As usual, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy had his outspoken moments at Big 12 Media Days
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy speaks his mind, and for that, he’s to be applauded.
As he so often does, the Big 12 Conference’s senior head coach had more than a few thoughts about a few red-hot topics, while meeting with reporters during the opening of conference Media Days on Wednesday at AT&T Stadium.
With Oklahoma and Texas leaving for the SEC after this season, what’s he think about this being the final year of the Bedlam series against the Sooners?
“The Bedlam game is over because Oklahoma chose to leave the Big 12," Gundy said. "Do I like that? No. It’s real simple:
“All Oklahoma had to do was not go to the SEC.”
Does the chance still exist for an Oklahoma State-Oklahoma non-conference game? Not on your life.
“We have nine conference games scheduled, and then we have, I think, through 15 years, we're scheduled all the way up,” Gundy said. “We're full for the most part, and we have Power Five teams.
“I'm going to go back to what I said earlier: Oklahoma State is not going to change what we do because Oklahoma chose to go to the SEC.
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“They need to change what they do because they're the ones that made their mind up to go to the SEC.”
And let’s not forget Gundy and the transfer portal.
“We can look across the country in the portal,” he said. “We've got players that are playing on National Championship teams that are leaving and going to other schools. We have players that are leaving after one year . . . players that are leaving after five years.
“I'm almost considering the NIL and the portal like religion and politics, where it's not even worth discussing because we don't necessarily have a rhyme or reason for what's happening.”
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Where’s the focus of TCU players, coming off playing in last season’s College Football Playoff?
“What made the team really good last year, was our ability to not focus on stuff that we couldn't control,” said coach Sonny Dykes. “I think that was what made the group special.
“As the season rolled along and as you start to stack wins and you get ranked, no one ever said, we're 4-0 and we're ranked or we're 5-0 and we're this or we're leading the Big 12 or we're this in the College Football Playoff.
“Our players did a remarkable job of just focusing on trying to get better every day.
“Man, last year's team was really special that way. I never heard one conversation about the College Football Playoff rankings. Truly, we never had one as a coaching staff. Our players never had one that I heard.
“Our deal was 'Hey, man, let's control what we can control, let's work hard, let's practice well, let's go out and play hard and be great at situational football.'”
The Horned Frogs were picked fifth in this season’s media preseason poll. Among the players gone from last season’s 13-2 team is Iowan quarterback Max Duggan, runner-up in last season’s Heisman Trophy balloting.
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“Last year was a fun season for TCU football,” Dykes said. “We didn't have very high expectations. I think we were picked seventh in the preseason poll, and I probably would have picked us lower, honestly, than I think the media did.”
Baylor coach Dave Aranda has 14 transfer portal players on the roster. That’s an 11-transfer upswing from a season ago.
“One of the struggles for me has always been if you say yes to a player that's in the portal, you're saying no to a player on your team,” Aranda said. “I think when you bring somebody in, you almost kind of stunt the growth of that person."
Translated: He’s recruiting more portal players.
Holgo’s return
The four schools making their Big 12 debut this season may be new to the league, but some of the faces at those institutions will be familiar to the conference.
Chief among them is Houston coach Dana Holgorsen.
“The last four years have been a little different for me, being in the American (Athletic) Conference,” Holgorsen said, “and it really makes you appreciate a conference like the Big 12 by now being back.”
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Holgorsen spent eight years as the head coach at West Virginia, guiding the Mountaineers’ transition from the Big East to the Big 12 in 2012. He left for Houston in 2019 after going 61-41 overall and 33-30 in the Big 12 for West Virginia.
The Davenport native also spent eight years in the conference as an assistant both at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
“This conference is crazy,” Holgorsen said. “Being a part of it for 17 years and then being on the outside looking in for the last four years, I watched every game and I followed it.
“I'm so excited to be back in the league, and the University of Houston is excited to be a part of it.”
Kansas’ ascension
It wasn’t long ago that Iowa State was the trendy up-and-comer in the Big 12 under coach Matt Campbell. Now, though, it’s another program led by a former Division III player and coach that has taken that mantle.
Kansas and coach Lance Leipold have become the league’s darlings after winning six games and becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2008 last season. The Jayhawks also sport a Heisman hopeful in quarterback Jalon Daniels.
“You want expectations,” Leipold, who played his college ball at Wisconsin-Whitewater in the 1980s and won seven national titles there as a coach, said. “This program hasn't had many expectations of late, so embracing those but keeping them in balance.
“I think this group gets it, but at the same time, for a program like Kansas, we need to embrace some of those things of expectations and the positivity that's surrounding our program.”
This was compiled by The Des Moines Register's Randy Peterson and Travis Hines
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy had outspoken moments at Big 12 Media Days
