Coaching…
Years ago, I watched as Mike Gundy honed his skills as an assistant at Maryland and Baylor as he moved closer to his dream job at OSU. I believed then that the T. Boone/Mike Gundy combination could be lethal. T. Boone eventually hired Gundy, built a new stadium along with a state of the art weight room. The Ags under Gundy were off and running.
Fortunately, for OU fans, the T. Boone/Gundy formula worked against everyone, except the Sooners. Fifteen years later Gundy has 2 wins against OU and one of those was a gift from Bob Stoops.
With T. Boone now deceased, one must wonder how long OSU can afford to pay for Gundy’s $5 million dollar yearly salary. Then, again one must also wonder how OSU can live without Gundy and his salary. To keep Gundy in Stillwater, the Ags agreed to a $6 million dollar buyout clause that must be paid on top of Gundy’s $5 million dollar yearly salary. It would take upwards of $11 million to fire the Mullet Man.
Still what came to mind after Saturday night’s game was the fact that $5 million OSU dollars leaves little room for hiring quality assistant coaches. Even the dumbest Aggie fan must realize that the OSU staff was simply out coached on Saturday night. Alex Grinch made adjustments in the 2nd half while Gundy set up his next hair appointment. Offensively, co-offensive coordinators Cale Gundy and Bill Bedenbaugh simply outfoxed Gundy’s defensive staff.
With these thoughts in mind, it’s time for the OU Regents to do some greasing of the skids themselves. This was not a great OU team this year, but this coaching staff made it work. The future looks bright with recruiting on both sides of the ball picking up.
With Jerry Jones on the verge of a head coach opening in Dallas, OU officials need to up the Lincoln ante and fast. Jerry has been playing second fiddle with Jason Garrett for far too long and I expect that he will be looking to the north for Garrett’s replacement.
We can’t let that happen…starting over is not an option.
Boomer Sooner…