Tre Lamb Complimentary of Mike Gundy, "One of the Most Underrated" of His Lifetime
STILLWATER – We’ve heard it before, an opposing head coach calls Mike Gundy a hall-of-famer, a huge winner, one of the best program builders ever. Honestly, they are all true, but the compliments are starting to make Gundy seem like he is on a curtain call in his career. I don’t think Gundy sees it that way. Media, mostly national, have pushed that agenda some.
Either way, Lamb, who has faith in his team and talks of the Oklahoma State game being an opportunity for a breakthrough win for his program in his first year at Tulsa, talks up Gundy.
“Coach Gundy, can’t wait to get to go against him on ESPN on Friday night,” Lamb stated at his weekly press conference on Monday. “(I’ve) got really a lot of respect for Coach. Probably one of the most, if not the most, underrated coaches of my generation, of my lifetime. I would say him and Bill Snyder are two of the guys that come to mind when you think of doing the most at where they’ve been. Nine and 10 win seasons consistently, changing at coordinators and quarterbacks, and Mike Gundy just finds a way to win games.”
Seven of Gundy’s 170-career wins have been against Tulsa. Gundy is 7-0 vs. the Golden Hurricane. He is one of just a few coaches that have never lost to Tulsa. That list includes Les Miles (one win) and Jim Stanley (two wins). Bob Simmons lost to Tulsa, Pat Jones and Jimmy Johnson too. Gundy has the best record against Tulsa of any Oklahoma State head coach, although he was 2-2 against the Hurricane as a quarterback.
“Really, really look up to him as a mentor in our industry,” added Lamb, who at 36-years-old is in his sixth-year as a college head coach. “After we play I’d love to pick his brain and learn from him. I think he does a phenomenal job.”
Gundy is 58-years-old and his 21st season as a head coach and his 36th season of college coaching overall.
He really hasn’t crossed paths much with Lamb, but did say he liked what he was seeing.
“They played better last week, in my opinion. They've improved,” Gundy said of Tulsa, who lost to Navy, a standout program in the American. 42-23. “They have the other quarterback (Baylor Hayes) that's playing now and it looks like to me he's more comfortable and they've gotten better. They played, and I don't want to speak for them, but I thought they played their best game last week and they've continued to improve. They're young. They know they've got new guys and such. You know, they're kind of working through some of the same issues a lot of schools are.”
Issues that need to be overcome, just like the Cowboys with issues they need to overcome.
