The Top 5 Quotes from Mike Gundy’s Pre-TCU News Conference

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy made some controversial comments Monday, but his thoughts on people who complain were just part of his Monday news conference.

Gundy spoke for about 30 minutes via Zoom (because of the weather). If you’re looking for said controversial comments, you can find a post about those here. Here are five other things he said with audio of his full news conference below.

1. Upon Further Review, Schemes Were ‘OK’

Mike Gundy was critical of his staff’s coaching in the immediate aftermath of the Cowboys’ 42-21 loss to the Sun Devils, but after further review, he walked that back.

After the game, Gundy said OSU needed to do a better job coaching and that he wasn’t sure he agreed with his team’s schemes.

“No — after looking at it, I felt like we were OK,” Gundy said Monday.

He was then asked what it was that frustrated him since it wasn’t the schemes.

“Well, I wasn’t really frustrated,” Gundy said. “I just wasn’t really sure what happened in the second half. Couple times we got caught in man coverage and gave up big plays, and then offensively we, as I had said, we were just erratic in the throwing game.”

2. Gundy Has ‘A Good Idea of What’s Going On’

This season hasn’t gone according to plan — that much is certain.

After making the Big 12 title game a year ago, OSU returned a majority of its production in 2023 and entered the season ranked third in the Big 12’s preseason poll. Yet, the Cowboys sit at 0-6 in conference play, making them the only Big 12 team without a win in conference play.

“I have a good idea of what’s going on,” Gundy said. “I’m aware of where we’re at as a team. I’m aware of where we’re at personnel standpoint on offense, defense and special teams. This is my job. This is what I do. It’s no different than somebody who may be in the professional world and evaluating where their company could be, or a certain contract could be, or anything else that does with a full-time job. It’s a very common day-to-day for me to look at where everything’s at and to continue to try to work toward the goal, which is try to find a way to win on Saturday.”

3. On Two Freshmen Safeties

Freshmen safeties David Kabongo and Landyn Cleveland have been getting a little more playing time as the weeks have rolled on.

Kabongo has played in four games now after getting 20 defensive snaps against Arizona State. Cleveland played 21 snaps against the Sun Devils. It was Cleveland’s fifth game, meaning he is no longer eligible for a redshirt this season.

“I love how they come into the game and come in and hit,” Gundy said. “Playing young players, we want to see them fight. We want to see them compete. We want to see them be physical and not let the game get bigger than it should. Now, they made mistakes. There’s times they weren’t in the right gap. Landyn Cleveland was looking in the backfield, and the guy ran by the man coverage, which you guys saw. So there’s some risk when you’re playing true freshmen. What I liked about it was they came in and stuffed their face in it. (Kabongo) hit (Cam Skattebo) two or three times pretty hard, and I got a lot of respect for (Skattebo).”

4. On What Defensive Improvements Can Be Made in a Week

The Cowboys’ defense is the worst in the Big 12 when it comes to giving up yardage. In fact, the OSU D ranks 132nd nationally in the stat (out of 133).

The biggest issue Bryan Nardo’s group has is its run defense. OSU is giving up 248.1 yards a game on the ground, which also ranks 132nd nationally. The 5.9 yards a carry the Pokes are giving up is the most of any OSU defense since 1940.

Here’s Gundy on how much better the defense can get over the course of the week.

“We have to evaluate each player on his talent and his skill level in comparison to what he did in the last game,” Gundy said. “And then we have to look at our coaching strategy compared to what they did in the last game. And as a staff, we want to put our players in the best position based on who we have that’s available, and then we can’t downgrade or count them in a negative concept based on if the other player just happens to be better than them, OK?

“So, what we would want to do is reduce missed assignments, and those are things that we can control. We want to run to the football, which we did in this last game. We didn’t do it at Baylor, which I shared with you guys. And then we always want to try to tackle the best we can. Now there’s going to be times missed tackles take place, but if you can minimize things in that area, then we can hold the players accountable, and then the players can hold the coaches accountable, and that’s what’s important in an organization.”

5. Building Culture Tougher in Portal Era?

Cowboy culture is a phrase that has become synonymous with the Gundy era.

But culture is something that is getting harder to build given the transfer portal’s relevance in the sport. Gundy’s current squad is made up mostly of returners, but he isn’t so naive to think that will last forever. Here’s what he said on the difficulties of establishing culture moving forward.

“It is a serious concern of mine because that’s what we’ve done here forever,” Gundy said. “And this is a transition, and I’m learning every day. My job is to have a plan and then trust people in this organization that I can talk to that’ll tell me if they think that I’m wrong, and that’s where I’m at right now. That’s got nothing to do with this team currently, but this is really the last year, in my opinion, that there’s been any consistent amateurism, pageantry, typical college football. From here on out, it’s over, in my opinion. We have become a professional sport, whether we like it or not. And we don’t need to get into all that, it’s a waste of time, but everybody gets the picture — free agency.

“The word we’re hearing on the street is these young players in high school, their agents are telling them that you should play for five teams in the next five years. Go in the portal every December, take the highest bidder. Which right or wrong, that could happen in the future. So it’ll be a real challenge, but the one thing that I don’t want to get away from is some sort of culture and commitment spirit to college football. But I’m also not so naive to think that it’s ever going to be the way it was again because that’s not going to happen.”