You may not know the name “Mike Gundy,” but there’s little doubt you don’t recognize him from his finest work:
When that tirade first became public in September 2007, the headline at LBS was “My Kids Can Play for Mike Gundy.” Of course we were just speaking about figurative kids, but the point was that seeing a coach publicly defend his players so vigorously is appealing. Who wouldn’t want to play for a coach who has their back like that? No surprise, a lot of people feel the same way.
In an interview with Tom Dienhart of Rivals, Gundy said the rant has been a big help for recruiting.
“I don’t regret it at all. I did it for a guy who was on our team, and I would have done it for any of my players who I felt was attacked unfairly. If your coach doesn’t take up for you, who is going to? I don’t regret any of it. I actually have had fun with it and kind of embraced it as part of my identity. Some of it has faded away. You don’t hear about it that much. But it is something we have had a good time with. We joke about it and sometimes it will be brought up.
“I have a son who is about to turn 10 and he can mimic it to almost a ‘T.’ I’ve seen him do it around the house with his buddies. But it has been huge for us in recruiting. Very seldom do I go into a home where there won’t be a parent or grandparent that brings it up in a subtle matter. They’ll say, ‘Coach, I know you may not want to talk about it, but I saw you on YouTube and that’s one of the reasons we are sending our son to your school.'”
It’s not just the rant, either. Combine that speech with his locker room dance, and you have an unbeatable combination. How are Bob Stoops and Mack Brown supposed to compete with that?
Helmet knock to Lost Lettermen
