Top 10 Most Important Things to Happen to OSU Athletics in the Past 10 Years

Within the past seven days, two of the top 10 most impactful events onto Oklahoma State athletics happened.

Last Wednesday, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman broke news that Bob Stoops, University of Oklahoma coach of 18 years, was retiring – thus releasing OSU from Stoops’ suppression and giving legitimate life to the Bedlam rivalry.

Then Tuesday, Mike Gundy, Cowboy coach of a dozen years, signed a contract for five more years at a rate of $4.2 million, which is set to increase $125,000 every year thereafter.

Gundy, already a legend at OSU, is set to be immortalized as a demigod with this mega-contract. With half-believed stories every spring of Gundy’s potential departure, this contract seems as if it will have the utmost ramifications for the university.

But those are just two positive examples over the past decade. Here are eight more, and, yes, some are impactful in drastically negative ways:

10. Dez Bryant

Dez Bryant’s commitment to OSU and subsequent success in the NFL has given the university more and more publicity, good or bad, every Sunday.

Dallas was the perfect team for him to go to if you’re an OSU regent or donor, at least now it is. Dez is the ultimate example. There is a reason Gundy rarely compares players to him but brings him up all the time.

Dez is constantly used as a marketing technique in news conferences because players and especially coaches know he works. “Come here because you see the results in the Dallas Cowboys’ end zone every week,” works in recruiting.

Although Bryant left Stillwater in 2010, sometimes it feels as if he roams the locker room on a daily basis.

9. 2016 College World Series

When J.R. Davis caught the final out of the Cowboys’ Super Regional against South Carolina, it meant OSU’s first trip to the CWS since the turn of the century.

Although a new baseball stadium has not been announced to replace (long past expired) Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, getting to Omaha undoubtedly helped that cause, and coach Josh Holliday said so at his media day press conference.

The CWS means more for marketing and branding. How many conversations have you had about the 2016 OSU baseball team?

And recruiting.

OSU has three of the top 100 high school prospects signed in its 2017 recruiting class, including No. 7 Ryan Vilade, according to Baseball Factory. Even if Vilade chooses to start his professional career, the CWS appearance helped Holliday establish a winning reputation in living rooms that will give top recruits some serious meat to chew on when considering their future.

8. Commercial flights

The $3 million investment in getting American Eagle planes to Stillwater twice daily was historic not only for international students or businessmen, but also big time recruits. And Mike Gundy knew that.

“Now (recruits are) 10 minutes away from being on our campus,” Gundy said the day before the first flight took off.

No, it’s not a 10-minute flight. It’s 32, and with security, taxiing and driving to and from the airport, it’s actually about a 3-hour ordeal. But we get you, Gundy, and he is absolutely right in theory. Defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer saw the potential, too.

Even for recruits living outside of the Dallas area, catching a flight to Stillwater for the second half of the trip from San Antonio was going to be huge, efficiently and aesthetically.

“(Recruits are) not having to go on I-35 for 45 minutes and across Highway 51 for 15 minutes,” Spencer said.

And though there isn’t any data to track this, the ease of commercial flights is undoubtedly bring in more “fringe” fans who otherwise wouldn’t spend the weekend on the road trying to get to the game.

7. The Sports Illustrated ‘scandal’

When you Google search “Sports Illustrated Dirty Game,” this page comes up as the top search hit, but when you click the links to any one of the five parts of the Thayer Evans series, you are redirected to an error page.

Nevertheless, some of the impact remains as if 100 percent of it was accurate.

There are still people out there who would put an asterisk next to the 2011 football season had the Cowboys won the national championship. Right, wrong, stupid or unfortunate, that is the reality. Sports Illustrated‘s report felt like a Mike Tyson shot to the gut. Except Tyson was on steroids, three weight classes heavier and unapologetic as hell.

OSU did the right thing in being proactive in its investigation of the report and the university. It was a move that was praised by many media outlets and even used as a framework for how a university or organization should conduct itself. The NCAA even gave OSU a slap on the wrist.

But, again, there are people out there who believe all of the content in Evans’ series was accurate. Even in 2017.

6. Underwood’s only season

The jubilation Brad Underwood brought back to Gallagher-Iba Arena was as real as anyone could have asked for, which made March 20 even more difficult to get through.

When you were around Underwood or even just watching a game at GIA with him on the sideline, it felt as if you were around a genuine miracle worker.

He turned prairie to party.

