Gundy Says Cowboys, Sooners Steal Signs From Each Other: ‘It’s Good Stuff’

Bedlam has it all, even espionage.

At Mike Gundy’s weekly media luncheon Monday, he said something that went under the radar because he was also doing stuff like this:

Gundy’s press conferences are art. pic.twitter.com/RtufFDLeU5

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 30, 2017

What he said, though, had to do with swiping signals from other teams. OU and OSU are not exempt, he noted. “They know us. We know them. They have our signals. We have their signals,” Gundy said. “They deny it. We deny it. It’s good stuff.”

Bedlam. Can’t wait! pic.twitter.com/4K9rRHETN1

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 30, 2017

Reporters laughed, but though the ethical violations are clear, the regulatory ones are not. In the NCAA rulebook, the only time signal stealing is mentioned is against the usage of audio or video recordings. So peeping at the other sideline and nudging the coach next to you is completely permitted, according to NCAA rule, or at least by omission to NCAA rule.

In 2014, our friends Thayer Evans and Pete Thamel at Sports Illustrated wrote a story about signal stealing in which a dozen current and former coaches were interviewed, “and a majority consider the espionage a high-stakes game within the game.” Gundy would have been part of that majority.

“We were into play eight at Morgantown, and (OSU personnel) said they’ve got our signal,” Gundy said. “A signal that we had that (Mike) Leach had, that Dana (Holgorsen) had, that (Art) Briles had, that Lincoln (Riley) had, that whoever else has been in the system had. So you had to change it during the game because they’ve backtracked and figured out that we were using a certain signal, and there’s copycat.

“And that’s another thing that’s kinda fun about this.”

Gundy definitely set the stage on Monday for at least an entertaining Bedlam. He said a lot of the same signal stealing will go on when the Sooners roll into Stillwater for their game at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Teams have tried to trick up their signal calling. OSU still runs with the boards they introduced to college football in the late 2000s.

West Virginia used them last week, too.

But those signs probably mean close to nothing. They certainly don’t give away anything meaningful, else the coaches wouldn’t show them off like trophy catches. For those calls that do have an impact, teams have made graduate assistants and other personnel hold up towels to block the drifting eyes and, like Gundy said, signals have to be changed midgame at times.

He said that will probably be the case again in Saturday’s Bedlam doozy.

“We don’t be into the first quarter, and we’ll figure out what signals they have of ours and whatever ones we suppose we have of theirs,” Gundy said. “And we’re not supposed to be stealing signals. Just like the guy on second base in the World Series.”