Oklahoma
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy floats theory about player retention rates in college football
The transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL) have certainly made an impact on college sports over the past couple of years.
The NCAA adopted the NIL policy in 2021. Since then, college football programs have often been faced with finding creative ways to keep their roster turnover to a minimum. The exercise is perhaps one of the unintended consequences of the policies.
Prior to the portal and NIL, coaches were largely focused on recruiting players to their respective programs and could typically rely on an athlete sticking around for multiple seasons.
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Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy walks off the field in the second half during an NCAA football game between Oklahoma State and Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
During a recent press conference, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy lamented the impact NIL has had on the sport.
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Gundy argued that monetary motivations are the driving force behind players’ decisions on which program they want to be a part of.
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy walks on the sideline during a college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. (BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“Player retention is based on money,” Gundy responded when asked about player retention. “I’ll give you an example. If you’re playing on our team and we go 3-9 and right now you’re making $12,000 and we say, ‘Hey, if you come back we’ll pay you $250,000.’ What are you going to do? Player retention is probably 90 percent built on money now. Not other things. It’s changed.”
Head coach Mike Gundy of the Oklahoma State Cowboys reacts on the sideline in the second half against the Texas A&M Aggies during the TaxAct Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on December 27, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Gundy has been the head coach of the Cowboys since 2005. He added that he refuses to get in a bidding war over a player’s NIL value while the season is in progress. Gundy believes those negotiations should be reserved for after the season.
“I told the players there’s no negotiating now,” Gundy told reporters in August. “Portal’s over. All negotiation’s history. Now, we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football.”
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Gundy doubled down on his position during this week’s press conference. “That’s what I told the players. There’s no negotiating now,” he said. “The portal’s over. All the negotiation’s history. Now, we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football.”
While the advent of NIL and the transfer portal have introduced numerous benefits for the players, the policies have also come with some drawbacks. Oklahoma State enters this Saturday’s game against Baylor with a 3-4 record.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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NORMAN — After an up-and down week that saw Oklahoma drop the lone Bedlam match of the season, and then split two tight games with Arkansas before blowing out the Razorbacks on Sunday, the Sooners remained No. 1 in the NFCA/Go Rout coaches’ poll released Tuesday.
But there’s far from a consensus.
Oklahoma received 12 first-place votes — the same total they had last week — but five other teams received first-place votes.
Texas Tech remained No. 2 with four four-place votes and Alabama No. 3 with seven. Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 4 with four first-place votes, followed by Florida with two and UCLA with two.
Texas is No. 7, followed by Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida State.
Texas A&M, the Sooners’ opponent for the final regular-season weekend in two weeks, comes in at No. 11.
Other SEC teams include Georgia at No. 15, Mississippi State at No. 17 and LSU at No. 20.
OU hosts the Georgia Bulldogs in a three-game series beginning Friday.
Other Sooners’ opponents this season in the polls include No. 14 Duke, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Arizona, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Washington.
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Oklahoma also remained in the top spot in the D1Softball poll, with Alabama No. 2 there followed by Texas Tech, Nebraska at Texas.
The Sooners dropped a spot in the Softball America poll, with Nebraska elevating to No. 1 behind the two-way stardom of former OU standout Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl).
Frahm is 13-4 with a 1.36 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 118 2/3 innings in the circle and hitting .440 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. Another former Sooners player, Hannah Coor, is among the Cornhuskers’ regulars as well.
The Sooners have 158 home runs, just three away from tying their own season record in the category, but UCLA has closed the gap in a major way, sitting just four behind Oklahoma.
OU freshman sensation Kendall Wells leads the nation with 34 home runs, three ahead of UCLA’s Megan Grant. Wells tied Jocelyn Alo‘s program record for home runs in a season with her home run in Sunday’s win.
The Sooners host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their final non-conference game of the season before opening the series against Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Love’s FIeld.
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