POSSE August 2009

THE THEBOYS BOYSARE AREBACK BACK

GUNDY, GUNDY, YOUNG YOUNG && BREWER BREWER TALK TALK '09 '09 COWBOY COWBOY FOOTBALL FOOTBALL

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LETTER«from»MIKE

contributors Welcome back to another year of Oklahoma State athletics.

POSSE DIRECTOR Jesse Martin

Our students are back on campus and fall is right around the corner.

PROGRAMS COORDINATOR/BENEFITS Mary Lewis

I want to thank each of you for purchasing season tickets for football and encouraging your friends to do the same. Your efforts have enabled us to set another record for ticket sales in 2009.

DONOR RELATIONS Ellen Ayres

Mike Gundy and the football team have worked hard and have generated more excitement about OSU. Our presence on the cover of Sports Illustrated and exciting news about recruitment made the summer a lot of fun.

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT Stephanie Boese

All of you are invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony, which officially dedicates the new Boone Pickens Stadium. It is immediately following “The Walk” on September 5.

I hope all of you will join me as we cheer on our soccer and football teams this fall.

PUBLICATIONS COORDINATOR Clay Billman

CLUB SEAT COORDINATOR Matt Grantham PREMIUM SERVICES Karyl Henry PROJECT MANAGER Shawn Taylor DIRECTOR of MARKETING Kyle Wray EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Cory Cheney ART DIRECTOR|DESIGNER Kim Butcher CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS Kevin Cate, Austin Hillard DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Phil Shockley CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Gary Lawson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Clay Billman, Matt Elliott PHOTO CREDITS Phil Shockley: 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14-15, 18, 21, 22-23, 26, 28-31, 36-39, 42-47, 52- 57, 58, 73, 74, 79, 80, 82 Gary Lawson: 9, 68 ADVERTISING: 405.744.7301 EDITORIAL: 405.744.7192 OSU POSSE 102 ATHLETICS CENTER STILLWATER, OK 74078-5070 P: 405.744.7301 / 877.2B.POSSE F: 405.744.9084 WWW.OKSTATEPOSSE.COM POSSE@OKSTATE.EDU The Oklahoma State University Athletic Department would like to thank John Clerico for his vision and dedication to our athletic programs. His generosity has made POSSE magazine possible.

the PLAYBOOK Cover photo by Phil Shockley

FEATURES 28. FOOTBALL: BRANDON PETTIGREW 36. Q&A: MIKE GUNDY 40. SOCCER: YOLANDA ODENYO 46. FOOTBALL: YOUNG & BREWER 54. GOLF: COWBOY PRO-AM 60. EQUESTRIAN: LARRY SANCHEZ 70. THE WEST ENDZONE

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5 PHOTO BY PHIL SHOCKLEY

the PLAYBOOK

COMPLIANCE It is hard to imagine, but it has been two years since my first compliance article graced the pages of POSSE magazine in August 2007. If you are anything like me, chances are you have slept since then and might benefit from a general refresher course in NCAA rules. All members of the POSSE are considered Representatives of Athletic Interests (boosters) under NCAA rules, so it is important that you are generally aware of the rules that impact your relationships with our studentathletes and prospects.

1. What is an extra-benefit and why do I need to know this term? a. An extra benefit is anything that is provided to a student-athlete or a student-athlete’s family and friends by an institutional staff member or a booster that is not available to the general student body or general public under the same terms. Providing anything considered an extra-benefit to one of our student-athletes or their family/friends jeopardizes their eligibility to compete for OSU. The following are some common examples of extra benefits: i. Cash, loans, or co-signing a loan on behalf of a student-athlete; ii. Free or reduced services (e.g. free oil change, laundry, car detailing); iii. Providing free lodging or rental property at a reduced rate; iv. Free or reduced-cost meals and drinks v. Providing tickets to concerts, sporting events, and other entertainment activities; vi. Any other gifts or presents, even for special occasions (e.g. Birthday, Christmas, etc.)

2. What are the general rules surrounding boosters and recruiting? a. Boosters should not be involved in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes.

A prospective student-athlete is anyone who has started classes for the ninth grade. The best rule of thumb is to refer any questions about OSU athletics to our staff and do not attempt to influence a prospect’s decision to attend OSU. Remember that only members of the coaching staff may be actively involved in the recruiting process.

Sports Illustrated cover photo by Peter Read Miller

DEPAR TMENTS 14. THE DONORS: RICK AND RODETTE GREEN 16. WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: TERRY HENLEY 18. FIRST & 10: DAVE SMITH 24. THE 150 82. WRAY-VINGS

3.Are student-athletes allowed to be employed? a.Yes, it is permissible for student-athletes to be legitimately employed. However, it is important to remember the following guidelines regarding the employment of student-athletes: i. The job must be registered with the Compliance Office prior to the studentathlete beginning any employment duties ii. The student-athlete must be paid for work actually performed iii. The student-athlete must be paid the going rate for the position iv. A student-athlete may not be compensated for any value or utility they may bring to an employer because of their athletics reputation or affiliation v. A student-athlete’s name may not be used to promote a commercial business Please remember that it is always a good idea to ask before you act. If you are ever unsure about a particular situation, our office would be more than happy to help. You can contact me 405-7448166. Compliance is a shared responsibility for all OSU fans and I appreciate you taking the time to familiarize yourself with the rules! Thanks and Go Pokes!

Ben Dyson Assistant AD for Compliance

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the letter

dear cowboy fans: When people think of Oklahoma State Athletics, they think of family, tradition, pride and success.These are characteristics that come not only from our players and coaches, but also from our fans and donors.I want to personally thank all of the current POSSE members, our most loyal and passionate supporters, who have helped us become the home of 48 NCAA National Championships.

The changes that are underway in your Athletic Department are laying the foundation for one of the most exciting and energizing eras in OSU Athletics history. You are an integral part of these changes. Your participation in the POSSE allows us to continue our investment in our sports so that results can be realized. These results come in the form of student athlete academic success stories, community involvement, competitive and entertaining athletic events,and of course, conference and post-season championships.

I continue to be proud of the accomplishments of our current POSSE Members. You help make Oklahoma State a better place for our

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student-athletes and our coaches; because of that we have a lot to look forward to in 2009.

The POSSE is the driving force of Oklahoma State Athletics. Without the generous support of our 9,000 plus POSSE members, the experience of our student-athletes at Oklahoma State University wouldn't be the same. Your contributions help us provide scholarships, build better facilities, and enrich the educations and lives of over 450 student-athletes.

We are currently undergoing a membership drive in the POSSE with a goal of attaining 10,000 members. This would put us near the top of the Big 12 Conference – right where we belong – in terms of fundraising. To achieve this goal, we have to increase our marketing efforts and spread awareness of the POSSE. One phase of our membership initiative was an e-mail campaign that launched this summer. As a result of this online endeavor, we are proud to welcome more than 150 new members into the POSSE! These patrons hail from Oklahoma and Texas, of course,

but we’ve also seen supporters join from Georgia to Oregon, Maryland to California, Nebraska, Arizona, Illinois, Alabama, and all points in between.

If you are reading this message in the POSSE Magazine, then it’s likely you already contribute to OSU Athletics as a member of the POSSE; thank you for your support and for being a part of our family. If you haven't or know someone who may like to join, please call us at 877-2B-POSSE (877-227-6773) or visit okstateposse. com. Annual contributions to Athletics totaling $150 or more qualify for membership in the POSSE, and every member counts!

Remember, our success on the field brings pride to everyone in the Cowboy family, and it cannot be achieved without everyone’s participation. We have made some exciting changes within OSU Athletics. We will continue to serve and to listen to you, and we thank you for your continued support.

The POSSE is your Team Behind the Teams.

Jesse Martin

Two Stillwater Locations Now Open!

( L to R) Chris Batchelder, OSU Alumni (‘95) and Vice President of Commercial Lending, Arvest Bank - Stillwater; and Don Gable, OSU Alumni (‘78) and President, Arvest Bank - Stillwater

Arvest Bank already has more banking offices in Oklahoma than anyone else, so just about anywhere you live in the state, we’re ready to serve you.

We’ve expanded into Stillwater, home of the Cowboys. And who better to lead our Stillwater expansion than two OSU alumni, Don Gable and Chris Batchelder? Don, Chris and the entire team of Arvest bankers are ready to serve you at either of our new branches — located at 5215 W. 6th and 524 N. Main. Our ATM at 139 S. Knoblock is conveniently located close to the OSU campus.

If you’re ready to switch to Oklahoma’s most convenient bank, stop by your local Arvest Bank today. And if you’re in Stillwater, give Don or Chris a call at 405-385-5801.

ATM - 139 S. Knoblock St.

now open - 5215 W. 6th Ave.

OPEN 8 TO 8

now open - 524 N. Main St.

photo by Gary Lawson

photo by Phil Shockley

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the donors

Banking on our Future tillwater National Bank sits among the top 25 contributors to the Oklahoma State athletic department. As generous as the institution has been to OSU, it’s difficult to write a story about a bank.

Instead, you have to look behind the name and see the people who work for SNB, who guide it and who understand the mutually beneficial relationship between the bank and the university.

People like Southwest Bancorp CEO Rick Green and his wife Rodette.

The two met in Altus, Okla., in high school, married and had a son before moving to Stillwater. The bank and the town have had a profound effect on their lives. They first arrived in Stillwater in 1966, and in that time, have seen a lot of change in the bank, school and town.

“When we got here, Joe’s wasn’t Joe’s,” says Green, “It was a little grocery store. Next door, which is now part of Joe’s, was called Williams Dining Hall, and for a buck, you could eat all you wanted. There was a drive-in movie theatre behind the Sonic on Main Street.

Duck Street even had an island down the middle of it. Lewis Field was in its original state of rust and disrepair.”

At that time, they were the third generation of their family to attend OSU. “Our son, Todd, and our daughter, Staci, both graduated from here, and now our granddaughter is about to graduate from high school and enter OSU,” says Green.

“And to think, it all started with my grandfather, Jess Green, who was followed here by his son, my dad, William Elbert Green. It’s fun to think about all that background.”

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Green still has his grandfather’s original sheepskin (diploma), and a panoramic photo of his grandfather’s entire OSU graduating class. To say OSU is in the family genes is fairly accurate when it comes to the Greens.

“We take pride in saying we’ll a five generation OSU family,” says Green. “Our family has an agricultural background, and came from small communities,” says Green.

“They were people who lived close to their relatives. In coming to OSU, we took a big risk. We left behind families that lived modestly, all worked hard, had plenty to eat and were happy, well-adjusted folks.

They’ve always appreciated the role OSU has played in their lives, in particular, the opportunities their OSU education has afforded them. That appreciation has also inspired the Greens to give back to the university and the community, and like many supporters, they consider it not just a duty, but an investment.

“It’s an investment we believe is being made to directly benefit our family,” says Green. “We’re imagining we’ll have all three of our granddaughters go to OSU in the near term, and whatever little amount we may be able to give the university is an investment in the continuation of preparing people to be good servants and to find things that allow others to be able to continue to improve everyone’s quality of life.

“Certainly, the people who educated us put us in a position to be responsible citizens, to be people who could help make decisions that bettered a way of life for others. By giving back, we’re investing in that kind of future for our own family and others.”

In addition to OSU being good for the

Greens, they’re very thankful for the role Stillwater has had in their lives as well.

“Stillwater represented a tremendous step in our lives,” says Green. “It was comfortable for us and our family, and that had a lot to do with our core values in agriculture and people. Certainly, it represented a good education. We had full professors in most all our classes. We got to know their names, and interacted with them publicly. It felt like home.”

So much so, they never bothered to leave.

“People feel the way about Oklahoma State and Stillwater that they do when they go on vacation to their favorite spot,” says Green. “They always like to go back, always have fond memories. That’s the way Stillwater has always been to us, even though we live here.

“People we know always say, ‘If I ever can, I’ll move to Stillwater to live or retire, because that’s the place I was the happiest.’

That’s something Rodette and I get to enjoy every day.”

Green took a job in 1967 with SNB doing, “whatever they told me.” The bank has allowed Rick and Rodette to “live the Cowboy dream.” He worked his way through the organization and became CEO of Southwest Bancorp, Inc., SNB’s parent company, in 1999 and has held the position ever since.

As an employer in Stillwater, Green is particularly happy with SNB’s continued relationship with OSU. “Stillwater National Bank has been in business since 1894. OSU was established in 1892. So we’re in sync with the evolution of what the university has become,” he says.

“The bank has always recognized that it’s a benefactor of the university’s economic stability to this town and region. We have to give back to help OSU to have the resources it needs to continue to grow and prosper.

“I think it’s the right thing to do. It’s very obviously the right thing to do, in terms of supporting the tremendous asset the university is to this community. I think Stillwater National Bank’s support of OSU sets the right tone for the value OSU plays, not only in this community, but to the state of Oklahoma. OSU is the gem of education in Oklahoma, arguably, and Stillwater is what it is today because of OSU.”

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photo by Phil Shockley

where are they now?

»Terry

HENLEY

Hometown » Crescent, Okla.

Sport » Football Position » Defensive Back Years Competed » 1988-1993 Degree » B.A., Sociology Current Job » Sr. Academic Counselor, OSU Football Current Residence » Stillwater Life after OSU » Upon graduating, I moved to Oklahoma City and spent seven years working as a mental health counselor specializing in gang at-risk youth, as well as children who suffered from abuse. During that time, I also completed a master’s degree in human relations from the University of Oklahoma.

