AnniePokely
01-01-2008, 09:22 AM
Jacob Longan - NewsPress
Monday was going to be a turning point in Mike Gundy’s coaching career, one way or the other.
Oklahoma State’s head coach guided the Cowboys to a 49-33 whipping of Indiana in the Insight Bowl. That marks the school’s first back-to-back bowl wins since 1987 and ’88 when Gundy was the quarterback.
It also gives the program two winning seasons in his three years at the helm.
Gundy did it after losing offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, who took over as head coach at Southern Miss.
Gundy served as his own offensive coordinator for the game and quieted his critics, who have pointed to his lack of success as an assistant at Baylor, Maryland and OSU the first time and give former head coach Les Miles the majority of the credit for the offense’s success when Gundy was the offensive coordinator from 2001-04.
As a whole, this season has to be viewed as a disappointment. The Cowboys came into the year with BCS aspirations after going 7-6 with a bowl win last year.
Few predicted they would have the same resumé this year.
Still, consider the steps the program made in one day.
The Cowboys went from potentially having their second losing season in three years — a dubious distinction they haven’t had since the final year under Bob Simmons and the first season with Miles — to claiming their fifth winning campaign in six years.
OSU hasn’t had such a run of success since a string of six straight winning records from 1983 to ’88.
It has taken two years, but Gundy has almost dragged his coaching record out of the hole he dug his first campaign.
He started with a 4-7 mark. The 14-12 run the last two years brings him to within one win of a .500 record.
Had the Cowboys lost in Tempe, he would have fallen to 17-20 overall.
As much as OSU espouses what it can accomplish with improved facilities, the talk rings hollow if fans, recruits and boosters aren’t seeing the results on the field.
Boone Pickens has said repeatedly he wants to see the program win a national title in his lifetime. He turns 80 this year. How would he have felt if the Cowboys took a second step backward in three years under the man he endorsed to coach his favorite team?
Do you think opposing coaches would not have mentioned some of these numbers while trying to recruit against OSU?
The work is not over for the Midwest City product who became a local legend by piling up big numbers under center while handing off to two future NFL Hall of Famers and throwing deep to a first-round draft choice.
Next season will likely be the make-or-break year for him. The Cowboys are losing their two best players — running back Dantrell Savage and receiver Adarius Bowman — and may also see All-Big 12 tight end Brandon Pettigrew pass up his senior year to play professionally.
Point to returning freshmen Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant all you want, but who believes those two will be as good next year as the graduating duo were this season? Also, the team appears to have no one ready to have the impact Pettigrew has had.
They have also lost their best assistant in Fedora.
The schedule next season will be brutal, with trips to Washington State, Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech and Colorado plus Houston, Troy, Texas A&M and Oklahoma all visiting Stillwater.
The Cowboys will have to win at least four of those games to finish better than 6-6 in the regular season.
Don’t expect Gundy to get a third contract extension with a third .500 regular season and a third berth in a lower-tier bowl
Monday was going to be a turning point in Mike Gundy’s coaching career, one way or the other.
Oklahoma State’s head coach guided the Cowboys to a 49-33 whipping of Indiana in the Insight Bowl. That marks the school’s first back-to-back bowl wins since 1987 and ’88 when Gundy was the quarterback.
It also gives the program two winning seasons in his three years at the helm.
Gundy did it after losing offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, who took over as head coach at Southern Miss.
Gundy served as his own offensive coordinator for the game and quieted his critics, who have pointed to his lack of success as an assistant at Baylor, Maryland and OSU the first time and give former head coach Les Miles the majority of the credit for the offense’s success when Gundy was the offensive coordinator from 2001-04.
As a whole, this season has to be viewed as a disappointment. The Cowboys came into the year with BCS aspirations after going 7-6 with a bowl win last year.
Few predicted they would have the same resumé this year.
Still, consider the steps the program made in one day.
The Cowboys went from potentially having their second losing season in three years — a dubious distinction they haven’t had since the final year under Bob Simmons and the first season with Miles — to claiming their fifth winning campaign in six years.
OSU hasn’t had such a run of success since a string of six straight winning records from 1983 to ’88.
It has taken two years, but Gundy has almost dragged his coaching record out of the hole he dug his first campaign.
He started with a 4-7 mark. The 14-12 run the last two years brings him to within one win of a .500 record.
Had the Cowboys lost in Tempe, he would have fallen to 17-20 overall.
As much as OSU espouses what it can accomplish with improved facilities, the talk rings hollow if fans, recruits and boosters aren’t seeing the results on the field.
Boone Pickens has said repeatedly he wants to see the program win a national title in his lifetime. He turns 80 this year. How would he have felt if the Cowboys took a second step backward in three years under the man he endorsed to coach his favorite team?
Do you think opposing coaches would not have mentioned some of these numbers while trying to recruit against OSU?
The work is not over for the Midwest City product who became a local legend by piling up big numbers under center while handing off to two future NFL Hall of Famers and throwing deep to a first-round draft choice.
Next season will likely be the make-or-break year for him. The Cowboys are losing their two best players — running back Dantrell Savage and receiver Adarius Bowman — and may also see All-Big 12 tight end Brandon Pettigrew pass up his senior year to play professionally.
Point to returning freshmen Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant all you want, but who believes those two will be as good next year as the graduating duo were this season? Also, the team appears to have no one ready to have the impact Pettigrew has had.
They have also lost their best assistant in Fedora.
The schedule next season will be brutal, with trips to Washington State, Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech and Colorado plus Houston, Troy, Texas A&M and Oklahoma all visiting Stillwater.
The Cowboys will have to win at least four of those games to finish better than 6-6 in the regular season.
Don’t expect Gundy to get a third contract extension with a third .500 regular season and a third berth in a lower-tier bowl