In 2007 Mike Gundy made an ESPN “Decade In Sports” moment when he reacted in a primal and protective way about a quote in a newspaper article covering one of his players.

Holding the paper up for all to see, he started a rant that included his now famous statements such as, “Come after me! I’m a man, I’m 40!” and “This is garbage…It makes me embarrassed to be associated with athletics!…Makes me wanna puke!”

The gloves were off. The female sports writer of the article to which he was referring was in the room, and she didn’t say a word. There wasn’t really anything she COULD say.

Gundy had stated in front of a room full of national and local media that she needed to “get her sources straight.”  And perhaps she did.

After a mixed, then elated, then raucous reaction over the next few hours, “I’m a man, I’m 40!” became a pop-culture phrase known across the U.S. It was so well known that later Justin Bieber revealed he had downloaded the rant as his personal cell phone ringtone.

Adding to the smiles, it was later revealed that Mike Gundy, in response to Beiber’s ringtone, downloaded some of Bieber’s music for his own phone.

A few years later, pop culture got a big dose of “Gundy-dom” once again when a camera caught footage of “The Gundy,” a celebratory dance the coach does in the locker room after a big win.  Less than a day after the footage was released, a re-mix of “Teach Me How To Gundy” began to spread across the internets.

But Gundy got to enjoy his own “real, live and earned” moment when his Oklahoma State Cowboys Football Team recently earned their first outright Big 12 Conference Championship and a bid to play against Stanford in this year’s Fiesta Bowl.

And just yesterday, the announcement was released that he had been selected by the 1,200-member Football Writer’s Association as the National College Football Coach of the Year.  This announcement came on the heels of OSU’s Justin Blackmon being chosen to receive the coveted Biletnikoff award which recognizes the nation’s top receiver.  Indeed, Gundy AND the OSU Cowboys have had quite the year.

I can’t imagine what Gundy is experiencing right now.  T. Boone Pickens recently announced, “I think it’s time to talk about giving Mike a raise.”  Enrollment is up at the university and some of the students are actually citing that the reason for their attendance as the football program…and these are not athletes.  It’s truly a mountain-top moment for Gundy and the entire program.

I know I’m happy, and I just teach at OSU.  I’m a girl, I’m 48, and I CAN’T really dance very well.  I certainly can’t “do the Gundy.”  But I can sit back and smile about Gundy’s success.

You go, Coach Gundy.  Very. Nice. Job.

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