Hobbies/Interests » Reading is probably my greatest passion.

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Family » My 16-year-old daughter, Kortnee, is absolutely, positively the love of my life, as well as the wind beneath my wings.

Best OSU memory » My best OSU memory would be attending the protest march the Black Student Association organized following the Rodney King beating/L.A. Riots. It was the fi rst time in my life I truly grasped that there were greater forces going on in the world beyond school and football.

Furthermore, I will never forget the fact that Coach (Pat) Jones did not discourage us from doing so. He didn’t have to do that.

Thoughts about your time as an OSU student-athlete » My time here as a student-athlete was one of the greatest periods of my life. The mental and physical toughness it took to play for Coach Jones at this level is ingrained in me to this day. Because I survived that, while at the same time earning a degree, I feel there isn’t anything that I can’t overcome or accomplish.

Best performance as a Cowboy » The best game I played was probably against Nebraska in ’92 when I had about 15 tackles. However, it is never a good thing for a cornerback to lead the team in tackles for any particular game. Not surprisingly, we were completely blown out that day.

Talk about the role you play with the academic support team » The relationship I have with the players is very special. I am often their biggest fan as well

as being their greatest critic, and demand that they develop not only as students, but human beings as well. I treat them as if they were my sons.

What do you think of the new Cowboy football facilities and resurgence of the program? » The transformation in facilities is nothing short of amazing. In addition, the direction the program is heading in is just as — or more — exciting for me than the average fan. You leave the program, but the program never leaves you. Also, there are some incredible young men and coaches in that locker room who have worked extremely hard to get this team to where it is now.

Do you still keep in touch with former teammates? » The teammate I keep in touch with the most is my former roommate, Daryl McCown. We’re as close as brothers and have kind of “grown up” together as friends as well as fathers over the past 20 years.

What was it like to scrimmage against Barry Sanders? » At the time, Barry had yet to burst onto the scene.

However, scrimmaging against him, you could just tell that this guy was going to be great. His legs were as strong as pillars of marble.

Did you ever intercept Mike Gundy in practice? » No. I never intercepted Mike. He was scared to death to throw my way while I was on the scout team. In fact, he probably still harbors nightmares about me prowling in the defensive backfield during practice.

T

POSSE 09

o

1990 Baseball

2008 Men’s Basketball

1984 OSU Rodeo Association

2006 Women’s Basketball 1979 Football

2003 Wrestling 1992 Softball

Your gifts to OSU reflect not only your giving portrait, but also your orange passion. That passion is different for every person, family or group. Kent and Barbara Houck’s portrait demonstrates their lifelong passion and support of OSU athletics. This picture illustrates just a fraction of the Houcks’ many gifts supporting our Cowboys and Cowgirls.

Photo provided by Ken Helt

Thank you Kent and Barbara Houck for your gifts to Oklahoma State. oklahoma state university foundation | 400 s. monroe | stillwater, ok | 1.800.622.4678

Share your orange passion with us @ OSUgiving.com/OrangePassion.

FIRST & TEN

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Dave Smith

Dave Smith spent his collegiate career running in extreme conditions. Not the 105 degree summers of Oklahoma, but the -30 degree wind chills of Michigan.

He was a conference champion in the 10,000m at Michigan State in 1993, and earned All-Big Ten honors four times during his collegiate career. After graduating in 1993, Smith went on to graduate school at the University of Washington, earning his Ph.D. in pharmacology in 2000.

All that time, he volunteered as a coach.

After finishing graduate school, he made coaching runners a career.

Smith came to OSU from Texas Tech, where he’d been the men’s and women’s head cross country coach. He took the job for the opportunity to work with then-head coach Dick Weis, and because of the program’s tradition.

“I got to know coach Weis over the years,” says Smith. “He’s one of the people in the sport I always looked up to. During meets, I’d go find him and pick his brain.

This program has also had a lot of success in the events I’m closest to. So when the opportunity to come up came, I jumped at it.”

He started at OSU in 2002 as assistant head coach to Weis, and became the Cowboys Cross Country head coach in 2006.

Since then, both Smith and the program have been collecting awards and championships, and is on the rise. This year, Smith was promoted to Director of Track and Field and Cross Country.

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How old were you when you started running?

I started running in sixth grade. I was probably 12. I was good at it. I found success early. It’s a sport where you get rewarded for hard work, and I like that aspect of it. You’re independent. You’re not dependent on how your teammates train.

I think it’s a blue collar sport. The recipe

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for success, at least at that age, was simple: The harder you work, the more you run, the better you’re going to be.

Do you have a running philosophy?

For me personally, and what I hope to teach student-athletes, is that it’s not just running, it’s the way you approach everything in life. It’s a mindset. You have to approach it with seriousness and dedication. You can’t pick and choose what you’re going to be successful at. Success is a way of life. You have to approach everything that is important in your life with the same passion and commitment.

When did you know you wanted to coach?

I started pretty early. In college, I’d go work with local YMCA clubs. Some of the runners were four-year-olds. I loved it. What do you do with four year olds? I’d have them play tag all afternoon for their “workouts.” The younger the athlete, the more you see the joy and fun in what we do.

Athletics can become awfully serious and some of the fun can be taken away. I started thinking about it as a career in grad school.

I was volunteering with the University of Washington teams and one day, I just woke up and thought, this is something I do for free, but what if I could make a living doing it? Now, my job never really feels like work.

If I was an instant millionaire and could do anything in the world, I’d still be doing this.

How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I’m passionate about what I’m doing. I love working with student-athletes. I think I’m probably pretty hard on them at times.

I have very high expectations, but, I think the higher the expectations, the higher the performance. I think I’m very approachable.

I honestly look at coaching distance runners as a partnership with the athletes. I take a lot of feedback and input from each athlete on his or her training and racing schedules.

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photo by Phil Shockley

Hopefully, we have an environment here that’s demanding, intense and a lot of hard work, but equally rewarding and fun because of that. To really be good at something you have to be passionate about it, and to be passionate about it, you have to enjoy doing it. I hope when the athletes come to practice, it’s the highlight of their day even when it’s a hard workout. I hope when they finish and move on that time spent up at the track or over on the cross country course training with their teammates represents their best memories of their time here at OSU. What were your expectations of the job when you started at OSU? I wanted to win a national championship. I wanted to win the Big 12. OSU had never won the Big 12, but had won a national championship in 1954. I wanted to do big things. Coach Weis had really turned the men’s program around. There are very few NCAA Division I teams that have actually been on the trophy stand (top 4 nationally) in the past 30 years, and OSU had done it twice in the ten years

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before I arrived, so I knew it could be done here. I hoped to win the national championship in five years, and now I’m entering my eighth year without a title. But we’re closing in on it.

What are the challenges of coaching at OSU? Every track and cross country program has its list of deficiencies and advantages. I try to focus more on the advantages. We have a great cross country course on campus, maybe the best on-campus course in the country. There are very few programs that have one like we do, and that’s priceless. It’s the same with all of the dirt roads. We’re losing some but there are still a lot around, especially if we can get in vans and drive out a few miles. The thing about this sport is that we need lots of room to run.

Some of these guys are running as much as 120 miles per week, 17 miles a day!

They need places to run where they don’t have to worry about traffic or getting hit by speeding cars. The dirt roads are great for that. A city trail system would improve things immensely. On the more challenging side, Oklahoma can be extremely hot in the summer and cold in the winter and that can make training tough. Some of our other facilities aren’t the best. We don’t have an outdoor track we can compete on.

We don’t have an indoor track. But, when it’s time to compete we don’t get a head start at any race due to our specific situation. There are no asterisks, so it doesn’t do any good to focus on what somebody else has that we don’t.

As the newly minted Director of Track and Field and Cross Country, what is your vision for the program?

I want it to be a program that represents OSU, Stillwater and the state well, one that constantly strives for excellence and does everything with class and integrity. I want it to be the type of program that all OSU fans, even those not real familiar with our sport, are proud of, not only for our athletic

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03.01

performances but also with our approach in the classroom and how we handle ourselves in the community. I want it to be the type of program that recruits, athletes, coaches and parents will look at think, “those are the type of people I want to be around or that I want my kid or my athlete to be around.” Hopefully, we become consistent contenders for conference and national championships and when fans of the sport think of collegiate track and cross country they instinctively think of OSU. What does your Ph.D. bring to your job?

It brings patience and wisdom. A Ph.D. in science is frustrating. You have to create a project where you’re finding something novel.

You don’t graduate until you find something novel, so more than anything, I learned patience, tenacity and my stick-to-it-iveness.

As a preliminary for my degree, I had to learn a lot of physiology, but I think coaching distance running is more an art than a science.

I’ve seen some of the best physiologists in the country decide to be coaches and fail miserably, and some of the best coaches in the country can’t even spell physiology.

What do you think about this year’s team? Is a national championship a possibility?

It’s possible. I think we’re one of the top 10 teams for sure. I think if we stay healthy, prepare the way we can and get to the national championships with all cylinders firing, we’re a very tough team to beat. There are three or four teams that are really good and there are some teams I’m not even thinking of that’ll jump up. In the last 20 years, only five teams have won a national championship. Only nine teams in the last 40 years have won a title. It’s really tough to win.

How good is German Fernandez going to be? Is he going to stick around for four years?

The sky is the limit. There’s no way to put a number or a level on it. He’s got unbelievable talent, but as talented as he is, he works even harder. He is competitive and he has tremendous desire. If he has an

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POSSE 09

Achilles heel, it is that he is willing to do too much. He is willing to overwork himself.

Part of our job as a coaching staff is pulling him back and telling him to be patient. We have to caution him and ourselves to not be greedy or get in too much of a hurry pursuing his goals. He’s only 18. Distance runners don’t peak until their mid to late twenties. I think he’s got to be handled carefully. He still needs to be protected and nurtured a little.

He’s a big part of our program right now. He’s a big part of our exposure.

German drew a lot of Internet, print and even television publicity for our whole team.

He’s the visible name. He’s the one who stands out, the lightning rod. He draws the attention to our team. The rest of the guys that work just as hard as German does are now getting more of the recognition that they deserve. He gets interview requests and autograph requests. Track fans want their pictures taken with him. I think it is all very flattering, but at the same time it comes with responsibility, a little bit of a burden and can be a little overwhelming at times.

German wants to exhaust his eligibility running for OSU. He really wants to graduate. He loves being on the team. He is an incredibly loyal, team-oriented guy, and the collegiate system is really the last chance one has to be on a true team in either track or cross country. He likes the college atmosphere. He’s a serious student and he’s done a fantastic job in school. His GPA is just over 3.5 and he has done that while missing a lot of school for competitions all over the country and the world. He works really, really hard. He exemplifies the attitude I was talking about earlier; you can’t say “I’m going to strive for excellence in my running and settle for mediocrity in everything else.”

Excellence is a state of mind, a way of life.

He embodies that philosophy.

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25

ou’d think Brandon Pettigrew could’ve taken a break. Put his feet up. Taken a quick vacation. Perhaps a jaunt down to Cabo. Maybe spend some time on the beach using that 6-feet 5-inch 260-pound, near-zero body-fat physique to impress the ladies instead of tossing aside hapless defenders.

But that’s not Brandon. He was projected a fi rst-round pick in the NFL Draft, but that wasn’t set in stone. He had a lot of work to do.

Hundreds of thousands of players dream of an NFL career, but the likelihood that they’ll end up being one of the 32 players taken in the fi rst round, or any round, is beyond minuscule. A high selection in the draft is like winning the lottery.

Vegas has better odds. For Brandon, a fi rst-round selection would mean millions of dollars.

First-round money means he could buy a better house for his mom. He could do some lasting charity work bigger than the usual. He doesn’t want to be stupid with his money, he says, interviewed during the days leading up to the draft in April. He just wants to repay his mom for the years of hard work raising him and his siblings.

So, he knew there was a lot riding on those days before February’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. That’s where

26

dozens of rookies strut their stuff in drills for team coaches and scouts in advance of the draft so they can see whom they like.

The right draft pick can mean everything from a winning season to beaucoup bucks in revenue for pro teams.

“I was trying to prepare myself mentally, too,” he says. “I knew what to expect, and didn’t know what to expect, and you wouldn’t – that’s the advice I would give somebody because you won’t know until you get there.”

So, he selected an agent as soon as he got back from the Holiday Bowl in December. All professional athletes need agents to help them through contract talks.

The endorsement deals alone could be worth more than the economies of small nations. NCAA rules prevent players from signing any contracts during the season, but they allow players to meet with them then, so he wasted no time.

“I did it through my sister. She set it up,” he says. “You just talk to some guys and then set up meetings. Then I had my family come down just to get how they felt about the people. Then, I just made my decision based on who I felt I could have a good relationship with.”

He went with the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Octagon, a 900-employee global sports representation, marketing and consultancy fi rm. Within a few months, he had one of the most widely-known marketing agencies in the world on his side, one that represents about 80 football players as well as musicians, business people and other public figures. A quick look at Octagon’s client list gives an idea.

Clients include Michael Phelps, singer Fergie, the Duchess of York, Giants star defensive end Justin Tuck and retired NFL greats Ronnie Lott and John Elway.

