Think of Mike Gundy and the things that probably come to mind include the iconic "I'm a man, I'm 40!" moment, his glorious mullet, rattlesnake hunting in the off season, and a high-octane offense, just to name a few things.
While many of things are synonymous with Gundy, the Oklahoma State head coach also shared in a recent USA Today article that all those things are also a unique part of a blueprint that Gundy sees as vital to their success in Stillwater.
Some will see those things as outlandish and unnecessary, but to Gundy has found a unique formula to market his program.
“I don’t want Mike Gundy to be bigger than our team, but I also have to do what I do in order to win at Oklahoma State,” Gundy shared.
Every program's blueprint to success is, and should be very different. What's required at Alabama, Michigan, or Notre Dame is very different than what programs like Wisconsin, Baylor, and Oklahoma State need to do.
“The people I’m targeting, 17-, 18-year-olds, that gets their attention. They put me on as a [Twitter] follower...and if I can get him in here on a visit, you never know. That’s the reason I do that stuff. Notre Dame can walk into a school and they have the ‘ND’ on their shirt and they get instant marketing. Well, I haven’t gotten to that point. So we have to really think about and work on what we do."
As Gundy points out in the USA Today Article, the blueprint at Oklahoma State, and many other places, becomes a balancing act between marketing your program, and making sure what you're doing to market the program isn't a distraction.