Tramel: How Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy answered the question he didn't want to answer

Mike Gundy doesn’t want the media messing with people’s families. I can respect that.

Of course, Gundy is about to mess with people’s families. I can respect that.

So what’s the problem?

Gundy was angered last week in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl post-game press conference, when Marshall Scott of Pistols Firing asked if Gundy planned any staff changes.

Gundy took umbrage at the question, called Scott an “ass” and threatened to revoke Scott’s press credentials.

Welcome to the narcissistic world of college football, where head coaches are sultans who don’t want to earn their outrageous salaries and don’t recognize their own contributions to the problem they perceive.

Even worse for Gundy, by not answering the question, Gundy answered it.

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Gundy could have deferred by saying something innocuous. We look at everything after every season, from jersey fabric to pregame meals.

There. It’s over and done with it.

Scott did not expect an answer. He asked out of duty and probably wishes he hadn’t. Wasn’t worth the grief and served only to damage a precarious relationship between King Cowboy and the OSU press corps.

But Scott’s question wasn’t an affront to the families of Cowboy assistant coaches. Rumors have been rampant for more than a month about Gundy staff changes. Stillwater isn’t a big place. People talk. People know.

A Pistols Firing question in Phoenix isn’t going to change the anxiety levels of anyone.

But Gundy’s outrage might have. If anyone thought the staff might stay status quo, those hopes were squashed by Gundy. He responded exactly like a coach who knows an announcement is coming.

If sleepless nights resulted from the Scott/Gundy exchange, it wasn’t caused by the question, it was caused by the answer.

And while we all have sympathy for anyone who might lose their job, losing that job is part of the job. The lowest-paid OSU assistant coach — I don’t know who that is and it’s irrelevant — makes more money than virtually everyone on the academic side of the university.

Big salaries and job instability are part of the gig. We’re not talking about Perkins High School.

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And the biggest salary is Gundy’s. He’s making about $7.6 million per year, and when the Cowboys beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, that seems like a dang good deal. But when OSU goes 7-6 in a fall-apart season, more than $1 million per victory, just about any question is on the table.

Some OSU loyalists are furious at the media, but their anger would not have flared if Gundy’s answer had been benign. The irritation was stoked not by the question, but by Gundy’s response.

And Gundy’s repeated feud with Pistols Firing is bewildering. If he was upset with The Oklahoman, or the Tulsa World, or the Sports Animal, or some enterprise that covers much more than just OSU, Gundy would have had all the Cowboy legions marching in step behind him.

But Pistols Firing is a website started by OSU people and run by OSU people, dedicated to covering just OSU. In surveys of Cowboy fans, Pistols Firing is quite popular.

Yet for years, Gundy banned Pistols Firing from press credentials to cover Cowboy football. Finally relented in 2021.

The Pistols Firing ban came when OSU was under different leadership. Hopefully, current president Kayse Shrum and athletic director Chad Weiberg know this is not debatable. The football coach should not determine who covers his team.

Gundy’s propensity for media battles is needless. I think I can speak for most the press corps.

I enjoy covering Gundy. I’ve known him for 38 years. Since he was a senior quarterback at Midwest City. I enjoy talking with him. He’s more forthcoming than most coaches about most things.

But he can’t go ballistic on a question he doesn’t like. He’s paid $7.6 million a year, and some of that money is to answer questions the right way, like it or not.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU football's Mike Gundy answered question he didn't want to answer