He’s working with Sean Howard, a former UCLA linebacker who, before becoming an agent and an attorney, worked in everything from free-agent strategy to scouting for the 49ers and Green Bay Packers. That inside knowledge of what teams are looking for made him the best choice for Brandon.

“I just felt like he was a fit for me. I just got a good feel for them. I guess you’ve got to go with your gut.”

With the business side out of the way, he could focus on training for the combine.

Graduation would wait. He still had five hours worth of a foreign language to fi nish before graduation, and he made a promise to himself and his mother he would fi nish his degree.

Then, he headed to the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas, run by the Olympic gold medalist of the same name. The center is 20,000 square-feet of everything an elite athlete could want to take their game to the next level, including a rare Nike Sensory Sport

Brandon Pettigrew with the game winning touchdown against Texas Tech.

“In ten years, I want to have been to ten Pro Bowls. I want to be as successful as possible. I want to have dominated the league and I want to have accomplished something with my money and not done something dumb with it. I want to make something more of myself than just football.”

— Pettigrew

photo by GARY LAWSON

Training system to enhance hand-eye coordination. It is one of the best places in the nation for training elite athletes, boasting superstar clients including the 49ers’ Michael Crabtree, the Broncos’ Knowshon Moreno and the Raiders’ Darren McFadden.

In McKinney, he was poked, prodded, tested and driven to the limits of his physical endurance.

“We were working on what we needed to do at the combine, a lot of footwork, a lot of form work. My form was terrible before I got there. I ran slumped over. They were trying to straighten me out.”

At the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., college’s version of the NFL’s Pro Bowl, he had his fi rst meetings with pro coaches eager to learn about the man heralded as the best tight end prospect in the draft.

And before he knew it, it was combine time. Players flocked to the Colts’ stadium, each with dreams of a contract with any team that will take them.

The six-day event takes players through drills and on-the-field tests to show endur-

ance, flexibility, speed and discipline. But coaches also interview the players to learn what makes them tick, their personal habits and quirks.

They pore over game film with players, asking them to analyze what they did right and wrong in the clips. The athletes also undergo drug tests. Orthopedic doctors examine every inch of them. Every possible medical problem is discussed. Injury histories are rehashed. And every behavioral misstep is explained and re-visited, over and over.

In Brandon’s case, that meant he had to explain his arrest in January 2008. He struck a police officer in the chest after a large fight at a Stillwater residence. Originally charged with a felony, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was later sentenced to probation, community service and a fi ne.

The charge was expunged once he fi nished his one-year sentence.

His arrest was a shock to those who knew him within OSU’s athletic department. He had a reputation of doing the right thing and being an example for his 27

Pettigrew coming out of the tunnel before the game against Baylor. photo by PHIL SHOCKLEY

teammates. His arrest was old news in Oklahoma by the time of the combine. Still, the national media mentioned it frequently and coaches quizzed him on it.

“Everybody wanted to know about my incident,” he says. “I was expecting that. I had to explain myself … They already knew, but they wanted to hear it from me. I had to answer that many times.”

The combine held other trials as well.

While doing his 40-yard dash – a drill to determine a player’s speed and acceleration over a short distance – he ran much slower than his training time.

Brandon’s was marred by a confusing miscue and re-start. His fi nal time was 4.8 seconds, not anywhere near what he had ran previously, he says. In the media, the results were pounced on by some and dismissed by others. A few pointed instead to his 28

elusiveness after the catch, his sure hands and blocking skills.

Pettigrew didn’t kick himself too much over it. Afterward, a coach whose name he doesn’t remember told him not to worry about it. No NFL coach will care if a tight end of his level can run the 40 in 4.6 or 4.8 seconds.

“I was really happy that I was there.

There are a lot of football players out there that wanted to be there, and I did my best at the time, and that’s all I can do.”

Afterward, he split his free time between visiting friends in Stillwater and more training in McKinney. He decided to re-run his 40 during Pro Day at OSU, when NFL coaches and scouts check out players outside the combine and get second looks at others.

A scare with his right hamstring before Pro Day put a stop to that.

“It just kind of caught, like balled up on me. It hurt pretty bad,” he says. “I thought it was going to be worse. I pulled up and started hopping on one leg. I didn’t know how bad it was.”

He was counting on his body not to fail him before the draft. His senior season and high school career were marred by injuries and one slip up could have major personal and economic consequences. But in the end, all it meant was his hamstring strain would keep him from working out for coaches who wanted to see him re-run his 40. He later decided to keep his combine time.

Turns it out his combine time wouldn’t matter. Draft day came, and he went back to his mom’s house in Tyler. ESPN and other sports networks had all-day coverage. TVs were set up all over the house. Everybody came out. Family and friends from all over packed inside. They had a big barbecue. By the time the draft started, everyone crowded around. Brandon says he was right there in front.

You might say the house was brought down when the Lions announced him as their 20th pick in the draft, joining hotshot former Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford picked before him.

About that scene, Pettigrew is as he is about a lot of things: a man of few words.

“I was all smiles. I couldn’t really believe it. Long, long time, what I’ve been hoping for, what I’ve been wishing for, and now I’m about to be living my dream.”

At the news, his cell phone blew up with text messages from friends and teammates.

“I got a text message from Kenny (Alexander). He was like, ‘Congratulations, bro, you deserve it.’”

He also heard from OSU tight ends coach Doug Meacham and former OSU offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi.

As far as Detroit is concerned, he’s not worried about playing for a team that went winless last year, the only NFL team to have ever done so. He’s also not concerned that fans at fi rst booed his and Stafford’s draft announcements. He’s just happy to be on a team and have a chance at getting playing time his rookie year. He has no idea where he’ll live in Detroit, and the fi rst time he was there was on his team visits. He says he’ll probably end up renting a place.

There’s just one thing though, about Detroit. He does not like cold weather.

“Somebody just said, ‘Detroit … gonna be cold up there.’ Naw, man. I’m not a fan of cold weather.”

Until he gets a contract, he says he has to support himself with deals including autograph signings. But you won’t catch him complaining. He just hopes he does something worthwhile and doesn’t squander his chance.

“In ten years, I want to have been to ten Pro Bowls. I want to be as successful as possible. I want to have dominated the league and I want to have accomplished something with my money and not done something dumb with it. I want to make something more of myself than just football.”

He’s on his way. As June off season practices were wrapping up, he had already impressed Lions coaches and players. By August, he had signed a five-year deal for an undisclosed amount of cash.

Matt Elliott

Gundy on Pettigrew

hey didn't care if it was raining, snowing, hot, cold, finger broken — that's his nature.

I think because of that, he'll have tremendous success in the NFL because there is a large percentage of guys in the NFL who don't think that way.”

His junior year was his best, statistically.

He made first-team All-Big 12. He caught 35 balls for 540 yards, four touchdowns and made 10 blocks that led to touchdowns. After that, he briefly thought about leaving school early for the draft, but Coach Rob Glass, relying on his experience working with future NFL stars at the University of Florida, talked him out of it, Gundy says.

In 2008, his success continued despite missing three games due to an ankle sprain. But it was all the more sweet as the team finished 9-4 in one of the best seasons in recent memory.

“Senior year was good,” Pettigrew says.

“We started out great. And I was thinking it was that year. We were grinding there for a little bit. But, I got hurt. It killed me when I got hurt in practice and that ankle, but I got back as fast as I could and finished the season up. Didn’t finish it the way I wanted to, but I still thought we had a good season."

After the bowl game loss, he hit the training room and prepared for the Scouting Combine. He ended up joining formerGeorgia star quarterback Matt Stafford in Detroit with the Lions.

All over the nation people learned his name on draft day. TV networks showed over and over last year’s footage of his complete dominance of Texas’s star defensive end and fellow first-round pick Brian Orakpo during a loss to the Longhorns.

Viewers repeatedly saw big No. 87 drive the much-hyped ESPN-darling, no small man himself at 6-foot-4 inches tall and 260 pounds, into the turf during play after play.

That clip alone sent his star power up with fans all over the country, Gundy believes.

“He owned him. He just mauled him.

He’d just take him and just pin him on the ground,” Gundy says.

“He actually had calls in his career when they called holding because the official who was watching, in their mind, could not believe he could maul somebody like that. They would call holding.

We would go back and slow it down on video. You could almost see why they’d call it, but still, he just thumped’em to the ground and mauled’em.”

If Brandon stays healthy, there’s no question he’ll have a long and fruitful career in the NFL, Gundy says.

None of that is news to the Lions.

His coach there, Tim Lappano, speaks reverently of his rookie, describing him as the total package, a tight end that can catch while also having great skills as a blocker.

He’s also flexible despite his size, and has picked up the playbook well in practices.

“He’s a great kid,” Lappano says. “I really, really like him. Number one, he kind of completes our tight end profile. A lot of tight ends coming out of college right now, they’re the hybrid in between the big receiver that can play in the slot. It’s hard to put those guys next to the tackle.”

Brandon can do both. And, astoundingly, he’s got room to add another 15 pounds, Lappano says, and that added weight wouldn’t slow him down at all. His already brutish strength (22-24 reps of about 385 pounds on the benchpress – extremely difficult for long-armed athletes) could improve as well.

“Guys like him don’t come around that often,” he says. “He knows how fortunate he is. This is a great life. It doesn’t last very long and he’s going to enjoy living it.

He’s a good kid to work with. Very coachable. He’s very respectful. Polite. He gets along with everybody here and he respects the veterans.”

Meanwhile, back at OSU, it remains to be seen who’ll fill Pettigrew’s very large shoes. What will be certain is that athletic sophomores Jamal Mosley and Wilson Youman will see more playing time. But, Gundy says his departure won’t change their offense much, although he says Zac Robinson will miss the player who was the Cowboys’ two-fisted equalizer on the field.

“I don't think in our style of attack that really factors in. I think Zac will miss throwing the ball to Brandon down the middle of the field. He’s 6-6 and reaches up and catches

29

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COACH SPEAK Coach Gundy sat down with POSSE just before the start of fall practice to talk about summer, the coming season and big expectations.

By Matt Elliott

Coach Mike Gundy sits behind his desk inside his spacious new digs looking overlooking Boone Pickens Stadium’s West End Zone seating. ESPN is on an HDTV glowing off a wall to his right.

A computer monitor on his desk scrolls photos of his wife and kids.

Skinned knees. Yellowing bruises.

Little league games. Fishing trips. They might as well be snapshots of his summer.

In an orange Nike shirt and gym shorts, he’s reclining in his desk chair, fresh from a photo shoot with an advertiser for the team program. His hair is spiked circa 2007 Gundy. His face and neck are sunburned. A gold chain winks from above his shirt collar.

He reaches up and wipes his eyes as he recounts the events of the summer, one that he used mostly for family time with his three boys, the oldest of which turned 13 the day of the interview. Living a normal life is more of an effort now than it ever has been. So, he and his wife, Kristen, have dispensed with their hobbies so they can devote their time to raising their kids.

But the summer wasn’t all vacation.

A little bit of work was sprinkled in. He paid a visit to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters. There he made the rounds of TV and radio programs. It was a fi rst for Oklahoma State, as well as a fi rst for him. Millions of people saw him talk about Oklahoma State.

But, that was then. Now, it’s back to the grindstone. The 16-hour days are back and won’t be gone for six months. photography by Phil Shockley

32

His Cowboys are on the cusp of their biggest, most hyped and most promising season since his junior year, 1988, when he quarterbacked the team with Hart Lee Dykes and Barry Sanders to a Holiday Bowl rout of Wyoming.

Now, he’s leading his own trio of dominant players, Zac Robinson, Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant. It’s a team that’s at least as good as the 2004 Cotton Bowl team, when Gundy was an assistant coach and offensive coordinator under then-head coach Les Miles. This time around, his boys were featured on the regional cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual college football preview, one focusing on teams expected to be “spoilers” for the traditional powerhouses.

It’s coming off a 9-4 season that held its

Coach Gundy during the Orange and White spring game.

share of highs and lows, including an upset over Missouri and a national ranking as high as No. 7. But, it also featured losses to Oklahoma and Texas, as well as a defense ranked 93rd in the nation.

Massive tests lay on the horizon, not the least of which is the fi rst game, Georgia.

Then there’s Houston. Baylor. Texas.

Oklahoma. If the team wins the Big 12 South’s championship, there’s a good chance it’ll be in the national championship game.

All he needs is for the defense to perform its role, and the offense, No. 6 in the nation last year, to do what it does best - score.

The hype has been intoxicating for OSU fans. Exciting them further are some new faces on the coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Bill Young, previously with the Miami Hurricanes, and part of a coaching staff that helped revive the Kansas Jayhawks in 2007.

A rainstorm is turning the practice field into a muddy mess, rolling in as ESPN’s sportsticker scrolls across the bottom of SportsCenter on the TV. Practice will be on the surface of newly renovated Boone Pickens Stadium.

He’s a got pretty good idea of what he’ll see when he gets out on that field.

Posse: How was your summer?

Gundy: Good. It’s busy with kids, but it went fast. We had a good time. A good summer.

P: I know you got to see a lot of little league games and do all the stuff you don’t get to do during the season.

G: Right. My boys are pretty active with little league sports, and so we got to do a lot of that. We traveled a little bit. We went back to North Carolina. We just go to water parks with hotels tied into them because that’s what the boys like to do. During the day, we do something educational, then we swim in the afternoon, go eat something later, and they usually swim at night. So, that’s been pretty traditional for us because that’s kind of what they like to do.

