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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: STANFORD v OKLAHOMA STATEJanuary 1, 2012Mike GundyGLENDALE, ARIZONA COACH GUNDY: Once again, we are very excited to be here. The hospitality with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and their staff has been tremendous. Our families, our players, our children have had a great week. Every day has been exciting. The weather has been beautiful. Practice facilities have been really good. We had an opportunity to go over to the stadium yesterday and let the players look at the stadium, and it's always fun for me to watch video with their phones and they're like little kids in a toy store going into such a neat stadium and facility that they get to play in. The Plaza, where we stayed, has been great. Couldn't be a better week. So we're really excited about the game. Our team has practiced well. As always, Bowls are fun, but once you've been here a while, you kind of get ready to play in the game. So our players kind of made that transition yesterday afternoon where I could tell they were getting into a game mode. So we'll have meetings today and start to get into what would be a normal Friday game week starting this morning, moving forward and until the game tomorrow night. Q. When you look at Weeden and Luck side by side, how would you assess that matchup? COACH GUNDY: Well, I think there is a lot of similarities in their size, their ability to make a play if something breaks down. Luck has shown more of a tendency to avoid the rush and make a throw on the run more than Weeden does. And some of that could be a scheme. Obviously, I'm not in their camp. And I know what we're telling Weeden. He is in pocket a lot more. We want him to sit in the pocket and make those throws. The offenses are different. We all know that. But they both seem to be students of the game. It's important to them. From the outside looking in, it seems like Luck is a great leader, has been a great ambassador for their school. Weeden has done the same for Oklahoma State. So I think there is a lot of similarities when you talk about them as football players and people. Q. Is it an oversimplification to say that the game will come down to the two quarterbacks? COACH GUNDY: Well, I think both quarterbacks are very important to the offense and to the teams. I don't think there is any question about that. I mean, you talk about‑‑ I heard a conversation a few days ago. You talk about what a most valuable player is at the end of the season. There is always that debate with the awards that are out there and the Heisman and different things. I don't think there is any question that these two quarterbacks were certainly the most valuable players on their team. Q. We've talked a lot about what‑‑ if you reached a BCS Bowl game, what it would do for you; if you won a Big 12 title, what it could do for you. Have you given any thought to what winning this game would do for you? Is there anything tangible that winning this game does for Oklahoma State football? COACH GUNDY: I think it is just important to try to prepare, which our players have, and to try to win every competition and every game we have an opportunity to compete in. And over the number of years that I have been fortunate to coach in Bowls as an assistant and a head coach, when you look back on them, you want your team to play with a lot of energy, be excited about the game and to go play well. And they've accomplished a great deal. Our teams accomplish a great deal to get to this point. But they still have a chance to win the Fiesta Bowl and still have a chance to win 12 games. And that's the points that we've made over the last few weeks. Q. Anthony Rogers has an opportunity to take advantage of more playing time with Will (phonetic) Hawes suspended. And some of the players I talked to that raved about his quiet leadership, type of genuine personality. Can you talk about his personality and what it means to the team off the field? COACH GUNDY: He has really matured for us a lot in the last year, and he is very quiet. Comes from a really good family. His mom, she did a great job of raising him and he's got values and understands the importance of team, is willing to do whatever we ask him to do. So I'm excited about his opportunity to play. He's practiced well the last two or three weeks. You are not going to get a lot out of him. But he does like to play the game. We expect him to play well. Q. A game like this, does it allow you to expand your recruiting base? Texas is a big area for you, obviously Midwest, things of that nature. But the exposure you are getting this season, to have a game like this, would it allow you to reach out to other areas to try to entice players? COACH GUNDY: We won't reach out. There may be players that come to us because of this, but we're going to stay in Oklahoma and Kansas and Texas and Arkansas and NewMexico and right there in that area. We've had some success in Georgia. There have been some young men that have shown some interest that are in this part of the country, and I would say that the exposure from this game has probably drawn attention to Oklahoma State and they start to look and see and maybe that's a school that I want to look at is something that could go through their mind. But we're not going to really reach out much further than what we've done in the last seven years at Oklahoma State. Q. Talk about this senior class and what this group has done for Oklahoma State football, not just immediate goals but in terms of establishing this as a