There’s nothing “usual” about Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy, and that’s why it should surprise no one that he goes to the internet to find his coordinators.
There may not be a better person, in the world of college football, at building his own brand than Gundy. From disrobing in the most public of ways, to the mullet, to the “Big Daddy” coffee cup, Gundy has the world talking about his football program despite the fact that the Cowboys live in the shadows of the Oklahoma Sooners.
Yes, that's Mike Gundy and Mason Rudolph with their shirts off.https://t.co/oughZeZRPj pic.twitter.com/EERO837Gb9
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 14, 2017
His infamous, “I’m a man, I’m 40” rant happened almost eleven years ago and yet no one has forgotten about it. It was our introduction to the unusual approach Gundy had not only to the media but to life. That rant produced one of the most widely used quotes on everything from sports talk shows on television and radio to pop culture and the likes of Justin Bieber.
"Mike Gundy the rattlesnake wrangler" has a nice ring to it. Add it to his resume
(don't look @FootballScoop)https://t.co/kQkVxCSihH pic.twitter.com/Z1gRpqTwHB
— Doug Samuels (@CoachSamz) March 17, 2017
Gundy left that press conference and immediately became a cult-like hero. He took that status and ran with it. Suddenly the mullet is his thing…along with rattle snake hunting, wearing wrestling singlets, and winning football games.
Mike Gundy wears a wrestling singlet to promote upcoming OSU match.
Note: the mullet is trimmed, but still alive. https://t.co/4UOPUBc1In pic.twitter.com/HS677SC8X8
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) February 15, 2017
The best thing that you can say about Mike Gundy is that he’s predictably unpredictable. You can question his methods, and definitely scratch you head at his madness, but you can’t argue the results. The 2017 season was Oklahoma State’s third consecutive 10-win season and Gundy has led OSU to a bowl game in each of the last twelve years.
You never know what Gundy is going to do next which is what makes the way he searches for his coordinators just perfect. Instead of going with the traditional methods of search firms, recommendations, and resumes, Gundy goes to Google.
In 2013 he found Mike Yurcich at Shippensburg University by doing an online search. A phone call later Yurcich was on his way to Stillwater and Oklahoma State’s offense was exploding. So why not take the same approach for his new defensive coordinator?
According to an article published by The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel, Gundy established a criteria for his vacant defensive coordinator position and then spent about 20 hours searching the internet until he came up with seven candidates.
From those seven came Jim Knowles, from Duke, who was hired to fill the vacancy in January.
Gundy came up with seven candidates. Knowles intrigued him. Duke had finished 14th or 16th in the Gundy rankings. The Blue Devils were hanging tough in the ACC, despite talent far below the level Clemson, Florida State and Miami. “I thought probably athletically we were at least as good if not better than Duke on defense,” Gundy said. Daily Oklahoman
That’s the way things are done in Stillwater these days and as crazy as it may be it certainly isn’t the craziest thing we’ve seen from Gundy, because crazy is what he does best.