Wetzel: Mike Gundy dug in his heels and got left behind

In November 2015, when his Claimson program was still moving towards a national title (it would win two of them), Dabo Swine talked about a business life cycle.

“You’ve got birth. You have got development. You have found the plateau. You have fallen. And you have died,” said Swine. “Those great businesses, those great programs, they are not plateau.

“So how do you do that?” He continued. “You have to continuously reinforce, re -reset, learn, grow. You have to change. You have to do this. You have to do this. You don’t just change to change, but you always have to challenge yourself every year and make sure, ‘Okay, it is how we have done it, but is it still the right way?”

The college football business is different from 2015 in 2025. Direct revenue-sharing, nil and transfer portal have not only changed the way the roster collect, but even individuals and teams need to coach.

It is like most businesses and industries. Nothing is stable. You either welcome either enthusiastically, or, in swine’s words, “You have died.”

Mike Gundi is very alive; He is not yet employed in the Oklahoma State, where he became the all -time winning coach of the program in more than 21 sessions. He and swine have a lot.

Both are in the 50s from their middle (Swine 55, Gundi 58). Both created underperforming programs through their will of the will – a combination of competitive drives, innovative plans and individual charisma. During 2010, some were better.

They have also been in the most vocal critics of the new era of the game and at least enthusiasts. It shows.

The tigers of Dabo are compelling as the title contenders in the presiden, 1-3 with the loss of Georgia Tech and Syracuse. Meanwhile, Gundi was fired after starting 1–2, including a humble loss to Tulsa.

At his final news conference before being rejected, Gundi did a lot of new.

“This is like being in an argument with your wife,” Gundi said. “And you know that you are right. This makes a zero difference. You are wrong. You can just finish it, give it inside, and things are going to be very smooth.”

It seems that Bleed in Gundi’s program, acknowledging the defeatist attitude and acceptance of new dynamics.

Anyone can add a player through the portal. But if you do not accept the portal and understand, if you are not spending time, it’s trying to try to do the best work for you, are you getting the right player? You cannot go with the legs pulling.

Swine is a traditionalist; Often due to commendable reasons. He wants to be loyal to the players whom he recruits, believing and developing them instead of transfer to a better talent.

However, the time changes. You can mourn it. You can pine for the old days. Or you can customize so that you do not air like a typewriter repair shop.

Establishment coaches are often against transfer of rail, painting players against transfer culture, who jump as disorganized or run by a challenge. This may be a case for some, but for many others, the portal is a chance to prove their merit by working on the ladder in small to big programs.

Large programs recruit high school sophomore and junior years. Many people go through those cracks. Maybe they came from small towns or did not hit the shocks of development, or their parents could not afford to throw the coach and nutritionist. Perhaps he “Elite 11.” Was not invited in.

Nevertheless, once in college, he worked and worked and improved and improved, usually in small programs without some unrighteous sense of greatness based on the fundamentalist or “tradition” of the locker room.

Other people may fail in their first school, or are scattered by the previous coach. Now, on their last occasion, they are fighting with the way they should always be.

With the recruitment of old school, the coaches who love the portal are probably going to get the players on the best coaches that only tolerate the portal. Diamonds are everywhere.

Syrakuse and Georgia Tech did not have much “talent”-and certainly not high-class recruitment-when they beat Claimson. Also with Tulsa and OSU. He did not have better facilities or high-paying assistants.

But they may have that Dabo and Gundi used to get out in excess – a deep drive to win. High school recruitment ranking does not matter to the scoreboard.

Gundi could not work in the new era. Can a very talented swine be? Many coaches cannot do. It is not a matter of age, however – Indiana’s Kurt Signanti is 64 and rich. This is a approach. This is about attacking new possibilities.

Reinviocene, regeneration, reset, learning, growing.

It cannot be like keeping your tongue in a fight with your spouse.

Mike Gundi already tried that approach.