program with really staying power? COACH GUNDY: They've won 40 games in four years. And we've been to a number of Bowl games in a row and obviously the first ever outright conference champions. And so I told them after the Oklahoma game that I think they've changed the way people look at Oklahoma State football. It's been going on now for what would be four years. And they've set the bar at a very high level. We're able to attract attention from what we would consider to be more talented players as a group who do very well in a classroom. Ultimately, recruiting is the lifeblood of your program. You bring quality people in that want to graduate that have talent and want to do the right thing, you got a chance. And because of what they have accomplished over the last four years, they've expanded that pool for us which changed‑‑ which will change Oklahoma State football for a long time. Q. Can you speak a little bit about your counterpart on the other sideline, Coach Shaw; what similarities or differences in your coaching styles, personalities, that kind of thing? COACH GUNDY: I know it is interesting. We don't see a lot of teams on the West Coast because of the games and it is really late at night. And so I studied a little bit once I realized that we were going to play Stanford and getting to visit with David briefly a couple times and knowing a little bit about his background and his father. I have a lot of respect for him. He's obviously been around football for a long time, had an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator, took over as a head coach this year. Again, from the outside looking in, allow his team and his quarterback to continue with what they had started and had a great year. And I think at times coaches try to get too involved and try to do too much. From what the way it looks to me, Coach Shaw allowed things to happen and used the strengths of his program and got him back into a BCS for the first time as a head coach. Q. Arizona is beautiful. The resorts are great. The talk is wonderful. But it has been a month since you played. How ready are you to get this team back on the field and actually play football now? COACH GUNDY: Well, we're excited. As I mentioned earlier, when you come out here, I think that the players kind of‑‑ they don't lose focus but you're in the Valley of the Sun. It is beautiful. There is a lot going on here, and everybody is being nice to you. So I think for a few days, they're not as focused as you would want them to be. We have practiced well but they think about the environment and a lot of things going on here. But in the last couple days and especially yesterday, the players have started to pay attention to the importance of getting prepared for the game and so for myself, I enjoy every second of it. But we're all ready to play because the funnest part‑‑ the most enjoyable part of my job is to be on the field with the players in practice or in games. So it is always fun to get out there and play a game, especially against a great opponent like Stanford. Q. Can you just talk about your punter/kicker and also your special teams in general for this game? COACH GUNDY: Well, Quinn has been really three players for us this season. And the local media that have followed us since August‑‑ or what would be maybe multiple years for most of these guys‑‑ he kicks off and he has been the best in the country at kickoffs. He has been a good PAT field goal kicker for us and he has been a punter for us. So a lot of times kickers, punter, snappers and holders don't get mentioned until something goes wrong. Nobody really notices them. But our guys have done a really good job in those areas. Joe DeForest is our special teams coordinator and he has been great for us‑‑ Joe is going on 11 years now. He and I were with Coach Miles when we came in a number of years ago. And so our special teams other than punt return, has been good this year. Punt return we have not been very good. But in the other areas, we've had a good year in special teams and hopefully it will continue in tomorrow night's game. We all know that there's three phases in the game, offense, defense and special teams is at least 30 percent of it. Q. With this being Weeden's last game, can you talk about what he has meant to the program and how does he rate with other quarterbacks in OSU history? COACH GUNDY: I don't think there is any question he will finish as, in my opinion, what's the best quarterback that's ever played at Oklahoma State. He's been a great ambassador, as I said. He has been tremendous with the people. He's graduated. He's won a number of games. I think the football part of it speaks for itself. But what he's brought to the table from a leadership standpoint and the way he has handled himself out there with the public and the Oklahoma State people and the media has been tremendous. I think the best years are ahead. He's 28 now and I think he has the body of a 22‑year‑old. He's healthy. And I see him doing this for six or eight more years and really being a valuable asset to somebody's organization. Q. You brought up having worked for Les, and this is probably old ground for you, but in light of next week, what did you learn from him? And what has made him so effective? COACH GUNDY: Well, Coach Miles has great work habits and he gets up early and he's willing to work all day and he is willing to stay and work late at night and do whatever it takes to have success. And there is a toughness that he instilled in us as assistant coaches and a toughness that he instills in his players. He has a unique way about going