'We don’t have a Ritz-Carlton': Mike Gundy is fine with OSU football recruiting budget

STILLWATER — Asked about recent reports noting that his Oklahoma State football program had the lowest recruiting budget among the public Power Five universities in 2022, Mike Gundy could only shrug.

The 19th-year Cowboy coach said the recruiting budget for the current fiscal year was higher than the $455,689 his program spent the year before, according to information released by USA Today. Gundy did not detail the size of the increase, but said he expects it to increase again next year when he addressed the media before OSU kicked off the final week of spring practice on Monday at the Sherman Smith Training Center.

He acknowledged the budget is set by those above him, currently athletic director Chad Weiberg and president Kayse Shurm. 

“I’m getting texts from my buddies where people are beating me up over that. What do I have to do with that?” Gundy said. “I wish y’all would call Weiberg and say, hey, Coach wants another million dollars annually for recruiting. I’m all for it. I’m just the nice guy that took the $470,000 instead of the $1.4 million.

“Whatever morons thought that had something to do with me is totally absurd. Why would I not want more money?”

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Gundy also pointed out the vast majority of the budgetary decisions in regard to USA Today’s report on the past five years of recruiting expenses were finalized by former athletic director Mike Holder and president Burns Hargis, both of whom retired at the end of June 2021. 

During the five years of the report, OSU’s recruiting budget averaged $475,500.33 per year, which was sixth-lowest among the 52 public universities in the report. Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State were among the Big 12 programs ranking immediately above OSU in 2022, all spending between $800,000-$900,000 that year.

“The budgets have to be done a year in advance,” Gundy said. “So the numbers they got for ‘22 had to be done the first half of ‘21. So that was the other administration. We tried to get all we could get, but that’s all we could get. 

“We’re getting more now. We’re not gonna be in the millions like these other schools.”

Gundy’s explanation for areas where OSU saves money in recruiting detailed the use of an on-campus hotel and school-provided meals for athletes on recruiting visits rather than luxurious hotels and restaurants. 

“We don’t have a Ritz-Carlton,” Gundy said. “We put them on campus at the hotel they’re gonna be in on gameday, so it’s exactly like what it’s gonna be when they’re here. We don’t take them to a restaurant and spend $18,000 on food. We feed them on the training table, because that’s where they eat when they’re here, so they know this is what it’s gonna be like. 

“If we had those amenities here in Stillwater, would we do it? I don’t know. And I’m not knocking anybody that does it. So some of those numbers get exaggerated based on things that we don’t use here. But the majority of those numbers are gonna be on private airfare, because it’s expensive.”

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Caleb Etienne lands at BYU

To this point, only one former OSU football player has entered the portal in the spring transfer window and that player, offensive tackle Caleb Etienne, announced on Twitter on Monday that he has committed to BYU.

Etienne made his decision to transfer public on Friday, with the portal opening on Saturday. It will remain open until April 30.

The Cowboys conclude spring practice on Saturday, so it is possible they could see additional movement at that time.

“Caleb just felt like he got beat out, so he left,” Gundy said on Monday, prior to Etienne’s commitment. “That’s his choice. …He didn’t feel like he was gonna start here and that he was gonna lose his job, so he went somewhere else.”

Gundy and his staff have already replaced Etienne’s spot on the roster with the Sunday commitment of Jarrett Henry of Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive tackle, who is a native of Palestine, Texas, was scheduled to be on campus with his family on Monday.

Henry played one season at Trinity and will have four years to use his final three years of eligibility.

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Increased fourth-down work this spring

Gundy said practices this spring have included a lot of situational game work, and an area that has increased is the defensive fourth-down approach.

“We’re working a lot of third and fourth downs,” Gundy said. “I don’t think you can get enough of that work right now. Because eventually what happens is young people’s minds don’t focus a lot. So they’re out here at practice and they’re just playing and they’re not really tuned into it being fourth-and-4. And they let a guy catch an uncontested 5-yard completion.

“We need to challenge fourth-and-4. We need to challenge fourth-and-2. Those situations are very important and there’s never enough time to work on them.”

The Cowboys have been one of the country’s best third-down defenses the last three years. This past fall, they finished third nationally, allowing conversions on 27.1% of snaps. 

Against fourth downs, OSU ranked 79th, allowing 53.1% of conversions.

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