Gundy Meets Media, Cowboys Get First Look At Alamodome
Oklahoma State takes the field for the 2010 Valero Alamo Bowl against Arizona today, and after being in San Antonio for nearly a week, the Cowboy players and coaches are ready for Wednesday’s kickoff, which will be at 8:15 p.m. inside the Alamodome.
“We’re looking forward to getting it kicked off,” said head coach Mike Gundy, who is leading the Cowboys into a fifth-straight bowl game for the first time in school history. “It’s always fun to be here for six or seven days but then you kind of get excited about playing the game once you get close to it.”
Tuesday was a busy day for Gundy and the Cowboys. Following a press conference with Arizona head coach Mike Stoops, Gundy joined the team, coaches, personnel and several hundred fans for the Alamo Bowl Kickoff Luncheon. Those in attendance were treated to highlight videos of each team as well as team presentations by personalities Jenn Brown and Jessie Palmer.
Later in the afternoon, the Cowboys got their first opportunity to visit the Alamodome. After posing for a team picture, held a short walk-through as one of the team’s final preparations for Wednesday’s game, where the Pokes will try and become the first team in program history to win 11 games.
During the head coach press conference, Gundy talked about leading the Cowboys to one of the best seasons in school history.
“Well, personally I get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing the players have success,” said Gundy, who was named the 2010 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year. “I know a lot of times, from the media standpoint, you guys continue to ask me about me. But we have 127 guys on our team and some of them are very talented, some of them aren’t. Some of them came in somewhat ready to play college football, some of them didn’t. But to watch them mature and grow as young men and, just like last night at the bowl function we had, I enjoyed sitting there and watching the players from both teams get up and have a good time and be involved in activities where their teams enjoyed seeing themselves and seeing their teammates have fun.”
Gundy went on to add that the Alamo Bowl experience has been highly positive for the Cowboy players and coaches.
“When you can finish a season in bowl game preparation and the players still enjoy being around each other and the coaches are enjoying each other, then as a head coach I get a lot of enjoyment out of that because it’s not always that way,” Gundy said. “Being in (coaching) 20 years there’s a number of years I’ve been with teams and, as the season finished up, they didn’t really want to practice and they weren’t excited about being around each other. So we’ve been able to work through that this year and they’ve enjoyed themselves. For me personally, I get a lot of satisfaction out of that.”
Updated 12-29-2010
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