Doug Gottlieb Responds to Mike Holder’s Comments on Mike Gundy, Recruiting

The story that will not stop just got a shot of adrenaline. Hello, summer months.

While serving as the keynote speaker at the Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Awards in Tulsa, former Cowboy Doug Gottlieb took a minute with KJRH TV sports director Cayden McFarland and inevitably the hottest topic across OSU’s fanbase over the last two weeks came up.

In case you’ve been stuck under a Big Country-sized boulder since baseball ended, Mike Holder joined the PFB podcast and said some things. A lot of very compelling things, most of which will unfortunately be forgotten. And then he gave a compliment that included a sidebar to the man with the mullet, and hug that included a qualifier, a pat on the back that included a challenge

Here’s the longer quote for the sake of context.

“You’ve got to give credit to Mike Gundy. He’s really matured into a difference maker as a coach. I would approach recruiting a little differently than he does. I’d want to finish higher in those recruiting rankings than we consistently do. I think that ultimately puts a ceiling on what you’re able to achieve. We do a great job of overcoming that with Rob Glass down in the weight room, and I think our coaches do a great job of disciplining and motivating and channeling what talent we have in the right direction.

I just think we would be better served with a few more James Washington’s coming in the front door – you know, he came in as a two-star, three-star,  left a five-star – we need to take some of those five-stars and turn them into seven-stars, which I think Rob Glass could do, and I think Mike Gundy could as well.

“I’m patting them on the back at the same time I’m challenging them to get out there and do a little bit more recruiting … Recruiting’s the most important thing we do, and you’re only as good as your athletes.”

Back to Doug and the question he was asked — which was a good question and kudos to Cayden for asking it. When asked if he was surprised by the comments, Gottlieb also said some things.

“No, it’s one of the dumbest, most arrogant things I’ve heard uttered out of an athletic director’s mouth, not because he doesn’t have the right to feel that way, but to say it,” said Gottlieb.

“First he calls into question any of the kids that are on campus. If I’m on campus and my athletic director doesn’t think I’m good enough… No matter how he wanted it to come out, the way it came out was, ‘Hey, these kids you’re getting? We could do better.’ Like, imagine saying that. Imagine saying that to your wife, to your kids, imagine saying it to your boss, imagine saying it to people you work with.”

I can definitely see Doug’s point here if you read or heard just that one part of the quote by itself. We are all responsible for what we say, and Mike Holder is no different. If I say something compelling or that raises an eyebrow, few care. If you’re the athletic director of a Division I program like Oklahoma State, it’s going to have a much bigger impact. That’s part of the world we, (especially Holder) live in. Do I have any idea if Spencer Sanders cares or reads about Mike Holder’s comments on recruiting? Not in the slightest, but I would tend to think he doesn’t.

More from Doug.

“I truly believe that Mike Holder thinks he’s got the best job in the country, that he’s the athletic director at the best school in the country, and that they provided Mike Gundy now with the financial resources and the facility resources it takes to win. That’s great, but however you feel, that’s not pulling in the right direction.”

I can agree with this, but I’ll add a caveat. If Holder and Gundy’s relationship wasn’t as storied and strained as it’s been, would this be nearly as big of storyline? I doubt it. But that falls on both sides.

I’ve said it previously but outside of some choice emojis in our Slack chat, I really didn’t think Holder’s comments on Gundy and recruiting were all that polarizing when I heard them the first time. In fact, I was skimming the pod for #content (taking it in a couple of times before it was published) and came up with two or three storylines from it that I thought were much more compelling. Maybe that’s me being too close to the situation or maybe I’m just slow.

“I thought it was a critical error and I thought and, look, smart people can do dumb things,” continued Gottlieb. “I think I’m pretty smart, I’ve said some dumb stuff. I think he’s a smart guy and said something that was frankly kind of classless. And he’s a classy guy that did something classless and I don’t think it reflects well upon a program that was really stumbling before Les (Miles) took it over and then they reworked it, recruited better, I think, quality kids.

“The only thing as an athletic director that you should be concerned with is, Do we win? Do we play the right way? Do we graduate our kids? Do we stay out of trouble?…”

I mostly agree with this statement. Those should probably be the most important things that you worry about as an AD, and Mike Gundy has been mostly stellar in all four of those areas.

I know as much as about running an athletic department as I do about hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, but I would guess that I would be concerned about all aspects of OSU’s athletic programs including winning at the highest level and, in turn, recruiting.

“I greatly disagree with saying it because what’s the winning other than puffing out your chest and saying ‘Hey, you know our golf program just won another national championship.’?”

That’s what it all comes down to, and most people seem to have less of an issue with what Holder said than the fact that he said it publicly. I am of the belief that this is something Holder has probably said to Gundy privately, which at least would make a difference to me.

Doug’s got his opinion and has as much of a right as any to voice it, but to say these comments by Holder have been hyperbolized might be the understatement of the summer.

.@IbaAwards Keynote Speaker Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) on Mike Holder's recent comments about Mike Gundy's recruiting efforts. #OKState pic.twitter.com/zwLfl4genI

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) June 18, 2018

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