First Interview With Defensive Coordinator Bryan Nardo Out on OSU Max

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State football fans are getting the first impression of what Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy and the entire defensive staff with co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Joe Bob Clements, pass defensive coordinator Tim Duffie, safeties coach Dan Hammerschmidt, and defensive line coach Greg Richmond heard and saw when they group interviewed new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. 

A one-on-one interview conducted by senior associate athletic director Kevin Klintworth and produced by Jason Carroll of OSU Max dropped tonight (Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023) as a free item on OSUmax.com.

OSU Max

Klintworth (left) interviews Bryan Nardo.

The 25 minute and 20 second video hits all the high points of when Nardo was first contacted by Mike Gundy, what he thinks of the Oklahoma State opportunity, why he coaches football, and what personality he wants his defense at Oklahoma State to take on.

“He didn’t really talk X-and-O’s,” Klintworth said. “He didn’t want to talk as much about his defensive philosophy. It was more about himself and how he coaches rather than what he coaches.”

“This is really more of an introduction as to who Bryan Nardo is,” Carroll, the general manager for OSU Max told me and the Triple Play Sports Radio audience before the interview dropped.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Mike Gundy really liked Bryan Nardo and his presence in the interview.

In review, many fans and football observers were shocked as Mike Gundy, who has never been shy about going his own way and off the beaten path to make a coaching hire, even one as critical as defensive coordinator. Gundy has hired coaches from all over. He’s hired offensive coordinators from Shippensburg (Mike Yurcich) and from Princeton. He hired Jim Knowles as his defensive coordinator from Duke but bragged he was an Ivy leaguer from Cornell. 

Nardo’s hire sent media across the country looking for Gannon University where he had just coached the best defense statistically in over 20 years. 

–Bryan Nardo’s brief resume’–

 Klintworth started the interview by asking about the initial call from Mike Gundy.

“I got a phone call on a Wednesday from Coach Gundy,” answered Nardo. “Coach (Joe Bob) Clements and I had talked about (me) coming down there (Stillwater) and talking ball again because I knew Coach Clements and I had stayed in contact with him. But I got a phone call from Coach Gundy. About 10 days later everything happened.”

Pokes Report

Bryan Nardo during the interview.

No, Nardo had not reached out or sent his resume’ in knowing that Oklahoma State had an opening for a defensive coordinator.

“I’d be lying if I told you I expected that. We were in a recruiting meeting talking about an official visit we were about to host,” Nardo said. “I told Coach (Erik) Raeburn (Gannon head coach), ‘that was Coach Gundy and he wants to talk football with me. He’s interested in our defense and what we do. It wasn’t expected at all.’”

Nardo admits the adjustment is big. You recruit different caliber players. The competition is different, but it is football. Most of all, Nardo believes he has landed one of the best jobs in his profession. He won’t apologize for it.

“I thought it was one of the top jobs in the country no matter what conference,” Nardo said of Oklahoma State. “I think the reputation speaks for itself. It is an unbelievable facility, it’s got tradition, it has a head coach that has been here and has passion about this place. It is one of the best jobs in the country.”

Athens, Ohio Daily Mail

Retired Ohio University football coach Frank Solich.

Nardo loves to talk about his mentors. As a student coach and graduate assistant he learned from one of the best in the country. Frank Solich, the former Nebraska head coach, the long-time assistant head coach to Tom Osborne, and the winningest coach at Ohio University is a strong start for a coaching education. Then he soaked up the wisdom of Dave Brown at Missouri A&T, Garin Higgins for his eight seasons at Emporia State. Most recently, he got a dose of the Mt. Union way of coaching as Erik Raeburn at Gannon University both played and coached at Mt. Union of Hall of Famer Larry Kehres.

Nardo said he learned so much from all of them, but it was in his one-year at Missouri S&T that he learned you’d better be in coaching for the players. Coach Brown said if you weren’t in it for the players then you’d better just get out.

Bryan Nardo/OSU Max

Nardo at Youngstown State with linebacker Grant Dixon.

“I never wanted my players to feel like they couldn’t call me. I never wanted my players to feel like they didn’t enjoy being around me,” Nardo said. “It was intentional to make sure they knew I cared about them.  I can hold them accountable, and I can tell you I love you and still force you to be the best version of yourself every day. It’s not soft, it’s not … people mistake kindness for weakness.”

Nardo has already experienced the rewards of relationships with his players.

“Success as a coach means in 15-years I’m still getting phone calls from players. It means I’m still getting invitations to weddings. I’m still getting text messages that say, “Coach, I just became a dad,’” he said. “One of the best moments of my life and he’s not a player anymore, so I can actually say this. Cade Harelson is from Davenport, Oklahoma and he played, and I recruited him to Emporia State and he is done playing. Cade called me before he proposed to Tory, his girlfriend, now his wife. He wanted to call me and tell me before it went public. I remember where I was. I remember what I was doing, and I remember hanging up the phone and that’s pretty cool.

“I hope I get phone calls, text messages, and letters from every player for 15-years, 30-years, I’m going to coach until I’m dead because I don’t have any hobbies,” he continued. “I don’t know what I would do. Those, 570 text messages, that’s how many text messages I got the night I got this job, and I would say 300 of them were former players. That was pretty cool.”

Bryan Nardo/OSU Max

Nardo with his players at Gannon University.

Oklahoma State actually held up his announcement in the middle of the day, so he could gather his current players at Gannon and have them together to be the first to tell them and tell them personally.

“They clapped, they teared up for me because they knew how much this meant for me and for my family,” Nardo said of his players at Gannon when he told them. “Their reaction showed me everything I thought about that place was right. It’s not where you go but who you’re with.”

He’s going to wait to get into X-and-O’s, He says he has gathered his defense from a variety of coaches and sources. Yes, he has studied the Iowa State 3-3-5 and spent some time with Cyclones defensive coordinator Jon Heacock. He also worked with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s dad Jimmy Burrow as he was the defensive coordinator at Ohio when Nardo was a student coach. 

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

Nardo already teaching at Oklahoma State.

Klintworth asked simply, what do you want people to think when they watch your defense?

“Runners and hitters. We try to keep it simple and let the kids play fast,” answered Nardo. “Every time we’ve described this defense it is runners and hitters. We keep it simple and help kids believe in that they are doing, run really fast, and hit really hard. Be confident in what they do.”

Nardo said he isn’t a yeller, he isn’t a cusser. He can get loud, but as he learned from David Brown at Missouri S&T, you have to be a teacher and Nardo is a teacher.