Connect with us

Daily Bullets

Daily Bullets (August 30) – A Better Gameday Experience, Gundy’s Thoughts on Player Treatment

Published

6 years ago

on

Happy gameday Cowboy fans. As you sit around the TV, the Boone Pickens playing surface, the tailgate or the sports bar tonight, enjoy the folks to your left and right. I was particularly touched by some of OKC Dave’s comments accompanying this year’s survey along these lines.

A Better Experience

Mike Gundy highlighted OSU’s efforts to make the fan experience better in Boone Pickens Stadium.

Beer sales, a food court and “cool zones” also been added as part of OSU’s continual efforts to improve the fan experience at Boone Pickens Stadium. This all follows OSU undergoing an effort to expand seats in the stadium, shrinking its capacity to 56,790 while increasing fan comfort.

Gundy said the venue’s size is perfect for the university; he believes several schools have expanded their complexes beyond a point fans will fill them, especially having to compete with television, streaming services and just other weekend activities.

“There’s so many other things going on that if you build a stadium that you’re not capable of filling when you’re playing well, then you’ve probably made a mistake from a business standpoint,” Gundy said. “If you sit on your hands and don’t make things more fan-friendly, you’re probably gonna get people that don’t come to games.” [NewsOK]

You don’t have to look far to see an overbuild – just to the east of Boone Pickens Stadium. Not only is a full stadium is better for ambiance but adding more value to the ticket (more comfortable seats, better amenities)  will only help retain ticket revenue.

Quality Assurance

When looking at the scandals of the day in college football (Maryland namely), Mike Gundy weighed in on how Oklahoma State is doing concerning player treatment.

“But we don’t have those issues here. None whatsoever. This is the best place to play if you want to play and enjoy your career, and be in an environment where you’re treated with respect, you’re coached with respect. Now, you have to be on time, there’s accountability, there’s structure, there’s discipline. But we treat our players first class, and if their exit interview says that we don’t, then it makes me sick.”

Of course, Gundy’s words don’t carry the same weight as the words of his players. Gundy, like most college football coaches, runs a closed shop. Practices are not open to discerning eyes. But there have been scant reports over the years of disgruntled Cowboys. [NewsOK]

Outside of guys sent home after things didn’t work out in Stillwater, the SI (joke of a) piece didn’t tell much about disheartened players. Playing football in Stillwater isn’t for everybody (see recruiting rankings) but the guys who wind up there usually thrive and win lots of games.

Best in Class

Only one part of Oklahoma State made Kirk Herbstreit’s annual “Herbie Awards” – and you probably wouldn’t guess it.

Best hotels
HotelRED, Madison, Wisconsin
The Graduate, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Abernathy, Clemson, South Carolina
Hotel at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
The Atherton, Stillwater, Oklahoma [ESPN]

OSU and NCAA Notes

Excellent Corndog profile here by Mark Cooper….Good refresher for tonight on what’s new in BPS….College football win totals projected for all teams….Ian Boyd looks at models for projecting the Big 12 football season (and projecting the CFP)….Dez Bryant hinting that he’s waiting until later in the year to sign….History of escalating college football coaching salaries

Enjoy the results from OKC Dave’s survey – the fans are tempering expectations, picking one less win than I’m anticipating.

Those are cheat code numbers.

Holder’s a class act with comments like this.

Seeing this guy in action tonight is worth savoring.

Lundblade is doing work in Cinci.

Yesterday on PFB
Stuff I’m Reading
Related Topics:

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2023 White Maple Media