Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy now says his "I'm a man, I'm 40" meltdown in 2007 has helped recruiting.
"No, I didn’t expect it, in any way, shape, form or fashion," Gundy told Michael Carvell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It's interesting since that day, which happened on impulse in my opinion, to protect and take care of one of our players, I didn't have any idea that it would take off like this. From that point on, for good or bad, I've become very recognizable across the country.
"In turn, what has has happened in the last couple of years in recruiting, it has helped us tremendously. I think the parents of these young men understand that 'If my son goes to play at Oklahoma State, the coach is going to do whatever he can to take care of him.' No, we didn’t know that [recruiting benefits] would happen. But it certainly has been a huge impact. It's name recognition. Moms and Dads want to know wherever their son goes to school, that those coaches are going to take care of them. And when they go to Oklahoma State. They know that’s going to happen."
The Cowboys signed three prospects from Georgia last month, including fullback David Paulsen.
"I always remembered that there was this coach who freaked out on TV, but I never really looked into it at the time," Paulsen said. "Then an assistant coach who was recruiting me for Duke went to Oklahoma State. I went 'Oh yeah, that's the school with that one coach from TV.' I remembered it was [Gundy]. When I looked into it closely, it wasn't him just freaking out on the press. It was for the right reasons.
"I've seen quotes from Moms and Dads of [players] saying 'Good, he’s going to protect my son.' It was a big plus for me. [Gundy] really does care about his players. He's not afraid to be honest, especially with millions of people watching. It meant a lot to me, knowing that when you go to a school, the coach isn’t going to bail on you in hard times. He's going to stick up for you when you're doing good, and he's going to stick up for you when you’re down. It's something that is a really good thing. A lot of coaches aren't like that. They are going to throw you to the wolves. [Gundy] is not like that."
Thanks to Rob.
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