Mike Gundy Talks Analysts and Speaking at Bama's Coaches Clinic
STILLWATER – You’ve heard the old saying, “take your time going, but hurry back”? That will be Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy on Friday (April 8) as Gundy is speaking at 10 a.m. in Tuscaloosa, Ala. inside the Coliseum as part of the Alabama Football Coaches Clinic of Champions. That’s right the Crimson Tide and Nick Saban asked Gundy to speak. He will be back in Stillwater in time for the Cowboys practice on Friday afternoon. His flight leaves at 7:30 a.m. and he is scheduled back at 1:30 p.m. in Stillwater. That’s a quick trip.
"I’m speaking at their clinic, their coach’s clinic,” Gundy confirmed talking to the beat media at Oklahoma State on Monday. Gundy speaks right after Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. Later in the day, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel will be at the podium.
“Everybody wants (Microsoft) PowerPoint presentations and all that,” Gundy added. Most of the time my PowerPoints are on a napkin scribbled in pen. I need to look at the paperwork they sent me. I bet they are wanting me to talk about no-huddle offense, would be my guess."
That wouldn’t be a bad choice on Saban and Alabama’s part as it was Gundy and former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich that came up with the Cowboys famed tempo and turbo fast-paced no-huddle packages. However, the subject came up because of Gundy’s use of analysts as Gundy revealed that special teams analyst M.K. Taylor had left the program for a high school coaching job back home in Alabama. Ironically, Taylor is a former Alabama deep snapper.
While Alabama and Nick Saban have become famous for the role of analysts in college football, Gundy believes he was the first to hire an analyst.
"I think, and you guys can check this, I think I was the first coach to hire an analyst at any position. Somebody needs to check that, but when I hired Bill Clay, I think that I was the first coach that hired an analyst in the country,” Gundy said. “And I followed up a few years later with a special teams analyst. Maybe somebody was ahead of me, I don't know, but I didn't know about it."
Scott Wright of The Oklahoman suggested that Saban should thank Gundy for the idea and that is when we all learned Gundy was going to Alabama to speak.
"I need to ask him. I’m going there Friday. I need to ask him that when I’m there, because if I was the first, he obviously took it and ran with it."
He certainly did because a quick check shows Alabama has 12 analysts including former college head coaches Todd Grantham, Derek Dooley, and Dave Huxtable. Saban also employs former LSU and NFL quarterback Zach Mettenberger. The Crimson Tide have four special assistants to the head coach and nine individuals involved in recruiting. Oklahoma State has four analysts, two on each side of the ball and will likely replace Taylor with a new special teams analyst. They have 11 individuals involved in recruiting operations or analysis.
Oklahoma State will welcome several coaches and former quarterback Brandon Weeden for their Cowboy Coach’s Clinic next Friday, April 15.