Tipoff. Even a student could arrive late and get a prime seat today. pic.twitter.com/Z4SqDHWglV

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) February 13, 2016

We can't thank Cowboy fans enough for an amazing season. Attendance jumped 44% this year, and the Rowdy made a difference. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/GknF33yybE

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) March 5, 2017

But when he left, that jubilation just felt like emptiness again, and when athletic director Mike Holder introduced Mike Boynton, an inexperienced 35-year-old, it felt more like a step back toward the 2015-16 season.

5. Ford’s last season

Only 4,023 people showed up for OSU Senior Night in 2016.

Travis Ford’s final season in Stillwater was beyond painful. Game after game, the few reporters left filled back into the interview room, waited for Ford and held their breath for someone to ask. Finally someone did and asked whether he thought that senior night would be his last game in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“Didn’t cross my mind,” he said, which meant either it did and he wasn’t going to say so or that it truly didn’t but that he then knew it was.

Ford’s last season put OSU men’s basketball in such a rut that Underwood’s season felt more like a marketing tactic rather than a basketball team at times. Players were asked whether they were going to leave, and students asked one another whether they were going to go to the games, even though Ford wouldn’t be.

By most accounts, Ford was a good guy, which made it all so much more difficult, but the cut financially, mentally and emotionally felt so deep at times that you wondered how many years it would take to turn it all back around.

4. Uniform renaissance

In 2006, the Cowboys came out in drastically different uniforms for the first time since 1981. Yes, that was 11 years ago, but it cracked the surface for what was to come.

Three years into the new design, a black uniform combo was added. A classic OSU look that played with the creative juices of what the Cowboys’ uniforms could be in the future.

Then two years after that, 2011, OSU rolled out the double-lined shoulder design that had 64 possible combinations. Those unis were so clean, in a Bleacher Report best/worst review, they put “Best: Any Oklahoma State Uniform in 2011.”

The Cowboys’ play that year was what got everyone’s attention, but even if they had won nine games, the notoriety, branding and positive impact on recruiting makes the uniform renaissance one of the great OSU happenings in the past decade.

3. Stoops retiring

Bob Stoops’ unexpected retirement absolutely shattered the complexion of the Big 12, at least for the beginning of the 2017 season.

With Lincoln Riley now in as Oklahoma coach, there is no clearcut conference favorite. Stoops’ retirement swings open the door for a mullet-dawning sheriff to step in and drop anchor. No, it hasn’t happened yet. Bedlam is still almost five months away, but if Gundy can win the first dance with Riley, it could potentially mean longevity at the top of the Big 12.

But even if OSU loses that game, Stoops’ deuces literally gives a fresh look to a rivalry that has gone 14-4 in the Sooners’ favor in the past 18 seasons.

It all just seems like the perfect storm for OSU to make its long-term claim atop the conference: Veteran roster, (committed) veteran coach, rejuvenated college town and a faltering conference field.

2. Gundy’s Contract

This deal could potentially go down as the greatest signing in university history. Truly think about that.

In ticket sales alone, the OSU football team brought in $17.8 million in 2016, according to OSU financial statements. With media rights, contributions and other operating revenue, the program made more than $47.7 million. After expenditures such as coaches salaries, bowl expenses and financial aid, football had a net profit of $28.3 million.

It’s difficult to compare years straight up because of turnover, the growth of TV deals and the popularity of college football, but according to the 2004 report, the year before Gundy was hired, the football team only netted $8.2 million.

Again, impossible to compare oranges to apples, but that is a 245 percent increase in net revenue since one man became coach.

And when you throw in Stoops’ retirement, Baylor’s collapse, TCU’s step back and Texas’ inability to beat Kansas, getting Gundy to sign this summer was the ultimate step toward locking down a conference desperate for another national title contender.

1. 2011-2012 football team

The 12-1 Cowboys might have done more for the university than any other event in OSU history.

Alabama made $18 million for beating LSU in the BCS National Championship Game. OSU raked in a million less for beating Stanford in the desert.

More important, OSU was real.

Just 10 years before that season, the Cowboys had just a bow on a glorious 4-7 season. They year before that, they went 3-8.

There isn’t any way to purely quantify the impact that season had on OSU athletics, but it absolutely paved the way for Mason Rudolph, Tyron Johnson and Chuba Hubbard. Without that season and that Fiesta Bowl win, a sprinter in Canada probably wouldn’t have known too much about the land grant school in the middle of the U.S. prairie, and I don’t think it’s outrageous to say he likely wouldn’t have chosen to go to school there.