Who had the best year at OSU?

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Today is July 1 which marks the beginning of a new school year, or something. Anyway I thought it would be as grand a time as any to talk about which OSU athletes and/or coaches had the best last year.

That is, whose lives change the most for the better since last July 1.

The parameters: said athlete or coach doesn’t have to still be at school right now but had to be there this time last July. That’s it.

1. Clint Chelf — This time last year QB1 was probably sulking about being QB3 behind a skinny freshman and skinnier redshirt freshman. He was playing 13 hours of FIFA a day[1. The other 11 were at the G-Phi house.] and spinning the fake trade machine to try and find a big man to pair with Russell and Kevin.

Now though? He’s at the helm (presumably) of a team that’s favored to win double digit games and should probably win the Big 12. He has the strongest Internet meme in Oklahoma State sports history. He still gets all of the girls but now they fawn over his real OSU stat boxes instead of his fake Italy-Spain ones. I also heard a rumor that the frozen jack & coke at Murphy’s will be renamed after him if he runs the table in conference.

It’s good to be Clint Chelf.[2. Seriously though, if you’re Chelf, this is kind of the apex, right? I mean that in terms of sports, not life. He’s a fifth-year senior, already enrolled in grad school, sent golden arm back to Champaign, has all the big games at home (besides Texas). What else do you want from the sports gods?]

2. Travis Ford — This time last year you were coming off OSU’s first losing season since 1988, most everybody was turning on you, and all you had in the tank was a leap-y shooting guard, a moody small forward, and a freshman nobody thought could load a team on his back the way he did.

Now, you’re set. If you play your cards right and get a team that could/should go to the Final Four to the Final Four, you’re money for the next 5+ years. Nobody’s going to fire an OSU basketball coach less than five years removed from a Final Four appearance. THIS ISN’T GOLF! Heck, Holder might double Gundy’s contract and give it to Ford if we go to the Final Four.

I imagine the day Smart told him he was coming back that Ford went home, stared at his recruiting list for next year, laughed at it like a crazed maniac, burned it, then threw the ashes in the air and let them waft down on him like a man who had just won the lottery (which he had). Then he probably called the Duke athletic department after a scotch or four and said “hey guys, Travis here, wanted to see if you wanted to do a home-and-home. You guys come here next year and we’ll come there in 2049 [crazed laughter] [hangs up].”

3. Josh Holliday — Talk about everything playing out perfectly for you. OSU was better than advertised in 2013 and with Sunny Galloway out (and I mean out) in Norman and Holliday having already stolen the best thing ORU had going for it, he can own the state for the next 15-20 years.

13 months ago Holliday was a footnote to a piece of OSU baseball history (namely, his dad) and now he’s the hottest coach at the school.[3. Should be noted that I forgot what I was going to say here because I just watched Ian Poulter kiss some old lady in the royal box at Wimbledon on live national television and all my rational thinking just got dumped out the window…let’s move on.]

4. Markel Brown — I’m not sure anybody matured as much as an athlete last year (not Smart, not Josh Stewart, not Walsh, not anybody really) as much as Brown did.

He went from being the “most hotly contested rival to Desmond Mason’s fake OSU dunking title belt” player to being a legitimate option in the NBA Draft. He went from shooting like, well, me to shooting like a homeless-to-poor man’s Kyle Korver.[4. How many percentage points would Korver give off his three-point percentage to be able to dunk like Markel?]

His career ceiling last year was All-Big 1st/2nd team player.

This year? It’s been taken off.

5. Alan Bratton — This time last year you were coaching a sport that (I’m sorry to say this because I wish it wasn’t true but it is) nobody cares about. Now you’ve been handed the keys to the world’s greatest amateur golf program.

Oh, and don’t only win one title and get to another finals in your eight years there. Because, yeah…gone.