STILLWATER — With a new staff of offensive and defensive assistants, spring has brought a lot of change around Oklahoma State football, and not just in personnel or play calls.
“Do you still have your ‘no cussing’ rule for your coaching staff?” a media member asked coach Mike Gundy prior to Tuesday’s workout.
The tiny smile Gundy seemed to be trying to contain answered the question before his words did.
“No, not now,” he said.
For more than a decade, Gundy has at least tried to limit the number of swear words from the mouths of his assistants, but it seems that rule went out with the former coaches.
But why?
“One, I can’t hear very good anymore, and I’m up top, so I have selective hearing just like I do when I’m at home at night,” Gundy cracked. “We minimize it. We do have signals that if I think it gets out of control, somebody can go over there and we can calm it down some.
“The one thing I do have is we don’t direct it as a person. The broad (swearing), OK, but we don’t direct it at a player.”
Truthfully, most 20-year-old football players are neither surprised nor offended to hear a few F-bombs flying around the practice field.
The bigger picture that the colorful language represents is an increased intensity in practices. And players appreciate it.
“Yeah, I love that,” cornerback Cam Smith said. "To have that here, that’s really gonna take our defense to the next level because you know if you don’t bring that same energy, every play, every second, you gonna hear about it from somebody. So I just love it.”
While the offensive staff certainly has more characters than previously, the defensive staff is where the change is most notable. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has old-school roots, though he has adapted to the current culture of the game.
But on the practice field, he coaches on fire. And he hired coaches who he had worked with in the past, so many of them are similar — like defensive line coach Ryan Osborn.
"Shoot, he's all over the place,” defensive tackle Iman Oates said with a big mile. “He’s relatable, but he can also teach like no coach that I've had before. The knowledge of the game, the way he gives the information is, it makes it hard not to be able to learn it.
“Having that juice come from your coach, he has the energy and he brings it, we bring it, he brings it out of us, and it has been great.”
The Cowboys have only been on the field for a handful of practices so far, but none of them were surprised to see the energy their ...
