10 Thoughts On Monken to Southern Miss

Photo Attribution: US Presswire

1. We all knew this was coming, right? I was hoping Monk would wait another year, maybe eke out 10 wins next year, compete for another Big 12 title, then bounce for something sweet. And I still contend LA Tech or a MAC squad would have better suited for his “screw you, we do what we want on offense” attitude. But Southern Miss is no joke, and he’ll be compensated well.

2. Gina mentioned this last night, but good on Monk for never playing games with the media. As a quasi-media member I appreciated his forthrightness. And I dare any college football blogger in the country to sport anything even close to the last three years of insanity we’ve gotten from Dana and Monk. You can’t, you’d have to have Charlie Sheen and Samuel L. coaching teams to even come close.

3. I loved how much he hated OU. Nobody (not even Dana) has had the balls around here to say the stuff he said about Landry and the “Sooner state.” And nobody Gundy can hire will either. In related news: the Hattiesburg media are going to be too hungover to even attend his press conference today.

4. One of my favorite memories — what are the odds he didn’t drop an f-bomb here? Not high, right?

5. Poor OKC Dave might never recover from Monken’s now-infamous quote “stats are for losers” line after the Texas game about statistical data being for the less-inclined to perform of us. My two favorite parts of the quote:

1. Monken dropped 9,035 passing yards in 25 games at OSU (an amount that would make Army coaches convulse) and he’s like “I don’t even care, this means nothing to me.” This was absolutely his “Dana running a flea-flicker up 40 on Baylor in the 4th quarter” moment.

2. It’s funny, because stats are one of the reasons he’s now a head football coach.

6. For the SAT-inclined of you, I’m beginning to think the following is true…

Oklahoma State offensive coordinators : Southern Miss as Plumlee brothers : Duke.

7. The immediate blowback from this is not pretty for Gundy. First, LDR decommitted this morning. Also, there seem to be rumblings of an unhappy Wes Lunt (though who could tell from his expressionless face, right?) — sooo, somebody talk me into Garman’s arm again!

Officially decommitted from Oklahoma State, opening recruiting back up, #OKST is still one of the options #blessed

— Luke Del Rio (@Ldelrio12) December 11, 2012

If Wes Lunt was unhappy, I wonder what he's thinking now with Monken departure. Unhappiness is a rumor, but if true…

— Brendon (@brendon_wm) December 10, 2012

8. This was a real quote from Monken last year on the Monkens and Gundys vacationing together in Vegas: The main thing is how much [Mike and I] can gamble in a four-day period and not have the wives get pissed at you. That’s really the goal of Vegas.

9. I’ve been as down on Gundy as anybody the last few weeks, but my boy Carson made a good point last night — Gundy is three for his last three on offensive coordinators with basically three grand slams. He has to have the deepest coaching tree of anybody ever at a first time head coaching job.

10. Finally, my favorite Monken memory…not sure how many people remember this, but something peculiar happened at the end of Bedlam last year. Monk and his assistants (undoubtedly at least one grad assistant in a neck brace) came flying out of the southwest tunnel after walking down from the pressbox late in the fourth quarter. Monk made an absolute beeline for Chelf on the sideline and gave him a flying chest bump that would have received raised eyebrows from Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Never change, Monk, never change.

And thanks for going about your business of getting a new job quietly and professionally. Best of luck in Hatties.