about things that draws a lot of attention at times. But, ultimately, he is a very smart person. He is a very smart football coach. And I don't think anybody can question the success that he's had. I know once he is gone and I was on my own, my early years as being a head coach, you go sit in the office and you think "what now?" And you are on your own. And I kind of reflected back on some of the plans, some of the thoughts that he had as a head coach. And it's helped me tremendously. Even though we changed our style of offense, we still pride ourselves on being physical in certain aspects of the game even though we are spread out. And that's kind of what he started when we came back in the early, well, 2000. And our players bought into that and it kind of got the ball rolling for Oklahoma State football. Q. Have you had the chance to sit back and kind of reflect where the program is now compared to where it was when you took over? And then just where you are as a head coach in your career and how things have turned out. COACH GUNDY: Well, when you think back to where we were when I took over, it's scary, so I don't try to think about it too much. I think there was a time when I was naive to us being really average, and I didn't see it that way. I think publicly, people saw us as not very good, weren't sure if we were going to be able to get over the hump. But I saw it differently. Our coaches felt differently. Our recruiting was improving each year. There were young players in our program that I felt like could affect our team in a positive way. And so it worked to our advantage, in my opinion, because I probably‑‑ I just wasn't smart enough to figure out that maybe we weren't very good. So we just continued to push forward, continued to work hard. We kept the core values of the program. We didn't change. We had to change coordinators a couple times on defense. We lost our offensive coordinators to be head coaches. But for the most part, what I feel like is important in developing and building a really good football team is the core values and the discipline, the accountability, the structure. That hasn't changed in what would be going on now eight years. Those parts‑‑ that aspect of it stayed the exact same. As far as me as a head coach and most of you guys that have been with me over a number of years, know that I really enjoy my job now more than ever. I enjoy the relationships I have with the players, the assistant coaches. I enjoy the fans. I enjoy the media. I'm much more calm and relaxed now. I've tried to look at it from both sides and understand that everybody has a job to do. I think we are in a very difficult time in what would be professional sports and college sports now with social networking and talk radio and the Internet, and there is so much out there that, in my opinion, if you don't handle it in a very professional, productive way, then it can be extremely difficult on you which would be me as the head coach. And so I've tried to relax more and take everything in and look at it like everybody has a job to do and just stay focused on what's really important. So it's allowed me to be more patient, which I think has translated into our players being more patient and having more fun. Q. I remember when you played Oregon a few years ago in the Holiday Bowl. You came out of that game very disappointed in the lack of physicality of your team. How has that changed and what did you do to get it changed? COACH GUNDY: You bring up a good point, following some of the comments I just made. At that stage, I felt like we needed to have a spring ball that was really physical and get in there and grind and try to toughen our players up in a way that we could avoid that happening again. Now, it was interesting, the next year we played in the Cotton Bowl against Ole Miss and we played terrible. But Ole Miss was what I thought was even a more physical team. And when the game was over, we didn't lose that game because they were more physical than us. We made a number of mistakes and played very poorly. But I learned that we did increase and become a more physical team after the Oregon game. And then as it went on, I've tried to balance becoming a physical team with also not beating down our players physically so they could perform at a high level on Saturdays and have learned that if you beat on them too much physically, that it wears them out mentally, and then they don't perform very well any way, in my opinion. So we've made some adjustments there. And I went a little bit overboard after the Oregon game, and then have made some adjustments over the last couple years in trying to find that perfect‑‑ that‑‑ get right to that fine line of being physical enough but not too much so the players could be fresh and healthy. Q. Justin Blackmon, all likelihood his last game at OSU. What has his impact been at the program, and what do you see as his future? COACH GUNDY: Like Brandon, I think he leaves as the best wide receiver to ever play at Oklahoma State. I have been hesitant to say that over the last 12 months because Hartley Dykes was a great player. Rashaun Woods was a great player. Dez Bryant was a great player. If you put together everything that Blackmon has done over the last 2 1/2 years with the season remaining and the numbers that he's put up; he numbers of catches and big plays he's made at crucial times, when people knew he was on the field, they knew he was a great player. I think he's established himself as the best wide receiver to ever come out of our program. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
