STILLWATER — Mike Gundy is a fan of Bedlam in April, and he’s not talking about softball.
The Oklahoma State football coach pitched the idea that the Cowboys should pair up with OU for a spring scrimmage rather than the fan showcase type of events that programs are moving toward in spring. The Cowboys are set to host theirs April 19.
“Honestly for us, we should do a home-and-home with OU in the spring,” Gundy said Tuesday as his team was beginning its first practice of spring ball. “They should come here on the 19th and we should go down there and play a home-and-home in the spring with them. Charge 25 bucks a head. They can use it for NIL, we can use it for NIL.
“If they don’t want to do two in one year, we can do it here this year, do it there next year and split the gate.”
Many college football coaches have begun to follow the path set by Gundy in veering away from traditional spring scrimmages as a fan spectacle. The Cowboys instead plan to hold a more typical practice inside Boone Pickens Stadium.
And now, Colorado coach Deion Sanders is seeking permission to hold joint practices and a scrimmage with Syracuse this spring.
Gundy likes the idea.
“We get tired of practicing against each other,” Gundy said. “It’s not gonna be a live game. I don’t know what (OU coach Brent) Venables would say, but I would be concerned with making it live because of injury. But nobody really has live scrimmages anymore, so you make it a full thud like we’re doing and practice against them, like they do in the NFL.”
OSU hasn’t hosted a spring game the past two years while Boone Pickens Stadium was undergoing major seating upgrades. However, before that, Gundy had begun altering the format of the spring finale to be more of a practice-style event, which is what he envisions in a Bedlam scrimmage.
Gundy said he hasn’t reached out to Venables about the idea, but suggested some individual work, 7-on-7, drills for linemen and a 30-minute period of team scrimmaging as part of the event.
“All of us as coaches are in fear of the portal,” Gundy said. “They fear potential tampering. They fear putting it on TV. They fear making a depth chart and their players getting upset and leaving. And then injury.
“So it makes sense to go down and scrimmage them. You would get a more competitive atmosphere. I would like to see our guys compete against them in the spring to see where we’re at.”
Gundy unsure what to expect in spring
With an almost entirely new coaching staff and a large group of new players, Gundy said he can’t really predict what this spring is going to feel like.
“I’m not sure, it’s the first time I’ve ever been through this,” said Gundy, who is entering his 21st year as the Cowboys’ head coach. “I’ve not had staff changes that amount to what we’re talking about, and certainly not the numbers with players.
“But the genie’s not going back in the bottle. We’re basically going toward the NFL. The NFL has free agency, we have free agency. So we have to get used to it.”
The Cowboys are coming off a 3-9 season, the worst in Gundy’s tenure. He hired new offensive and defensive coordinators and worked with them to fill positions on their staffs with new coaches as well.
“I’ll feel my way through it over the next six months and see how it feels,” Gundy said. “It’s been OK. Once we got settled in after about a month of offseason training, it felt normal.”
What does Gundy expect from quarterbacks?
OSU enters the spring without an established starter and four players capable of competing for the job in Garret Rangel, Zane Flores, Maealiuaki Smith and Hauss Hejny.
What will Gundy be looking for from them this spring?
“I want somebody to take control,” he said. “Leadership.You gotta be productive at that position, we all know that. Doesn’t make a difference if you’re Pop Warner, junior high, high school, any level of college or NFL, you’re gonna go as your quarterback goes, for the most part.
“Hopefully somebody will take control and show us the production we’re looking for to get to a point where we’re comfortable to start building the system based on who that player is.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mike Gundy proposes Bedlam spring football game between OU, OSU