P: How old are your kids now?

G: Thirteen, seven and four.

P: Is your 13-year-old thinking about trying out for the swim team in high school?

I know he plays other sports.

G: They do basketball, baseball and football. And the oldest one’s actually leaning more towards football and basketball now.

P: Did you get a chance to rest at all?

Seems like the summer is when everybody tries to catch up on their sleep.

G: Well, I don’t get up at 5:10 in the morning like I do during the season. For Kristen and I, rest is trying to carry on a somewhat normal day. With three little ones you don’t really have much of a rest. But, that’s kind of the way we want it. We prefer to be active with those guys and not really slow down much.

P: Don Haskins before he passed wrote in his autobiography about how much he regretted missing watching his kids grow up. That seems to be important to you to not miss out on that, too.

G:: Most coaches at our level, that have been in the profession a while and are in their mid to late 50s and guys that are retired, will tell you the biggest mistake they made was missing out on their children’s lives growing up. That’s not something that I’m going to let happen. This is a big operation. And there are a lot of people involved in our job, but nothing is more important than my and Kristen’s everyday participation in our kids’ lives. We made that decision a long time ago and have been able to balance it. I don’t have a hobby and neither does she. I don’t play golf. If I fish, it’s with the boys. We’ve eliminated our hobbies in order to spend time with them.

So far, it’s worked.

P: Do you bait fish or with lures?

G: Both. My four-year-old (Gage) is a big fisherman. When I got home last night, it was dark, and he was just coming in. He couldn’t see any more. He had been catching bass off some plastic worms. So, he does that. Then, he also knows how to bait minnows and worms. If the fish take a good bite and swallow the hook, he has a problem getting it out. But otherwise he can operate pretty good.

P: Has he got to the point where he can do the fisherman’s knots?

G: He knows how, but he’d rather me do it because cause it’s a little bit tedious.

33

But, if he had to do it, he could probably do it.

P: That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know how to do that until I was about nine years old.

G: It’s what’s important to you. It’s what you like to do. My oldest one, he doesn’t really want to fish, so he couldn’t do that. But he can do other things. He can take that TV apart and probably put it back together if he just worked at it. He’s intrigued by electronic devices. He can do all these electronic things because he likes to do it.

P: You must be very proud to have such well-rounded kids.

G: We’re very blessed and we’re fortunate that they’re good kids. They’re a lot of fun. The enjoyable part of raising children is the good times and the bad times.

It’s not always good, and it’s not always bad.

There are high and lows and that’s what life is all about. So, we’re very fortunate that we have them. They all have their flaws. But if they didn’t there really wouldn’t be any reason for us to be around.

34

P: The fi rst day of practice is today.

How’d they take it, knowing it’s back to your usual schedule now?

G: They know I leave at dark and come home at dark. The little one, the four-yearold, he asked me last night about shooting guns and fishing. I said, ‘I’m not going to be home very much in the daylight, so we can’t shoot.’ They know now what’s going on.

That’s what we do. For us it’s six months on, meaning 16 hour days every day and then six months where it’s somewhat laid back.

That’s kind of what we do around here. And now we’re on the six months on.

P: There’s been a lot of talk about this team, great news, great expectations, lots of predictions and reports on the progress of players. Fans believe this is the best team since your junior year. What do you think?

G: I think the talent we have here now and the depth of good players — we’ve got a few players that are great college players — is probably better than it’s been certainly since I’ve been back here. Now, the year that we went to the Cotton Bowl with Coach Miles, we had some talented

players then. We’re probably as good if not better than that right now. So what that means is we would like to be in a position where, if we prepare well, our players buy in, compete, play hard, and we get some breaks, then you can win a bunch of games. That’s what it takes. Unless you’re just better than everybody, you’ve got to stay healthy and get a few breaks. Hopefully, we’ve gotten this program to that level. So, to answer your question, I’m not sure that there’s been a team since ‘88 until now that’s had a chance to perform as well as this one.

P: That’s got to be great for you personally to be a part of this historic resurgence.

G: It is. You can have a great stadium, great facilities and all that. But if your team is not performing, it’s not as fun. People aren’t as excited. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement now because not only do we have a new stadium, not only do we have a new facility, but we also have a good football team.

P: Not that your staff can’t handle it, but does that make it more difficult on you to keep the players focused? Do you ever

have to step in and remind them about Georgia and Houston?

G: I think that there are two things.

One is that Georgia and Houston help.

Georgia is Georgia. And then Houston can beat anybody on any given day because they have a great quarterback and they led the nation in total offense last year. That means they’re dangerous. That helps. The one thing that I’ve asked the players and the coaches not to do is coach, practice and play under pressure. We believe in preparation, focus and hard work. If you do all that, then that’s all you can do. And you can’t let it build itself so much that you can’t go out there and compete or you can’t call a play because you’re uptight and you can’t function because, as a player, you’re so worried about the outcome. Part of being a competitive athlete is the fear of losing. But you can’t coach or play with a fear of losing.

You’ll play tentative and that’s not good.

You want to turn it loose, go out there and play full speed and coach full speed. And you can’t deny access nor think that they’re not going to hear what’s going on. You have that right there (pointing to the TV) and you have this right here (pointing to his computer) that runs 24 hours a day.They have their cell phones now. They know how to use those and get information. They’re getting information. So, you tell them up

front and you be as honest with them as you can, and say, ‘look, this is what people are saying about you. You’ve worked hard to get here. You’ll have to work even harder to improve yourself and your team and stay there. You’ll have to work harder because you went from this far away from the top to here. Now, you’re here, but breaking through these last six, eight, 10 teams is not easy. When you put all those things together, it means you’ve got a lot of work to do. I think that when you have a mature team that has good team chemistry they understand that.

P: One of the main questions that seems to be on everybody’s mind is how much better is the defense?

G: We’re faster and more athletic than we have been. Coach Young has come in and implemented his system. He’s meshed part of what we do with it and the players have bought into it. I know the relationship between him and the other three coaches on defense has been really good. So, I don’t have any question in my mind that they’re going to be better. We were 93rd in the country on defense last year. They could go anywhere from No. 65 to 40. Now, 40 is a big-time jump. You don’t have many people go, statistically, from 93rd to 40th. Let’s just say they knock the top out of it there. They jump out to the top 50 or 60 in the country.

They move 25 slots. Well, that means that they had a pretty good jump for one year.

P: It seems like the only area where we lack is in the defensive tackle spot.

It’s fi lled by smaller guys making the sacrifice to play inside when they’re used to playing the end position.

G: Which is tough. That’s what I’ve said. We’ve got guys that can play in there, but you’re really just two more big guys short in there. And then we have some lack of experience at the safety spot.

Now, the advantage of the two guys that are in there, they can run fast and they can make plays. They just don’t have any experience. Sometimes you can overcome that by being an athletic football player.

But, you’re correct, everywhere else on defense I’m comfortable with except I still wish we had more depth at the tackle spot.

P: I would think that if our defense improves as much as you’re saying, we’d be pretty close to being one of the top three or four teams in the country with as well as our offense plays.

G: Our offense just needs to maintain. I think, when you have as many guys that can make plays as we have, it’s hard not to just maintain because those guys are going to make plays. And then special teams for us have always been good and we have great returners. We have guys that do a good job blocking.

We have a good scheme. So, we should be good in special teams. I think the defense plays sound. They don’t necessarily have to demoralize people. All they have to do is play their role and just keep a Houston from scoring 34 and just hold them to 22.

If they play games like that, then we’re going to win a lot of games.

P: I don’t want to get you into making predictions, but I think if they play that well that we could win the national championship.

G: Well, the good thing about playing in the Big 12 South is if you go back over six or eight years, if you win the South, you've got a pretty good chance to play for a national championship. The one difficult area is you’re playing a league where you play good teams almost every week. The good thing is, if you come out 35

of it, then you’re not going to get cheated out of playing a national championship.

P: Who’re the guys you’re proud of after the summer offseason?

G: Justin Blackmon has had a good offseason. Terrance Anderson has had a good offseason. Andrew Lewis has had a good offseason. Jeremiah Price.

Jamie Blatnick. Donald Booker, a juco linebacker we brought in and couldn’t get on the field much last year. But he’s doing much better. Johnny Thomas, safety, is doing much better. Some of those guys are starting to show up.

P: Today is the fi rst day of practice.

What do you expect to see when you get down there on the field?

G: Our guys are pretty well-trained.

And we have a lot of leadership on both

36

sides of the ball, so they’re going to run the thing themselves. We won’t have guys who are walking around not knowing where to go. They’re going to know where to be.

They’re going to work hard. They’re going to get on the field, put in their time and get off the field. I have a pretty good thought in my mind of what’s going to happen.

P: You look like you’ve lost weight since last year. Have you?

G: I’m actually about seven pounds heavier than I was when the season ended.

Now, I’ll lose it a month from now just because my metabolism starts at 5:15 in the morning and goes ‘til 10:15 at night. You can’t help it.

P: How do you stay in shape during the season?

G: I try not to eat a lot of sweets.

During the summer, I don’t make poor choices in food very often. I eat a lot of salads and vegetables and fruits and meat.

But I don’t drink Cokes and things. I just kind of watch what I eat. I’m not a big candy eater or anything like that.

P: I guess it makes it hard to tell your players to avoid that stuff when you’re eating it.

G: Yeah, they do better nowadays with being educated on what’s out there. And most of them understand the importance of their body and that it's their ticket. So, they do a pretty good job with eating the right foods.

P: When you became head coach, you had to reset and start over on your own. You had to get rid of some guys and you went through you own series of hard times. Do you think people can understand just how much you’ve put into this team to get to this point?

G: Most people in general probably don’t really know what we do. I mean, I think there’s more information out there now. But I think a lot of people think we come in eight or nine o’clock and we watch a little tape and get ready to go to practice, and then go home. And they think we recruit in the offseason. But I’m not sure anybody really understands what we do, just like I don’t know what people do in other professions. To get from where we were four years ago to where we are now took a lot of hard work from a lot of people.

P: It seems like it’s only been this year the big media and networks have started to pay attention to us. When you were going around at ESPN, did you feel a certain amount of cynicism about being there? It seemed like you were just glad to be there and representing OSU. G: I’m excited for the players and everybody else that’s put in a lot of hard work and effort to get here. But I’m also very realistic to know that you have to continue to work hard to stay where you’re at. And so there’s a side that wants to enjoy it — which we do always and we should, including players. But then there’s another side that I know of. You have to stop and go back to work.

P: Was there anything about the trip to ESPN that surprised you? What’d you learn about the network while you there?

G: It was very impressive. It’s like a

campus. Very structured. Very organized.

Very tight security. All business. You’re there to help their ratings, but you’re also there to help your university. Adjustments can be made when you’re there depending on a few things. If they think you can up their ratings on a certain show, they’ll move you around.

It’s business. It’s all business. They had a plan, and they took great care of us while we were there. Obviously, they’re the biggest and the best there is out there. If you spend some time up there, you’ll see why.

P: Were you surprised they asked you about the YouTube video? I thought that would’ve been old news by now.

G: I don’t necessarily think that’ll ever be old news. I think that anything that has gotten that much attention at any point in society, I think people could always bring it up or ask questions about it. And ESPN hadn’t really had their opportunity to get the second part to the story. The local media has. Nobody around here cares anymore.

They’ve had it. They’ve asked me about it

and I’ve commented about it. And then so it’s kind of faded for them. But the national side of the media hadn’t gotten their opportunity to ask those questions. So my guess is in a year from now they’re not going to care either. They’ve had their side.

P: If that’s the case, I wonder why they didn’t try to get that other side to the story initially. We have media guys who set that stuff up for people.

G: Probably because we’re just hard to get to. Maybe not being able to get to you face-to-face to ask their particular question.

It’s kind of a do-they-have-something-theywant-to-know. Somebody may have asked something about it, but they may have said, ‘well, why didn’t they ask this or about that.’

P: On an unrelated subject, I think a lot of our fans want to know the answer to this.

Do you use hair spray or gel?

G: Gel. P: What kind?

G: L.A. Looks. Or … what’s the other kind? It’s in a brown bottle. I don’t know. My

hair sticks straight up so it doesn’t make a real big difference what I do.

P: Did you see Brandon Pettigrew signed a five-year deal with the Lions?

G: Yeah. $9.3 million guaranteed or something? Someone said 9.3 guaranteed.

He made himself about six million dollars by coming back his senior year. Minimum.

Guaranteed. In the NFL, it’s all about what you can get guaranteed up front. He would’ve probably got between two and three guaranteed if he had come out.

OK. P: Thanks. I appreciate it.

G: If you need something else, let me know.

37

Passing it on, from our team to yours ...

Thank you for allowing us to build this world-class stadium.

