I can honestly say, I witnessed in person two of the most memorable moments in Mike Gundy’s coaching career at Oklahoma State. Not the two greatest moments, or the two worst moments, but in my opinion, the two most memorable moments.

The first one came on Sept. 22, 2007, following the Cowboys exciting 49-45 win over Texas Tech. I was in my second season of covering OSU football for Fox Sports Radio. Near the end of this thrilling game, the Fox producer in Los Angeles asked me to try to get Gundy on the phone, so they could interview him on the air.

I went down to the postgame press conference on a mission. All I had to do was wait until Gundy’s time with the media was finished, then ask the coach if he could take a minute to talk on the phone with the hosts on Fox Sports Radio.

However, Gundy came into the room on a different mission.

Instead of talking about the big win his team just pulled off in front of a near sellout crowd, Gundy began the press conference with a tirade addressed to a female reporter from another newspaper.

Earlier that week, that reporter had written a column explaining why the Cowboys had benched quarterback Bobby Reid in favor of Zac Robinson. In the article, she reported that Reid had previously considered transferring from the program, she detailed how he often had a difficult time handling nerves heading into games, and his attitude and toughness came into question.

Gundy viewed the newspaper column not as a personal attack on one of his players. That’s what led to his now legendary three-minute and 20-second rant.

Gundy held up copy of the newspaper’s sports section including the particular column he was referring to. He never mentioned the writer by name, and honestly, at first, I didn’t know who he was referring to. He said of the column, “three fourths of this is inaccurate, it’s fiction. This had to have been written by a person that doesn’t have a child.”

Then he defended Reid, “Here’s all that kid did: He goes to class, he’s respectful to the media, he’s respectful to the public, and he’s a good kid, and he’s not a professional athlete, and he doesn’t deserve to be kicked when he’s down. If you have a child someday, you’ll understand how it feels. But you obviously don’t have a child.”

Then came the comment heard around the world.

“Attacking an amateur athlete for doing everything right, and then you want to write articles about guys that don’t do things right and downgrade them, the ones who do make plays,” Gundy screamed. “Are you kidding me? Where are we at in society today? Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40! I’m not a kid. Write something about me, or our coaches.”

After the rant was over, I immediately stepped out of the room and called the Fox Sports Radio studio. The producer quickly asked, “Do you have Gundy with you? Is he willing to go on the air with us?”

I said, “Um, no, that’s not going to happen.”

“Why!” the producer shouted down the phone line.

“Um, just watch the videos of the postgame press conference, I’m sure it will be all over the television. Just watch and you’ll understand why I can’t get him on the phone.”

The producer was puzzled, and didn’t know what to think of my explanation, so he just said, “Okay, fine,” and hung up.

The second most memorable moment I witnessed was just two weeks ago. I was covering the Tulsa at OSU game on that Friday night, and while sitting in the press box, I tuned to the guy next to me and said, “We might be witnessing Mike Gundy’s last game as head coach.”

Well, we now know it was. However, Gundy deserves a lot of credit for what he achieved in 21 seasons at OSU. His head coaching record was 170-90. The went to bowl games 18 seasons in a row under Gundy, from 2006-23. Of the 11 teams in Oklahoma State history that have won at least 10 games in a season, eight of those were Gundy’s, including a 2011 squad that won a program-record 12 games.

I will never forget that postgame press conference in 2007 and I will not forget covering Gundy’s last game at OSU.

TULSA BEACON RADIO

Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. This week my guest will be Owasso Mayor and Pastor of The Presence in Owasso, Alvin Fruga. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.