Team Chemistry a Key Ingredient for the New-Look Cowboys This Fall

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FRISCO, Tx – When Mike Gundy stepped out from under the stands of the Ford Center/Star, most members of the Oklahoma State football beat had two thoughts: we have no idea what Mike Gundy is going to say, and/or we pretty much know exactly what he’s going to say.

For me, I was pretty spot on in my thinking that there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of “substance” from Mike. And I don’t mean that to sound bad, but other than watching film, some work outs and a handful of spring practices in which 35 players weren’t even on campus yet, I don’t think the coaches really know what the team will be like until deep into August.

"Whenever I used to go on vacation in July, I had a really good idea of who our two-deep was going to be,” coach Gundy said from the podium in Frisco. “In most cases, who the quarterback was going to be. I'm going to try to go on vacation in a week or so, and I'm not sure that I know who will be the starters in eight of the 22 spots, not counting special teams. So, it's very unusual. Coaches understand that it's going to have to happen faster in August this year than it ever has before so we can get established, create some identity. Hopefully, develop some team chemistry, and get ready to play in the first game."

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

The new-look Cowboys in spring football.

Team chemistry is an absolute key ingredient for this upcoming season. Mike announced there are 65 new players on this year’s roster. 65! Not to mention 18 of the transfers didn’t show up until June. Not to mention an entirely new coaching staff, playbook and schemes.

But one aspect I don’t feel has gotten enough attention from various media outlets is something we heard from every player and coach we spoke to at Big 12 Media Days last week: Mike Gundy is still one of the best coaches in all of college football. Future Hall of Famer.

There have been a lot of changes in a short amount of time for coach Gundy. And for someone who loves familiarity and is loyal to a fault, it seems, at least on the surface, Mike has embraced these changes as he knew there was going to be a rebuild regardless.

"One thing to remember is that I've been fortunate enough to be the head coach for now going on 21 years, and we've had 19 winning seasons in a row. We've played a really high level of college football. For the majority of those years, we could have beaten any team in the country on any given day at any time. We have to go through a little bit of a rebuilding phase this year. One because we needed to upgrade in certain areas and the other because we lost a large number of veteran players last year. We were going to have to so-called rebuild anyway. We were prepared for that. The changes in how we go about rebuilding, whether it's financially or roster management have been challenging but also intriguing. It's something new. It's different than it's ever been before in my 21 years as a head coach."

We’ll have a better idea once we get a few weeks into August what this team could be like. But we won’t truly know until after the Big 12 opener against Baylor. UT Martin won’t present a challenge. And if they do, just buckle up. Oregon on the road was going to be a challenge regardless of 0-9 or 9-0 in Big 12 play last year. And Tulsa is deep into a rebuild from a bad team last year. So, after Baylor, I think we’ll all have a pretty good idea which direction this season could go.