Offensive Team Vic Alford, OSU Fan Arley Back, OSU Fan Jeff Blose, OSU Grad Brandon Bull, OSU Grad Matt Cundith, OSU Intern Wayne Gifford, OSU Fan Jim Heley, OSU Grad Rob Huggins, OSU Fan Mike Hume, OSU Grad Brent Jenkins, OSU Grad Heather Jenkins, OSU Fan

flintco.com I 800.947.2828

Defensive Team Doug Jordan, OSU Grad Kurtis Koenigsknecht , OSU Grad Dave Kollmann, OSU Grad Daniel Maxwell, OSU Intern Roger Passick, OSU Fan Daniel Pitcock, OSU Grad Cheyenne Taylor, OSU Fan Brittney Thompson, OSU Grad Eric VanGilder, OSU Grad Jody Vivion, OSU Grad Andrew Witte, OSU Grad

m d d d n n d n d d d d

available at: Chris’ University Spirit – 240 S. Knoblock, Stillwater, OK – 405.377.0555 OSU Student Union Bookstore – 104 Student Union, Stillwater, OK – 405.744.5237 OSU Authentic Store – Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, OK – 405.744.7383

40

NO LOOKING BACK OSU ALL-AMERICAN YOLANDA ODENYO EMBRACES LIFE AFTER SOCCER

photography by Phil Shockley

41

COWGIRL

SOCCER

Yolanda Odenyo’s future as a professional soccer player started unraveling last season before it even began. But out of her dream’s destruction would emerge a way to move on to something bigger, Along the way, OSU’s Swedish Cowgirl would show the courage and dedication for which she is well known in Stillwater.

Flash back to last season. The Cowgirls were on a tear the likes of which the 13-year-old program had never seen. They started her senior season on a 10-game winning streak, destroying nonconference and conference opponents alike. Led by the play of Kasey Langdon, Siera Strawser and

42

Odenyo, the team finished at 18-1-4, the best record in school history, and made the second round of the NCAA playoffs.

On the surface, fans saw Yolanda as the same young woman from Uppsala they’d come to know since 2005 when as a freshman, she started 17 games and scored seven goals despite playing mostly defense.

By 2006, she was an All-American (the first OSU soccer player to earn the honor) and a national star in the sport. She kicked it up a notch in 2007, becoming one of 46 players to make the Hermann Trophy watch list — the award given out each year to the nation’s best male and female players.

Naturally, she expected to go out with a serious bang her senior year. But she

started feeling a twinge in her back early last season. She doesn’t know how it started.

There was no fall or awkward landing that she remembers. It just started hurting.

As the season went on, that ache grew to agony shooting down her leg with each step. Around November, an MRI showed she had a herniated disc in her lower back.

Doctors advised her to rest, and her coaches left the decision to play up to her, says Head Coach Colin Carmichael. Her teammates said they supported her no matter what.

Yolanda is no quitter, even when most reasonable people would make the understandable decision to do so. She had plans. It was her chance. She wanted to play professionally, either in the United States’ Women’s Professional Soccer league or in Sweden. There was talk that, even with her back problems, she would be a first-round pick during the American league’s draft.

And teams were getting skittish over her injury. A strong performance in the playoffs would be just the ticket.

Plus, she didn’t come all the way to Stillwater from Uppsala to quit. All she had to do was think of her dad, who ran barefoot to school each day several miles from his rural Kenyan village. Today he’s a soil scientist with a doctoral degree from Virginia Tech. She has family in Kenya suffering from AIDS. An older sister, Sasja, with whom she was very close growing up, died after a van wreck that occurred while she was on a soccer team trip in Florida

COWGIRL

SOCCER

“I had not thought about my back preventing me from playing. But, the doctor was more concerned about me, ten, fifteen years down the road. So, when I listened to him, it kind of put things in perspective for me. At the end of the day, my soccer career is but a portion of my life ..."

— Yolanda Odenyo

when Yolanda was 18. So what’s was little back pain?

“At that point we were going into the post-season and it was kind of like, ‘if I don’t play, I don’t get picked up by a pro team,” she says. “If I do play, I screw up my back.’ So, I played for quite a while … It was unbearable, to be honest,” she says. “When I look back at it now, I don’t know how I did it.”

Rehab, injections and painkillers kept her going. She finished the season leading the Big 12 in scoring with 16 goals and 37 points.

She was an All-American for the third time and an All-Big 12 selection for the fourth time. She won the conference’s offensive player of the year award, finishing as the most decorated soccer player ever at OSU, setting career records for goals and points.

Still, she didn’t start the regular season fi nale against Oklahoma. Coaches had kept her out until it was 2-2 at halftime.

“It was always Yolanda’s decision,” Carmichael says. “But during the OU game, it became our decision. We were looking at the kid going, ‘she’s just getting worse every day.’”

She entered the game later and didn’t score, but changed the game nonetheless, as OSU won 4-2, Carmichael says. That win clinched them the Big 12 regular season title for the fi rst time.

The playoffs afterward left the coaches and Yolanda in a tough spot, Carmichael says. They knew she needed rest. But they could lose if they rested her too much. If they played her, they risked doing more damage to her back.

“We didn’t want to be responsible for someone not being able to walk at age forty.

That’s ridiculous just to win some soccer games … We never were going to go out there and say, ‘take this pill, and go play.’ I just don’t think that’s right. But at the same 43

COWGIRL

SOCCER

time, when you’ve got a kid coming to you going, ‘Coach, I can do it. I can help my team. I want to play. I’m ready.’ It’s really hard to hold that kid back.”

Adding to the danger factor was the fact that she absorbed serious punishment each game due to her status as the team’s star.

Soccer, like any sport, can be a rough game.

Opponents can intentionally aggravate injuries to the other team and take key players out of games. A lot of the dirty stuff goes on away from the ball, such as during free kicks and corner kicks. Feet get stomped on. Kidneys get punched. Elbows are thrown.

“She took a pounding,” says Carmichael 44

of Odenyo, who suffered a black eye from an errant elbow during a win over Oregon.

“Teams hit her. They pushed her. They ran at her. They did a lot of things. She was taking some shots. Credit to the kid. She didn’t even practice. Beyond just the pain, she just wasn’t able to stay as sharp as she usually is.”

The playoffs didn’t end the way the Cowgirls wanted. They beat Fairfield in the first round, 1-0. Odenyo and others netted an assist on the game’s only goal. But they lost to Rutgers on penalty kicks during the second round after a muddy and gruesome 0-0 match left undecided by two overtimes.

Afterward, she signed with a profes-

sional team in Sweden, the Linkopings Fotboll Club. But adversity wasn’t through with her yet. A Christmas break doctor’s visit in Oklahoma City made sure of that.

The doctor told her she couldn’t play soccer any more. She needed surgery, a microdiscectomy of the disc between her L5 and S1 vertebrae. The procedure removes the disc and part of the nerve root through a small incision in the back.

The news was a shock that left the 25-year-old devastated.

“I had not thought about my back preventing me from playing. But the doctor was more concerned about me ten, fifteen years down the road. So, when I listened to him, it kind of put things in perspective for me. At the end of the day, my soccer career is but a portion of my life. I’d like to be pregnant without pain and pick up my child from the floor when that day comes.”

She took a few weeks away from the game and immersed herself in school work, Carmichael says. To prepare for the surgery, she rested and rehabbed her back, all while keeping a wary eye on her painkiller use.

“Last spring I was one pill away from getting hooked on painkillers on numerous occasions because of the pain prior to having surgery. When I look back and think about just being around, walking, working, going to class – that hurt enough. I don’t really know how I survived.”

She excelled in the classroom. Accolades were pouring in by the time she graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family science. She was OSU’s Female Student Athlete of the Year, an Academic All-American and an OSU Outstanding Senior — the university’s award given out to top students each year. She also won the Arthur Ashe Jr. Female Sports Scholar of the Year, a prestigious national award.

She had surgery on May 12, and her back feels much better, although she’s still going through her physical therapy.

“That young lady is going to make it to the top of whatever she chooses to do,” says Agatha Adams, Assistant Director of Academic Services for Student-Athletes. She meets with Yolanda each week as a confidant and counselor in addition to her job helping her as a student athlete. “It was difficult for her to make the decision not to go pro, but

COWGIRL

SOCCER

photo by Gary Lawson

“It’s been a pleasure from my end, a pleasure coaching and just getting to know a young lady like Yolanda, who is, first of all a talented soccer player, a great student, but probably greater than that, she’s just a great human being,” — Coach Carmichael

she dealt with it and she’s moving on.”

Compared to the events of the past few months, she says getting her master’s degree in international studies has been a breeze.

She isn’t sure yet what path her career will take. But one of the things her injury has taught her is that she doesn’t need to plan ahead so much.

What she does know is she wants to dedicate her life to helping others. She can do more of that now that athletics doesn’t take up so much of her time. She hopes to use soccer to expand on her volunteer work she did earlier in her time at OSU, including teaching AIDS prevention and sex education at a soccer camp in the Kenyan city of Kisumu.

She held a fundraiser for a scholarship (named for her late sister) she founded to send poor Kenyans to high school. She also took donated clothes and shoes back to her family’s village during a recent visit.

That altruistic streak comes from her family and time spent with her dad in rural Kenya and Zimbabwe. Also, her sister Atieno works with the United Nations’ AIDS program, UNAIDS, in the region still recovering from European colonialism.

“I think all across Sub-Saharan Africa, we’ve kind of decolonized the country, but not the mind. So, we’re waiting for someone to do it for us, instead of taking responsi-

bility and doing it ourselves,” she says. “I don’t want to be stuck doing bureaucracy and paper work, but do the grassroots work.

I think that change comes from within, and sometimes it can be as easy as teaching someone how to get clean water. It doesn’t have to be building a bank.”

She’s starting out as a graduate student assistant for the Cowgirls this season, and Carmichael says she has an immediate connection with younger players. He believes she’ll succeed no matter what she does.

“It’s been a pleasure from my end, a pleasure coaching and, not even coaching, just getting to know a young lady like Yolanda, who is, fi rst of all a talented soccer player, a great student, but probably greater than that, she’s just a great human being,” Carmichael says. “My young daughter is almost two. If she could turn out to be somewhat like Yolanda, I would be a very, very happy man.”

Soccer is just a game. But it gave her something more. Her back failed her, but it opened a door to something much larger.

Now she can use soccer to help others in a greater game.

“Whenever I’m down, and I don’t feel like doing anything, I think about my cousins. I think about what their lives are like and the opportunities they wish they could’ve had to go to school.”

45

YOUNG BLOOD:

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR EMPHASIZES AGGRESSIVENESS Oklahoma State may have a new defensive coordinator for the 2009 campaign, but the old Cowboy feels right at home in Stillwater.

However, the view is a little different this time around.

When Bill Young last graced the OSU media guide (1976-78), the O-State alum was toiling in the trenches as an assistant on Jim Stanley’s squad. In the three decades since, the Erector Set known as Lewis Field has been transformed into the incomparable Boone Pickens Stadium.

Meanwhile, Young was busy building a respected résumé in the coaching ranks.

Young’s past coaching stops include some of college football’s premier programs. Ohio State. Oklahoma.

Southern Cal. Miami. During his most recent stint in the Big 12, the veteran coach crafted a Kansas defense that captured the 2008 Orange Bowl.

Having recently settled into his new office overlook atop the west endzone, Young appears calm and comfortable in his stately surroundings. His defense, he says, will be anything but.

“OSU fans are going to see an aggressive, attacking defense. We don’t want to be sitting static on the line of scrimmage.

We want to move around. You’re going to see a team that’ll really run to the football. Pursuit is going to be our trademark.

Pursuit is critical to us.

“We want to try and score every time we get on the field. If we can’t score, we want to get a turnover. If we don’t get a

48

photography by Phil Shockley

By Clay Billman

turnover, we want to get three-and-out. We want to get our offense back on the field with the best possible field position.”

Young also speaks about confidence and communication as key elements of his defensive philosophy.

“Hopefully, you’ll see a team that plays with a lot of confidence, one that gets lined up and looks like they’re well-coached,” he says.

“Communication is the cornerstone of our defense. With the no-huddle offenses you see today, you better get the call in there in a hurry and have your players know what they’re doing and get lined up and be able to play. We don’t want a bunch of people out standing around looking at the sideline waiting on the call. We want to get the call to them as fast as we can and let them use their athleticism. We’re not trying to beat people with the perfect call, but

beat people with great technique and having our players confident in knowing their responsibilities. That’s our goal as coaches.”

Young replaced Tim Beckman, who was named Toledo’s head coach in December. The rest of the defensive staff remains intact from a year ago: Joe DeForest (associate head coach and special teams coordinator), Glenn Spencer (linebackers) and Jason Jones (secondary). Young will handle defensive line duties.

Since joining Mike Gundy’s staff prior to spring practice, Young has tried to adjust his playbook to the Cowboys’ existing terminology, rather than install a totally new scheme.

“We’ve got three coaches on defense that were here last year,” he says, “They know the system, so I’m the guy who better come in here and do my homework.

We really are stressing the ‘Big Team/ Little Me’ attitude. We’re just trying to take our position and have it work within the framework of the defense.”

Young says the staff isn’t locked-in to one particular scheme.

“We’re going to do a lot of different things. We’re going to be multiple. We’re going to be a zone-blitz, pressure team.

We want to be a real good mixture of movement up front and zone coverage, man coverage and a combination of those.”

Terminology aside, Young says he wants the OSU defense to force offenses to make adjustments.

“The big thing is to dictate to the offense. We want to look complicated to our opponents, but at the same time we want to be simple for our players.

We’ll have a few basic techniques that we can plug into different defenses to give offenses a totally different look. You can’t line up and give them the same thing every time, because if you do, they’re going to take advantage of you.”

Keeping it simple is important, Young says, so players can avoid over-thinking their responsibilities.

