviews, nothing. She writes that her integrity has been attacked, but she doesn't understand what her function is. She's a columnist, someone hired to write an opinion. Columnists don't have to support their work with facts. They can make things up from whole cloth if they so choose. But somehow, she's offended that she got called out over and over again on national television. She doesn't like being told that her opinion stinks. Anyone can say that: it's free speech. Her problem is that it's getting far more airtime.
I like what Gundy said and did. I agree with him. He must be one heck of a coach.
