Gundy on 2012: 'I expect to win a lot of football games’
Published: 4/3/2012 4:09 PM
Last Modified: 4/11/2012 11:40 AM
Mike Gundy. KT King/For the Tulsa World
However, his best coaching job occurred in 2009, when Gundy squeezed nine victories from a team that didn’t have any business finishing above .500. Running back Kendall Hunter missed about half the season with a foot injury. Quarterback Zac Robinson had hamstring and shoulder issues. Middle linebacker Orie Lemon missed the entire season because of a knee injury. After only three games, All-American wide receiver Dez Bryant was suspended for the rest of the season.
With OSU superstars Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon having departed for the NFL, will the 2012 season resemble 2009? Will Gundy and his assistants have to coach their guts out in order to reach the eight-win level? Or has OSU’s overall talent level improved to the point that a 10-2 season is possible?
Comparing the 2012 Cowboys to their 2009 predecessors, Gundy said, “I think we have more depth and more speed and athleticism.”
Only one Cowboy – sixth-year senior guard Jonathan Rush –has been on an OSU team that recorded fewer than nine victories. During Rush’s redshirt season in 2007, OSU was 7-6. The Cowboys were 9-4 in 2008, 9-4 in 2009, 11-2 in 2010 and 12-1 last season. Even with a new quarterback, new receivers and new defensive ends, Gundy says the program is conditioned to expect a high level of success.
OSU players “understand winning,” Gundy said. “It’s our responsibility as a coaching staff to put them into position to win again, and if they start winning, they’ll get right back in the same frame of mind they were in. . . . (In 2010), we were able to win 11 when a lot of people thought we would only win six or seven.
“Preseason magazines aren’t going to be that fired up about us. We’re not going to be ranked very high, but I expect our players to play very well. . . . I expect to win a lot of football games.”
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