“You could be the most talented guy out there, but if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do you’re going to hurt our defense. Everybody has a responsibility, and they’ve got to carry out

their assignment. If they don’t, then you don’t have a very good defense.”

The 2009 OSU squad won’t be devoid of talent on defense, he adds. But like most coaches, Young has concerns about depth.

“You can always get better. There’s no place in the country you’re satisfied with where you are – if you are, you’re in trouble,” he says. “But we’re extremely happy with our talent pool. Our issue is going to be depth.

We’ll be two-deep at most positions, but if we get an injury, suddenly it’s a problem.

We’ve just got to knock on wood and hope nobody gets hurt.”

Because of that, Young says a number of players are going to see significant action this fall.

“In the defensive front, which is what I’m responsible for, we’re going to try and play two people at each position. That way, in the 4th quarter, we’ll double-team that opponent and we’ll be fresh and hopefully he’ll be tired. By doing this through the

years, I’ve found that it makes you practice harder because you know you’re going to get to play, and you’re building depth because you’re getting a lot of on-the-field game experience.”

With three seniors in the starting lineup and a fourth in the rotation, OSU’s linebacker corps is the strength of this year’s defense, Young says.

“You’ve got three veteran players in (Patrick) Lavine, (Orie) Lemon and (Andre) Sexton, and then you add (Donald) Booker into that mix. We feel really good about them,” he says. “The issue we’ve got is to get some young ones in there and get them schooled up, because we lose all four of those guys to graduation next year.”

Statistically, Young wants the OSU defense to be at the top of the league, if not the entire NCAA, rankings.

“Our No. 1 goal defensively is to win, obviously. But we want to be the best rushing defense in the conference, we want

to be the best total defense in the conference, and we want to be the best turnover team in the conference. Those are goals you have everywhere you coach.”

Young and defensive coaching staff have set several game goals for their unit.

“We want to hold our opponent to a certain amount of points or less, we want to hold them to less than 100 yards rushing, and we want to create at least three turnovers,” he says. “We’re going to work extremely hard to create turnovers.

The way you create turnovers is to get all the people you can around the football to rip, strip and pick.”

The defensive coaches have made it a priority to teach the fundamentals of creating turnovers.

“We chart them every day in practice, and when we go against the offense we want three turnovers. Now, the offense is doing the opposite,” he adds. “They’re teaching their players to protect the ball.

49

You get what you emphasize as a coach, so that’s what we’re emphasizing.”

Statistics are great … as long as you’re winning, he jokes.

“We’re into stats big-time right now.

I’ve coached some defenses that weren’t very good, and we were real big into stats early.

But when you’re getting your doors blown off, that’s the last thing you think about. You think about just trying to find a way to win and worry about the stats next year.”

As the game of football evolves and new trends emerge, Young says his staff often looks to other programs for insights and answers.

“We’ve got all kinds of college film and NFL film that we’ve studied in the offseason,” he says. “You’re always looking for an edge as a coach. You look at some of the better defenses across the country and try to pick up some of their ideas and see if there are some things you can do to make you a better team.

“They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and right now we’re flattering a lot of people.”

50

Over the years, Young has seen offenses evolve from the Power-I to the spread. But the toughest offense to stop, he says, is not a particular formation, but one with an athletic quarterback who can tuck the ball and run.

“The athletic running quarterback has added a new dimension to offensive football schemes around the country. It does create issues for you.

“I think that’s what’s so great about our offense,” he adds. “I’ve coached against our offense, and I think it’s excellent. It’s as good as any I’ve ever seen from a schematic standpoint. And obviously we have the athletes to back it up.”

Young hopes facing OSU’s prolific offense every day in practice provides an advantage when it comes to gameday.

“We want to put our players in the absolute toughest position we can in practice so the games are easier. We have to play against our offense, and we think they’re as good as anybody in the country.

Boy, they put a lot of stress on us. The key is to play assignment football. You have

to be fundamentally sound and not make mental mistakes.”

Young wouldn’t mind stealing a few players from the offense side of the ball, either.

“There’s about four or five of them I’d love to have,” he says. “I think Russell (Okung) would be a great defensive tackle. And you’ve got Zac (Robinson).

I’m sure he could play safety. And then you’ve got Dez (Bryant). He’d be a great corner. You could go on and on. There’s a lot of great players over there.”

It may be a cliché that “Defense Wins Championships,” but Young says having an offense like OSU’s doesn’t hurt.

“Obviously I’m a little partial, being a defensive coach, but I do think that’s true,” he says. “But we also use the adage around here that ‘The Best Defense is a Great Offense.’ It’s hard to get scored on defensively if you’re sitting on the bench watching your offense going up and down the field.”

BASKETBALL ON GRASS: BREWER BREAKS DOWN OSU OFFENSE

Cowboy assistant coach Gunter Brewer thinks fast and talks fast.

It’s a requirement if he wants to keep up with the OSU offense.

With a rapid-fire southern drawl, OSU’s co-offensive coordinator describes it as a “no-huddle, high-tempo, highoctane” attack.

“It’s a spread offense that’s unique to no other, because it has the ability to run and pass the ball out of multiple formations. Traditionally you see a spread with four or five receivers, where we’ll use two tight ends, one tight end, two backs, one back, no back … to say the word ‘multiple’ – it’s a great example of that.”

Under Head Coach Mike Gundy, the offense has evolved over the last few years, he says.

“I think it’s a great blend of some things that Larry Fedora (now the head coach at Southern Miss) and Coach Gundy have come up with, along with the offensive staff. It kind of blended what I knew as the spread at Marshall University and what Larry and Joe Wickline did at Middle Tennessee and Florida, plus Coach Gundy’s emphasis on the running game with the play-action pass and the power game.

“It’s kind of a combination of three or four different offenses that have been mashed into one, taking good parts from each, and taking a well-oiled machine and just making it a little bit better.”

Better is an understatement. Going into the 2009 season, the Cowboy offense has earned pre-season praise for

By Clay Billman

its talented skill-position players, veteran linemen and ability to put points on the board. Last season, OSU averaged nearly 41 points and 488 total yards per game. Brewer says he expects that type of production to continue.

“Hopefully, you’ll see more of the same.”

The goal, he says, is to put stress on opposing defenses.

“The field is approximately 54 yards wide and 120 yards long when you include the back of each endzone. We want to use every inch of it. It’s kind of like basketball on grass. We want to move up and down the

floor, much like our basketball team does here. We want to score a lot of points, we want to be able to control the clock when we want to, but the other team is going to have to play at our pace. We want to dictate everything that happens out there, the tempo, the style of game that’s being played, everything about it.

When calling plays, Brewer says the coaching staff’s goal is to not get caught in a predictable situation.

“Our offense is designed to stress the defense and apply as much pressure as we can with our running game, our passing game and the threat of either one at any particular time. In coaching terms, we want to ‘stay ahead of the chains.’”

Brewer says he wants to keep defensive coordinators guessing.

“If it’s second (down) and five, you don’t know whether we’re going to run it or throw it or take a shot at a deep ball, run a reverse … Second and 20 is not a very good position to be in, so we’ve got to stay away from penalties and not hurt ourselves.”

If the goal is to be equally adept in both areas, the offensive statistics shows an uncanny balance. In 2008, the Pokes

51

52

piled up 3,191 yards on the ground and 3,149 through the air (6,340 total). In 2007, the offense produced an equal 3,161 running and passing yards.

For the first time in school history, OSU returns a 3,000 yard passer (Zac Robinson: 3,064 yds./25 touchdowns); 1,000-yard rusher (Kendall Hunter: 1,555 yds./16 TDs) and a 1,000 yard receiver (Dez Bryant, 1480 yds./19 TDs). Having that talented trio in OSU’s arsenal is a luxury for the offensive staff.

“You look at those numbers and they’re pretty gaudy for all three players, which is a phenomenal thing to be able to say. It’s unusual to have that type of talent at all three spots, and it’s harder for the defense to stop us when we have more than one weapon. You try to stop Dez and you’ve got Kendall. You try to stop Kendall and you’ve got Zac. It goes on and on as long as we can continue to have those playmakers at the skill positions. The offensive line has to continue to open up holes and protect the quarterback. If we can do that we’re a three-headed monster.”

Play calling – choosing which monster to feed – is a true team effort, Brewer says.

“The whole staff is very involved in everything we do. Everybody brings some ingredient into the recipe we have for this offense. Everybody has input.”

Serving as the position coach for the wide receivers, Brewer is mainly focused on the passing game, while Wickline (OSU’s other co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach) emphasizes the running game.

“Obviously he’s more run-oriented and I’m more pass-oriented,” Brewer says. “What we like to do is make sure the offense matches in terms of the protection and perimeter blocking.”

On gameday, communication among the coaches is critical, Brewer says.

“When you see Coach Gundy on the sidelines talking to people on the headset, that’s all of us on the offensive staff determining what’s good, what’s not good, what’s a good pass, what’s a bad pass, what’s a good run, what do we

need to stay away from … He’s working his rear-end off making sure we’ve got the next series loaded up and ready to go.”

The plays are signaled in from the sideline via hand signals from backup quarterbacks, along with large signs featuring symbols and code words. During the 2008 season, the colorful and cryptic signs became a frequent topic of discussion among fans and the media.

“When you’re a no-huddle team, you’re always looking for ways to get the play in,” he explains. “The signs are just another way to communicate on the field. Everybody’s always trying to figure them out. Some of the stuff is top secret.”

As for his favorite play to call during crunch-time, Brewer is equally secretive.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to win the game. It’s kind of a unique situation that we have been extremely balanced ... " — Gunter Brewer “If I told you that, I’d have to kill you,” he laughs. “Seriously, there are a lot of really good plays that we have to go to. We have several plays where it’s up to the quarterback (to decide) based on how the defense plays us, where we have the ability to throw it to a receiver or hand it off or the quarterback can keep it. You’ve heard of the triple-option back in the day? Well, we have several plays like that. It’s pretty tough to cover. Maybe we ought to call that every down.”

Possessing a playmaker like Bryant, Brewer says it’s tempting to try and get the ball to No. 1 on every play. Widely regarded as the nation’s top wide receiver, the junior poses a number of matchup problems for defenses.

“He does a tremendous amount for us in the running game,” Brewer says. “If you’re going to single-cover Dez, then you’re leaving yourself open to a huge play – and he’s made plenty of them. Therefore the defense says, ‘We’re not going to give you the deep ball, so we’ll put two (defenders) on him.’ Putting two people on him opens up other situations. If one guy is doubled,

that means another guy is going to be singled – they can’t double ’em all. If they try to do that, it leaves a bunch of holes for us to run through. Having a premier player like Dez on the outside gives us the ability to find other people to get the ball to, but we’re also going to find ways to continue to get the ball to him because of his ability to make the big play.”

One of those ways is punt returns, Brewer adds, alluding to Wayne Gretzky’s famous line, “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”

“The more times you put it in the playmaker’s hands, the better off you are,” he says. “I was fortunate to coach Randy Moss, and we let him return punts and kickoffs. We’re going to try and put it in his hands as many ways as we can.

If they choose not to kick it to him, then that’s our advantage.”

Although OSU’s offense may garner the lion’s share of attention and accolades, Brewer believes it takes a total team effort to be successful.

“Football is the greatest team sport that’s ever been invented. It takes all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams. You just can’t win one of them and expect to win championships.

You’ve got to score points, you’ve got to keep people from scoring and you’ve got to control field position.”

Brewer says he isn’t concerned about statistical benchmarks.

“We tell our guys as long as we’ve got one more point than they do when that last tick goes off, we don’t care if it’s a hockey score and we win 3 to 2.”

If past performance is any indication, OSU won’t be looking at any hockey scores this season. But Brewer knows the expectations are high in Stillwater, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s great to be a part of it. I think that’s what we ought to expect instead of it being a one time thing. We want our players to assume that’s the way it’s going to be every year. You have to earn it, though. Now it’s time to step up and work for that every year so every game is a big game because you’re trying to win a championship.”

53

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COWBOY GOLF

klahoma State’s Karsten Creek golf course is nestled among acres of blackjack oak trees, but the incomparable facility and the unparalleled program it houses can be traced back to a single seed planted in the early 1970s. What’s more, Boone Pickens Stadium and athletic village project share the same roots as Karsten: the Cowboy Pro-Am golf tournament.

The acorn of an idea was planted by the legendary Labron Harris and cultivated by a rookie head coach named Mike Holder. But it grew into a mighty oak because of a man named Jerry Walsh.

Holder’s mentor, longtime OSU golf coach Labron Harris, Sr., was in charge of hosting the 1973 NCAA Championship in Stillwater. To raise funds for the event, he held a golf scramble at the Stillwater Country Club in the fall of 1972 featuring former

56

players and friends of the program.

“That was to be his swan song, the last tournament he was going to coach in, and he wanted to put on a great show,” Holder recalls. “It was the fi rst time the National Championship had ever been in Stillwater, so it was a big deal. It was a big event for Oklahoma, and he wanted to have the resources to do a good job. The Pro-Am got some money into the coffers to help with that.”

“He went around the state promoting it for at least a year,” Holder adds. “The really great thing that came from his efforts was the number of people that showed up for the NCAA Tournament. I want to guess there were over 10,000 spectators at the country club for the last round alone. I’ve always contended that for the next 25 years, maybe even longer, that you could have totaled up every spectator at every one of those (NCAA) events and it wouldn’t equal what showed up in Stillwater in 1973. It was phenomenal. There hasn’t been anything

like it since. When we hosted in 2003, we didn’t come close to those numbers.”

