<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0CrSmW_0vlhMt7n00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0CrSmW_0vlhMt7n00" width="760" height="399" >Editor's note: This is a story from "Gundy's 20th," The O'Colly's weekly series to commemorate OSU football head coach Mike Gundy's 20th season as the leading man. This week, we talk about Gundy getting the OSU job and his first game.Mike Gundy doesn’t remember much about his first day as Oklahoma State football’s 22nd head coach. It was Jan. 3, 2005. It’s a blur to him.The then-37-year-old, who had been the Cowboys’ offense coordinator and assistant head coach, was the next-in-line candidate for OSU’s head coaching vacancy once Les Miles left for Louisiana State University. At-the-time OSU President David Schmidly called it “the worst-kept secret in Oklahoma."The day before he was told he was going to be named the leading man, Gundy went to the OSU president’s house and met with Schmidly and the OSU/A&amp;M Board of Regents. They may have been “quizzing” Gundy, as he recalls it. They asked him questions for “about an hour” before he left.“They sent me home, and then the next day they said, ‘We’re gonna name you as the head coach,’” Gundy said. “They didn’t ask about money; they didn’t ask about a contract; they didn’t do anything.”Gundy must’ve passed the quiz then, and he must still be passing it now. He’s in his 20th season at OSU — which is by far the longest-tenured football coach in school history — and has completely changed the image and trajectory of the Cowboys’ program.‘Just got lucky’Gundy said he “didn’t have a clue” about what to do when he was named head coach.His parents flew in from Miami, Florida, for his introductory press conference because his brother, Cale, was coaching Oklahoma’s running backs in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 5. They flew in and flew back out.Once the presser was done, Joyce Robbins, Gundy's former administrative assistant, told him that his office was unlocked.“I went in there and shut the door and just sat at my desk, and I thought, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do now,’” Gundy said.Luckily, he wasn’t asked what his first move as head coach would be at the president’s house.“I can make some sh*t up,” Gundy said with a smile. “That I could do… I could’ve made something up, but the truth of the matter was, I had no clue what to do. Just got lucky.”What he did in that office, though, was begin writing on a piece of paper what he thought he needed to do to get started. The first decision was to contact Joe Deforest, the special teams coordinator, and “talk him into staying.”Deforest was the only coach from the 2004 season who stayed on staff. He was promoted to associate head coach.“He and I started working together to do the rest,” Gundy said.The first gameAfter OSU defeated Division I-AA Montana State 15-10 in his first game as head coach, Gundy gave credit to the opposing team’s staff and shared a familiar message — even 20 years later — about “fun” close games.“Now, that was fun,” he said. “You guys thought I was not having fun. I was having a good time. I found myself being more of a cheerleader in the first game more than anything.”It was an ugly game. An “awful” one, as Gundy recalls it 20 years later.“We went right down the field the first time we touched the ball and scored and got a 2-point conversion, and after that, we scored one more time,” Gundy said.OSU outgained the Bobcats 378-254, but the Cowboys had two turnovers compared to Montana State’s one. Not to mention, Donovan Woods and Bobby Reid split snaps at quarterback. Not the kind of game folks typically have watched in the Gundy era.But looking back at that season — the only one in the last 19 that’s ended without a bowl game appearance — it was laying the foundation for the new, golden era of Cowboy football.Gundy repeated often that he got “lucky” when recalling moments from him getting the job and his first season. But the same things that he said got him the job are the same things still radiating off of OSU’s program today.Hard work. Discipline. And so on. They were the "only things" that saved him.It's what nailed him his "dream job.""People in this profession will tell you that you are never supposed to let the administration know that you are at your final destination," Gundy said at his intro presser. "I do not have a problem with that, because I am just fired up to be at Oklahoma State."</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Gundy's 20th: Mike Gundy recalls getting 'lucky' landing the OSU job, his first game as head coach

Editor's note: This is a story from \"Gundy's 20th,\" The O'Colly's weekly series to commemorate OSU football head coach Mike Gundy's 20th season as the leading man. This week, we talk about Gundy getting the OSU job and his first game. Mike Gundy doesn’t remember much about his first day...

Editor's note: This is a story from "Gundy's 20th," The O'Colly's weekly series to commemorate OSU football head coach Mike Gundy's 20th season as the leading man. This week, we talk about Gundy getting the OSU job and his first game. Mike Gundy doesn’t remember much about his first day...