Mike Gundy Was ‘Shocked’ by Size, Quality of OSU’s Video Board

In two weeks, when fans assembly inside Boone Pickens Stadium for OSU’s season opener, something will be very different. The first thing that most will notice is the newest upgrade to the stadium staring back at them from the east end zone. Secondly, they’ll wonder, “where did Gallagher-Iba Arena go?”. It’s hiding behind a 6,160-square foot video board, the latest edition to BPS.

That makes for the third-largest in the Big 12 behind only the Red River Shootout schools, and it makes for a little extra draw to home games — along with upgraded concessions and the sale of hopefully COOP  — for the start of a retool year with back-to-back visitors the likes of Missouri State and South Alabama.

On Tuesday, Mike Gundy was asked what he thought about that giant new screen, and how it might affect on-field play.

“Well, it’s fantastic,” Gundy said. “I was shocked. I just got a new TV about two months ago, cause if you have a TV about five years, then it’s out of date. So I broke down and went and got one and this one’s better than mine. I was stunned at the clarity and the sound and it’s better than being in your living room.”

And that’s coming from a guy with a pretty big living room and (I’m assuming) and pretty nice TV. To Gundy’s point the screen is big — bordering on ominous — especially given its proximity to the field.

We never stop. #GoPokes #okstate #CowboyUp19

A post shared by Oklahoma State Football (@cowboy_fb) on Aug 13, 2018 at 9:28am PDT

But Gundy hasn’t noticed any unwanted distractions from OSU’s newest amenity .

“We didn’t notice it being a factor with the team,” said Gundy. “I had mentioned to the coaches [that] I wouldn’t even bring it up anyway. A lot of time with young people, if you don’t bring it up they’ll never notice it, so they did fine.

“Now, we’re going to go out and practice a couple times at night, so we’ll see what difference that makes based on the darkness, the lights and the video board. but everything seems to be okay. But it’s fantastic, I mean it’s awesome — the clarity and how good the video board is.”

I have no idea if Gundy has invited junior linebacker Calvin Bundage over to watch The Bachelor or DVRed fishing shows — I’d like the imagine he has — but the junior linebacker approves of the new board, as well. But says he doubts there will be any issues with he or his fellow defenders loosing the ball in the picture.

“It was great,” Bundage said of the video board, “looking forward to being on it a lot this season.”