Upon Harris’ retirement, Holder was hired as the program’s head coach and inherited a meager golf budget.

“My goal in those early years was to survive and raise enough money to have a competitive program,” he says. “When I took over the golf program, the total budget was $27,000. That included my salary, recruiting, scholarships, team travel, everything. You couldn’t go very far on that.

You couldn’t fund enough scholarships, and you certainly couldn’t travel very far.

“Labron Harris did a great job with a small amount of money, but he was a pennypincher. He was a great coach and did a lot with very little. He took a lot of pride in that, and I think a lot of the players who played for him – me included – benefited from that attitude. But to compete on a national level and recruit on a national level, I needed to show the players that we had resources. We needed to have the money

Jerry Walsh (right, pictured with T. Boone Pickens and Mike Holder in 1988) became an influential figure in OSU Athletics through friendships fostered at the Cowboy Pro-Am since 1973.

photo by PHIL SHOCKLEY

to offer a scholarship, number one, and number two, we had to show them that we were serious about winning at a high level, and that meant playing against the best competition, which took more money than what was in that budget.”

At the time, OSU professor Fred Tewell, the father of Cowboy golfers Doug and Denny, suggested Holder hold a fundraising tournament on an annual basis.

“Fred told me when I fi rst got the job, ‘You need to raise some money for your program. What you should do is take that Pro-Am concept that Labron Harris had and just continue it’ … I think we made around $7,000 that fi rst year and probably had 80-100 players.”

The Cowboy Pro-Am has been an annual event ever since, and the current director of athletics makes no bones about its ultimate impact on the university and how common friendships forged a founda-

tion for uncommon philanthropy.

“The 1973 Cowboy Pro-Am is the main reason you see every improvement that’s happened in that football stadium and the athletic village,” says Holder. “One guy – the late Jerry Walsh – brought two friends to the Pro-Am that fi rst year. He brought Boone Pickens and Sherman Smith. That relationship between those three guys and their bond to OSU through the Pro-Am, fostered through three decades, is the reason that you see this transformation, this metamorphosis, of OSU Athletics. You go back and erase 1973, you’d still be looking at old Lewis Field, because the lead gift on the stadium was Boone Pickens.”

Facilities were on Holder’s mind from the start.

“That fi rst year that I was a coach, I decided I wanted to build a golf course,” Holder says. “The conduit to eventually build Karsten Creek was the Pro-Am and

57

COWBOY GOLF

the relationships and loyalty established through talking to people and getting more donors to play in it. Plus, people who initially gave at a low level saw that it made a big difference in the program, probably more than they anticipated. That encouraged them to give more because they felt like they got a good value for their donation. I always took pride in that.”

Holder says a number of donors have been active participants over the years.

“There have been so many people who’ve been loyal and consistent in their contributions to the program … people like the late Bud Seretean. He didn’t make it back for the Pro-Am every year, but he contributed every year. There are a lot of people like that.”

Holder says he fi rst met Walsh at Lakeside Golf Club, where the Stillwater native was taking lessons from Harris.

“I was a player at the time, and we got well acquainted because I was always there hitting practice balls,” Holder says. “He’d come out to Lakeside and hit practice balls and hang around with the golf team. Jerry was the kind of guy who talked to everybody. He never met a stranger. He was a people person. He got to where he liked me, so when I got the head coaching job, he came by to see me.

We visited for a while, and he asked me what I needed. It was primarily money, and he said, ‘I’ll help you any way I can.’

When the Pro-Am came to fruition, he brought Sherman and Boone with him.”

The trio were not just close friends, but business associates, Holder says.

“Jerry Walsh was in the mud business.

Sherman Smith was in the drilling business. Boone Pickens had an oil company.

Boone and Sherman bought all of their drilling mud from Jerry. And Sherman drilled all the wells for Mesa (Boone’s company).”

The contributions of those men cannot be understated, he says.

“You look back through the history of OSU, those are two of the largest donors. Sherman Smith’s got to be number three on the list (behind Malone Mitchell) and Boone Pickens is obviously number one. Jerry would’ve given a lot

58

more money had he lived longer. (Walsh and his wife, Jane, were killed in a car accident in 1995.) He loved the university and he had an interest in athletics because of our relationship, and that reconnected Boone Pickens to athletics and the university. He was Boone’s best friend. They talked every single morning.

“It just goes to show you the power and the difference one man can make if he has the right motives. Jerry Walsh made all the difference in the world for this university.

Most people don’t even know who he was.

All he was trying to do was help OSU. Doing the right thing for the right reasons is powerful.”

Clay Billman

2009 COWBOY PRO-AM FRIDAY, OCT. 30 KARSTEN CREEK

MR. CONSISTENT The 37th Annual Cowboy Pro-Am golf tournament is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30. You can bet Richard Welborn has the date circled on his calendar.

He’s been to them all.

The POSSE member from Ponca City plans to play in his 37th Pro-Am this fall.

The modest Welborn doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but ask anyone associated with the OSU golf program, and they’ll tell you Richard is a priceless patron.

“Richard is just a great guy,” says Athletic Director Mike Holder, who as head coach launched the inaugural Cowboy Pro-Am in 1973. “It’s a tribute to him and his loyalty that he’s made every Pro-Am.” “He’s always been there,” echoes current Head Coach Mike McGraw. “He’s been steady for 37 years, and his giving level has gone up ever since. Interestingly enough, there are two people now who have played in every Pro-Am: Boone Pickens and Richard Welborn. Until recently, Sherman Smith had played in every one.”

At age 75, don’t call him retired. As the

owner of Welborn Electric since 1962, he still works as an electrical contractor. And as the boss, he makes time to hit the links from time to time.

“Richard’s a really active guy,” McGraw says. “He’s actually a pretty good golfer. I played with him a couple years ago.”

McGraw says Welborn has a special place in his heart for the golf program.

“Richard is probably the most low-key donor. He doesn’t want any limelight,” he says. “He’s as low-key as they come. He’s always made a difference in our program, and he’s given in more than just monetary contributions. He calls every once in a while and asks about the team. He’s not just involved in the fi nancial aspect of it, but he cares about the team a lot.”

“He’s gone from being just a participant in the Pro-Am to a sponsor, and he’s done some very significant things above and beyond for the program in the last ten years,” Holder adds. “He doesn’t want any recognition for that. He just loves the university and loves athletics.”

Welborn’s support goes well beyond golf, extending to football and basketball season tickets and attendance at a number of other university activities, including the annual POSSE Benefit Auction and local Cowboy Caravans stops.

Welborn and McGraw, a fellow Ponca native, have an interesting connection.

“Richard was a member of the Ponca City Country Club in 1973 when he played in that fi rst Pro-Am,” McGraw recalls. “My dad (Gervis) was the club pro, and I did everything for my dad out there, picking up range balls, washing carts, loading clubs on the carts, and cleaning clubs … I was 13 at the time and remember cleaning Richard’s clubs every time he played. He had a set of 1969 Ben Hogan Bounce Sole irons. I’ll never forget ’em. I can still see ’em.”

Welborn shakes his head at McGraw’s photographic recall.

“The guy’s got a memory like you wouldn’t believe,” he says, smiling.

“I was an OSU fan, and I knew he was a huge OSU fan, as well,” McGraw adds. “I gravitated toward all those members who loved OSU – Taylor Lain, Bill Eichor, Ward Nelson, Richard Welborn – they all had an OSU head cover or some sort of OSU gear.”

photo by PHIL SHOCKLEY

photo by PHIL SHOCKLEY

McGraw also remembers the fi rst time he heard of the Pro-Am. “I didn’t know about the tournament beforehand, but Richard and all those guys came back with a Cowboy Pro-Am bag tag.

I remember asking Richard about it. He said, ‘Oh, we raised money for the OSU golf program’ … That’s the connection Richard and I have, which is kind of unique. “ In the three decades since, McGraw maintained his connection to Welborn, as well as the OSU program. McGraw joined the Cowboy staff in 1997 and was promoted to head coach in 2005.

“I always kept in touch with Mike Holder through the years, in one way or another, and kept in touch with Richard off and on. Here it is 37 years later and I’m the coach, Richard’s still involved with the program … It’s a pretty neat story.

“It shows you how a guy’s relationship to the program is built throughout the years.

If people want to get close to the program, they can do it very easily. It’s the most approachable thing in the world. We want people to be involved with it.”

Although the format varies from year to year, McGraw says the Pro-Am is a straight scramble format, with teams comprised of four donors (amateurs) and a current Cowboy or alumni golfer (celebrity/professional). Prizes are awarded to the top three teams, with participant gifts for all players at each giving level.

The minimum donation to play is $1,500 per player, with sponsorships going up to five figures and beyond. In 1973, the requirement was $150 per player.

McGraw says the Pro-Am format provides opportunities for interaction not found in other sports.

“A donor to the football program would love to throw passes with Zac Robinson or go one-on-one with James Anderson on the basketball court. That would be a cool thing to do, but they don’t get to do that. Our donors get to the opportunity play golf with a current player or former Cowboy who may be on the (PGA) Tour, so that’s kind of unique about the Pro-Am.” The event is typically scheduled around a home football game on a weekend that fits most professional golfers’ schedules.

“This year it’s the Texas game, which has the potential to be a really big game. It’s the home game and there’s no PGA Tour event that week,” McGraw says. “When guys like Bob Tway and Scott Verplank and Bo Van Pelt and Hunter Mahan and these guys come back, our donors are thinking, ‘Wow, I’m playing with a Tour star here.’

It’s a tight-knit group. People come back every year and they want to come back every year.”

The influential event continues to be an important fundraiser for OSU. “The future from this point forward depends on this Pro-Am and the ability for

it to generate the kind of money it takes to compete at the highest level,” Holder says. “It’s incumbent on Mike McGraw to continue the success of that Pro-Am to make sure OSU is always at the forefront of collegiate golf.”

Inspired by the foundation formed by Holder, McGraw says he’s looking to gather a new generation of supporters via the Pro-Am. “I’m still benefiting from Mike Holder’s donor cultivation all those years, but I don’t want to live the rest of my coaching career on just the donors that he brought in,” McGraw says. “I’d like to develop a new crop of contributors who want to get close to the golf team, who want to know about the players and the team and want to know about our program – a new generation.”

The Pro-Am is not a closed event, McGraw adds. Everyone is welcome to participate.

“Most people may think they have to have a special invitation to play, but we welcome anybody who wants to support the OSU golf program to join us.”

Clay Billman

59

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EQUESTRIAN

Ambassador for the SPORT arry Sanchez, head coach of the OSU equestrian program, has pretty much always been into horses.

When he was a kid, he’d spend summers with his cousin on a working cattle ranch. The ranch was in Alamosa, Colo., and his uncle was the ranch foreman.

“That’s what we did,” says Sanchez.

“We’d spend all day horseback every day that I was there. We’d either be working with my uncle and the cattle, or if it was a day we didn’t have anything to do, we’d just be gone all day long on the horses. It was a lot of fun.”

Despite this, he almost didn’t end up a horseman. His father owned a business and it was assumed Sanchez would take over. That business had nothing to do with horses.

“About halfway through that first year after high school, I realized I had a love for horses and that if there was any way I could tie that into a job, I needed to do that,” he says.

So he headed to Lamar Community College and entered a program in horse training and management. From there, he transferred to Colorado State University and completed a bachelor’s in equine science.

While he was at CSU, he worked for a horse trainer in Lafeyette training show horses.

“That’s where I started getting the formal training, learning about the horse show industry and what it takes,” says Sanchez. From there, he worked at a quarter horse facility in New Mexico before being offered a job with New Mexico State University. At NMSU, he taught full time and showed horses.

Sanchez stayed at NMSU for six years, and coached two national championship teams during that time. In 1998, Oklahoma State hired him to start up a new equestrian

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photography by Phil Shockley

program. He was offered the job in December, and started on January 4, 1999.

“It seemed exciting to start the program here and be involved with it from the ground up,” he says. He and his wife, a registered nurse, settled in and have enjoyed Stillwater ever since.

“We love Stillwater. We have two kids, a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.

They’ll be starting junior high and middle school, respectively. It’s a great school system. Stillwater is a nice town that’s big enough, yet small enough, if you know what I mean. I really enjoy that I’m able to raise my children here. I love my job, and I look forward to coming to work every day. We own a little land south of town and I’m able to do my personal horse thing on the side and enjoy that, too.

“I believe that my staying active in the show industry helps me to prepare my riders at the collegiate level,” he says. “I believe it keeps me aware of what’s going on in the industry, which allows us to keep our riders competing at a high level.”

Coaching on the collegiate level was a natural transition for Sanchez, as his day-today job was coaching private individuals in showing their horses.

“Before I got the job at New Mexico State, I trained horses for a living,” he says. “I had clients that had their horses in training and I’d have to teach them how to show their horse to the best of its ability. A horse trainer is very much a coach. The biggest transition for me was teaching student-athletes how to ride unfamiliar horses.

Sanchez has always been a competitive guy. He wrestled in high school, and still looks like he could shoot a mean single-leg.

That competitiveness comes through in

everything he does, especially coaching.

“I don’t care if I’m at a competition or washing my truck. I have to have my truck cleaner than anyone else’s car on the road.

