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.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bryce Harper returned to the Philadelphia Phillies‘ lineup Friday, two days after getting hit on the arm by a pitch.
Harper hit second and went 2-for-3 with a strikeout while playing in his usual spot at first base against the Boston Red Sox in a 7-5 victory.
Harper had a bruise on his right arm after getting hit by a 92 mph pitch from Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Richard Lovelady. Manager Rob Thomson said that Harper had a scheduled day off Thursday and that the team was “not really overconcerned at all.”
Thomson told reporters the team’s initial diagnosis was a bruised right triceps.
The two-time National League MVP had entered play Friday still looking for his first hit of the spring. Harper was 0-for-2 with a walk in his three plate appearances in Grapefruit League play before Friday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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