‘See You at Night’: Cowboy Players Recount Time Steve Lutz Sent Them Home Early After Failed Drill

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STILLWATER — Returning Cowboys like Ben Ahmed tried to warn the newcomers that Steve Lutz doesn’t mess around when it comes to practice.

“We told them, yeah, if we don’t get it right, we coming back at night,” Ahmed said. “And you know, when you keep saying it, and it don’t happen, they would just think like, yeah (whatever).”

Lutz and multiple players described this team to be well ahead of last year’s team in part because of the extra practices the team got in this summer due to the Puerto Rico trip.

But it sounds like no amount of extra practices can keep the Cowboys from at least one unscheduled night practice.

“The first time it happened, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s real, yeah,’” Ahmed said, describing how the newcomers reacted. “But yeah, we came back at night, and we got it done. So hopefully we don’t gotta come back at night no more.”

When Ahmed said this, the newcomers Jacob Walker and Jordan Burks nodded along, and their eyes widened a bit, like that evening was rather memorable for them.

The drill that caused an early end to one practice and the addition of a night one was a conditioning drill continuity.

“We just couldn’t make it (work),” Ahmed said. “And he (Lutz) was like, ‘Yeah, just get the F out. I’ll see you at night.’”

Recounting that moment got some laughter out of his teammates. It seemed like Walker, a Sam Houston transfer, was mildly surprised that day, but he more or less expected this intensity from his new head coach.

It also sounded like this might have been a bit of a bonding moment for the team.

“He makes it very obvious, you know, what he’s about in recruitment,” Walker said of Lutz. “But obviously, the guys talked about it before, but the night we came back for practice, that was probably like, ‘OK, I see what I’m getting myself into (now).​

“But I mean, he’s a very straightforward coach. Like he doesn’t go for a lot of (stuff), and what he stands for, that’s what he stands for. And that’s how we’ve improved. So I mean, if that’s what it takes, then we’re all for it.”