That’s just me. It’s how I look at things. I always try to be the best I can be.”

It’s one of the things he imparts upon the student-athletes in his program. Those summers in Alamosa taught him about horsemanship, but they also taught him

about hard work, and commitment. He and his staff spend a lot of time talking to the student-athletes about being the best at everything they do.

“It’s very fulfilling as a coach to see students come in as freshman and grow in knowledge and work ethic,” he says. “Every horse they get on teaches them something new. Hopefully, as seniors, anything they have to deal with, they can quickly adapt to

and compete at a very high level.

“We get them at an age where they’re out of the nest but not quite on their own.

We try to get them to see some things we’ve learned in our lives,” says Sanchez. “For instance, you get noticed when you don’t think people are watching. It’s those things you do when you don’t think people are watching that define who you are.”

The hard-work philosophy is paying off.

The program is consistently among the best in the nation, always vying for the national championship, and the girls within the program tend to be as successful in life and the classroom as they are on their horses.

“We have a very high team GPA,” says Sanchez. “We had nine girls last semester with a 4.0 and 19 others above a 3.5. And these are the girls who are competing. They represent the university in such a positive

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way. People don’t just talk about how they ride, they also talk about their athletic success.”

Sanchez is quick to give much of the program’s success to his staff.

“I have a great staff,” says Sanchez.

“Suzanne (Flaig) has been with me for 10 years. Kayla (Elmenhorst) has been a part of the program for eight years. She was actually the first official visit I recruited to OSU. She came through as a recruit and was a rider. She did behind-the-scenes stuff as a herd supervisor, and now she’s an assistant coach. Mike Kavalier started as our athletic trainer and is now our Director of Operations. I just have a great staff, and I know if I’m busy doing something else, they’ll have it covered.”

though things have slowed the past couple.

“Schools are looking at cutting sports rather than adding,” says Sanchez. “I think when the economy turns around, it’s going to kick back up again. It’s a Title IX thing, and a lot of schools add equestrian or crew because they attract such large numbers of women.”

With such big numbers, and the involvement of large animals, Sanchez says most assume equestrian is an expensive proposition. But there are a lot of misconceptions. For instance, at OSU, Sanchez says equestrian has one of the lowest operational costs per student athlete of any of the sports. There’s also the common assumption that the program hauls its horses across

“It’s very fulfilling as a coach to see students come in as freshman and grow in knowledge and work ethic ...” Every horse they get on teaches them something new.”

— Larry Sanchez

In addition to building a highly successful program, Sanchez has served as an ambassador for the sport. He was the chair of Varsity Equestrian, the organization that oversees NCAA equestrian. No longer the chair, he now serves as the spokesperson for Varsity Equestrian.

“My job now is to talk to athletic directors who need to add a women’s sport, and to make sure they have the necessary information to make an informed decision.

Right now, we’re at 25 schools. We need 15 more to be considered an NCAA championship sport. Our hope is that that happens sooner rather than later.”

According to Sanchez, equestrian is considered an “emerging sport” by the NCAA, and of the sports in this category, equestrian is the fastest growing. The sport has shown more growth over the past 10 years than any other emerging NCAA sport,

the country when it travels, but this is not the case. Instead, the school hosting an event provides horses for all the riders. It’s a different kind of home-field advantage.

“It must be extremely expensive to haul those horses.’ If I’ve heard that line once, I’ve heard it a thousand times from athletic directors,” says Sanchez. “We travel just like any other athletic program. We get on a charter bus or fly, go compete, then come back. The only difference is that we maintain horses. The other sports buy their equipment, too, but they can stick it in the closet over Christmas break.”

There are many schools around the country that have an equestrian team, but it isn’t sponsored by the athletic department.

“For instance, at one of the other Big 12 schools in Texas, it seems like a natural fit.

The university already owns an equestrian center. It already has a competive equestrian

team on campus. They would have no construction costs. It’s basically an addwater sport. Fund it a little and they have the women’s sport they need.

“It’s my job to get that information to those schools.”

Of course, by growing the sport, Sanchez is in essence making his job more difficult. The more teams there are, the more competition there is for the top recruits.

Every weekend somewhere in the country, there’s a horse show. Sanchez and his staff try to hit the big ones, such as the American Quarter Horse Youth World Championships in OKC and the Winter Equestrian Festival in West Palm Beach, Fla. Like any other sport, facilities play a big part in recruiting.

“We’re making do with the current facilities we have,” he says. “There are some things we need, but we’re able to function without them for a while longer. I know what Coach Holder’s vision is and what his dream is for all the athletic programs here at OSU. When it’s all finished, it’ll help with recruiting. With all those other schools out there recruiting for the same student athletes we are, it’s difficult. But facilities play into it, just like football.”

Still, there are benefits to being one of the top five programs in the country. Each year, Sanchez and his staff receive more than 200 videotapes and applications from recruits.

“We’re only looking for the best,” says Sanchez. “It’s just like any other sport.

You can take projects and spend four years trying to make them work, or you can get kids who look like they’re going to work as freshman. We have a phenomenal class coming in this year.”

This past spring, the Cowgirls won the inaugural Big 12 Championship. The team also hosted the event, which Sanchez describes as a victory in itself.

“We wanted to do the first one well,” he says. “We spent a lot of time and effort putting on that competition. To put it on and for the girls to win it was huge. That trophy means a lot to the entire program.”

It will no doubt be the first of many.

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PISTOL PETE'S PARTNERS

Wild at Heart Foxes Form Fanatical Fanbase

The Fox family of Stillwater may look like your regular, All-American household … but their rabid support for the OSU Cowgirls is anything but typical.

Parents Paul and Celeste Fox, along with children Regina, Carmen and Isaac, are regulars at most OSU sporting events. The family has a special affinity for the women's basketball squad, however.

The kids have even gone so far as to form their own cheering section – the “Westwood Rowdies,” named after the local elementary school where Celeste teaches second grade. (Regina and Carmen are Westwood alums, while Isaac is currently a fourth grader there.) This band of enthusiastic youngsters recruited a number of friends and classmates to join them in the bleachers and has become a fixture at Gallagher-Iba Arena in recent years.

They don’t call ’em “rowdy” for nothing.

Decked out in matching orange “Westwood Rowdies” T-shirts, the energetic gang sits courtside on the south baseline near the OSU Spirit Band. The pint-sized Poke fans have no reservations about getting loud and mixing it up with the college-age students.

The group’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by the Cowgirl coaches and players, either.

“It’s great,” says Head Coach Kurt Budke.

“Their spirit and enthusiasm is infectious and helps create a fun home-court atmosphere.

That’s what it’s all about. We could use more rowdiness like that in the stands.”

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photography by Phil Shockley

Cowgirl center Megan Byford says the players appreciate the support.

“We love seeing those kids when we take the court,” she says. “It gets us pumped up. Having support like that makes you want to play harder.”

As members of Pistol Pete’s Partners, OSU’s kids club, children eigth grade and under get free admission to all Cowgirl basketball, soccer and softball home games, along with Cowboy baseball and wrestling.

The parents say it’s a cost-effective way to involve the entire family in big-time, Big 12 Conference athletics.

“Pistol Pete Partners is a great way for families to be a part of OSU sports – especially families like us with multiple kiddos – because it’s not always easy to get everyone there,” Celeste says. “This program allows all of us to come affordably all year long.”

The Rowdies’ busy sports calendar begins with OSU Soccer this fall. Last season, the group even traveled to Norman to watch the Cowgirls capture the 2008 Big 12 Championship with a 4-2 Bedlam victory.

“Seeing the team with the trophy on the field, and all the girls’ orange hair was awesome,” Isaac recalls. “ It was their night.”

Regina says going to the games makes her a member of a larger family than just her own flesh and blood.

“OSU is everywhere,” she says.

“Anywhere you go you always feel like you’re part of the OSU family. You see it on signs, on cars, on t-shirts. It’s a way of life and a part of the community.”

Now a tenth grader, Regina is too old to participate in the Pistol Pete Partner

program (due to NCAA rules, the kids club is restricted to 8th graders and under), but that won’t stop her from coming to all the games with her younger siblings.

“You’re never too old to be rowdy,” she says.

Her mom agrees.

Celeste says she expects her Rowdies to “continue to group up together, come to the games and keep on cheering, loyal and true.”

As a side note, Isaac wanted us to mention that he will go with anyone and anywhere to watch the Pokes play. He’s waiting for your call.

For more information about Pistol Pete’s Partners and how your family can get involved, please visit www.okstate.com.

Mary Means

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Leave the electrical work to the pros.

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HOW THE WEST WAS DONE photography by PHIL SHOCKLEY

Most Poke fans don't get the opportunity to go behind the scenes of OSU's athletics operations, inside the locker room, team meeting rooms, training table, weight room, coaches offices ... POSSE peered through the lens to show off the Cowboys' recently completed west endzone amenities, arguably the finest football facilities in the nation.

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1. Cowboy Football coaches’ reception area, featuring black granite display wall, slate tile wall, custom Marlite wood paneling and hardwood floors.

2. Corridor outside of players' locker room, with orange lasso carpet, black marble tile border, stainless steel curved ceiling panels and doors, plus 3-D inset display wall.

3. Coaches' corridor, with dry-stack stone columns, recessed LED lighting, hardwood floors and custom carpet insets.

4. Head Coach Mike Gundy’s office, featuring hardwood floors and matching wood blinds.

5. Leather-appointed sitting area in Coach Gundy's office.

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1. Players' locker room features Marlite and stain less wall panels, stainless steel doors, glass tile inset for TV's, leather seating areas, OSU logo carpet and ceiling. Custom-designed lockers boast built-in ventilation system, embossed leather built in seat, electrical outlet for charging phones and iPods, plus orange LED lights behind frosted glass.

2. Locker room ceiling offers cove lighting with multiple settings. Custom coaching wall provides 65 feet of white board space along with two large TV’s.

3. State-of-the-art hydro-therapy plunge pools offer hot (104 degrees) or cold (55 degrees) treatment, along with a multi-level lap pool and HydorWorx 2000 treadmill pool (not shown).

4. Field-level hallways leading to team meeting rooms feature custom flooring to mimic the playing field, along with OSU logos suspended from ceiling.

5. 20,000 sq. ft. strength and conditioning center with 14’ ceilings, four-lane 40 yard dash track and mondo flooring throughout.

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1. Marlite wood paneling, 4 custom serving kiosks with glass tray slides, OSU riders etched in glass sneeze guards and back lit graphic interchangeable panels and oversized booths.

2. Mondo flooring through out, 14’ ceilings, OSU logo wood platforms 3. Custom weight benches with custom stamped steel plates.

4. 199 custom built theater chairs with orange OSU logo head rest and extra wide seating surface, orange LED lighting in soffits, stainless steel doors, stainless wall panels, hardwood floor stage, custom wood panels with hidden doors to access AV equipment and storage room.

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As OSU alumni, we share your “Orange Pride” by designing OSU jewelry that will respectfully represent the quality and tradition of OSU. “Made in Oklahoma” University approved and licensed designs produced right here in Oklahoma by experienced jewelers.

For further information check okstatejewelry.com, email: info@okstatejewelry.com or call 1-866-407-3404 for information regarding styles, prices, and purchasing. Logo Jewelry Specialist Co.

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wray.vings KYLE WRAY

COWBOY UP

Ever get into a car with a group of people, take one deep breath and smell something so rank it had everyone immediately checking the bottoms of their shoes?

Steve and I found ourselves in this position after a quail-hunting trip. We got up into the truck and quickly smelled something fowl (dogs were not the suspects, but there were lots of cows around). You do the math … or maybe it’s science. We shrugged and arrived at the decision, ‘where there are cows, Cowboys usually follow. Maybe that is 82

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where we “stepped in it.”

At Oklahoma State, we have the greatest mascot in the country. What could be cooler than a Cowboy? As a group, they conquered and settled the American West.

As individuals they strike a rugged romantic chord, easily identifiable as historic and present day heroes.

There are silver screen Cowboys: John Wayne, Matt Dillon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Clint Eastwood. They roped, rode and rifled their way into our hearts from an early age.

And don’t let anyone tell you “Cowboys” is a male-only term. Some of the most famous “Cowboys” in history had names like Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane and Belle Starr.

To have a real story about a real Cowboy like Frank Eaton puts us in rarified air.

We don’t have a mascot whose lore lies in a zoo escapee or caged feline. Nor do we follow a group of cattle or restrained ponies. Cowboys are free, smart and creative. They are tough but helpful. There is a certain Cowboy ethic that compels them to always employ a True Grit type POSSE 09

of effort in all they do.

The neat thing about being a Cowboy is you don’t have to wear Justins and a Resistol to be one. Of course if you do, it removes all doubt. You don’t have to know the difference between a Palomino and an Appaloosa. You do have to know you love Oklahoma State and carry a certain Horatio Alger (look that one up) type of attitude.

Cowboys are kind and polite, until its time to step into the street and take care of business.

Some Cowboys use a rope, others use a fountain pen. Different tools, same determination.

One Cowboy drives a truck, another a luxury car. Opposite modes of transportation, same smile and wave as you pass.

So sit tall in the saddle, hold your head high and take pride in our one-of-a-kind western heritage.

My advice — regardless of what you drive — if you’re around some cows, check the bottoms of your boots before you get in.

Go Pokes.

“Give “Giveyourself yourself aabreak: break: take takefive.” five.”

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