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Gundy's tirade could hurt him in long run

Oklahoma St. coach is a YouTube star, and we just can't stop watching

MSNBC video
Oklahoma State coach lashes out
Sept. 23, 2007: Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy defends his quarterback and screams at a reporter in a memorable, passionate outburst.

Then again, a ranting coach does not automatically become an Internet superstar. Timing matters as much as what is said. That Gundy chose a postgame press conference after his own team’s victory to go off lent an extra air of bizarreness to his rant. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach went on his own half-cracked rant about his own team after the same game: “All we wanted to do was have pouty expressions on our face until somebody daubed out little tears and made us (expletive) feel better. And then we’d go out there and try harder once our mommies told us we were OK.”

Apparently Leach isn’t as understanding as Gundy—who said Carlson’s article was handed to him “by a mother—a mother of children”—about the needs to cry in your mother’s shoulder.

Timing also means having cameras around. Navy football coach Paul Johnson, in a news conference last week, had some beautiful responses to a reporter’s question about whether he’s taking too much credit when Navy wins, and not enough blame when he loses.

Johnson, as quoted in Navy’s official transcript, punctuates his tirade by saying: “If you could ever find one time that I said we won the game because of brilliant strategy I will kiss your butt at city dock and give you two days to draw a crowd. Find it and bring it to me. Tell that guy that if he wants to talk to me I live at (address given but deleted for the transcript) I will be right there. Come ring my doorbell and I will be glad to talk to him.”

Alas, the only attendees were a reporter from the Annapolis Capital (the one who got Johnson going), another from the Washington Post, and someone from Navy Radio. No Internet superstardom here.

But the Big 12 has more coaches auditioning to be Internet superstars. Kansas coach Mark Mangino could have been an Internet star from the video posted of him going crazy on a player who had drawn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for doing a Reggie Bush-like dive across the goal line. But his problem in timing was that it was so appropriate.

Mangino was rightly upset, although as Mangino spits out f-bombs like broken teeth, you start to get worried that the corpulent coach is going to have a heart attack on the spot.

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Colorado’s Dan Hawkins did become a star, though, with his rant against players’ parents who thought his practice schedule was too demanding. Channeling Hulk Hogan, Hawkins’ “this ain’t intramurals, brother!” will be in the first two paragraphs of Hawkins’ obituary.

Still, Hawkins can’t compete with Gundy, who will be up there with Jim Mora’s “Playoffs?” Herman Edwards’ “You play to win the game!” and Dennis Green’s “They are who we thought they were!” as all-time Internet video stars from the coaching world.

For good and bad, recruits certainly will know Gundy when he contacts them. So will their mothers.

Bob Cook is a contributor to msnbc.com and a freelance writer based in Chicago.


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