Amid 6-game slide, Gundy urges ‘trust’ from fans
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Oklahoma State has dropped six straight games, its longest losing streak in two decades under coach Mike Gundy, but he remains confident he can turn his alma mater’s football program around.
Gundy, speaking to reporters during a video conference Monday, urged Oklahoma State fans to continue to trust him after the Cowboys fell to 3-6 overall, 0-6 in the Big 12, after Saturday’s 42-21 loss to Arizona State at home.
“What’s important for all the Oklahoma State fans to know is that we’re very aware of what’s going on, and at some point in life, we all have to put trust into somebody,” Gundy said. “And I think they need to trust that we have a good plan for what’s going on here in the big picture, and we have answers. Sometimes they’re not short term. Sometimes they might be long-term answers.”
Gundy, a former Oklahoma State quarterback, is facing the kind of mounting criticism he has rarely experienced during his coaching career. The Cowboys won at least seven games and reached a bowl in each of the previous 18 seasons.
“Kind of the synopsis of all of this is that this place has had tremendous success for 18½ years or 19 — I can’t do the math real good,” Gundy said. “Unfortunately, in life, most people are weak and as soon as things start to not go as good as what they thought, they fall apart and they panic.
“And then they want to point the finger and blame other people. You see it happen in everyday life. People do it all the time. That’s why I refuse to watch the TV and watch the news because I get tired of people complaining and bitching about this and that versus just doing something about it and trying to figure out a way to make it better.”
Oklahoma State’s only losing campaign under Gundy was a 4-7 season in his first year in 2005. The Cowboys haven’t gone winless in conference play since finishing 0-6-1 in the Big Eight in 1994.
“[I]n most cases, the people that are negative and voicing their opinion are the same ones that can’t pay their own bills,” Gundy said. “They’re not taking care of themselves. They’re not taking care of their own family. They’re not taking care of their own job. But they have an obligation to speak out and complain about others because it makes them feel better.
“But then, in the end, when they go to bed at night, they’re the same failure that they were before they said anything negative about anybody else.”
The Cowboys would have to win their final three games to finish 6-6 and reach a bowl game for the 19th straight season. They play at TCU on Saturday, host Texas Tech on Nov. 23 and close the regular season at No. 21 Colorado on Nov. 29.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers‘ starting rotation could have a new look next season with right-handers Frankie Montas and Colin Rea heading into free agency.
The Brewers announced Monday that Montas had declined his part of a $20 million mutual option for 2025. The Brewers turned down the $5.5 million club option on Rea’s contract.
Montas receives a $2 million buyout and Rea gets a $1 million buyout.
In other moves Monday, right-hander Kevin Herget was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and left-hander Rob Zastryzny was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson cleared waivers and were sent outright to Triple-A Nashville.
Montas, 31, had a combined 7-11 record with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150⅔ innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers this season. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.
Rea, 34, was 12-6 with a 4.28 ERA this season in 32 appearances, including 27 starts. He struck out 135 in 167⅔ innings. Rea had an 8.31 ERA in September and was left off the Brewers’ NL Wild Card Series roster.
Herget, 33, had no record with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven appearances with Milwaukee this year. He was 5-1 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA in 38 relief outings with Triple-A Nashville.
Zastryzny, 32, was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances with Milwaukee. He pitched in 30 games with Nashville and went 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA.
The 29-year-old Bauers batted .199 with a .301 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 116 games this season. He also hit a seventh-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with the Mets, who rallied in the ninth to win 4-2.
Wilson, who turns 27 on Dec. 20, went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 34 appearances, including nine starts.
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