Mark Stoops an Ohio State candidate?
Mark Stoops is being mentioned as a possible candidate for the Ohio State football coaching job. Urban Meyer is the clear favorite for the job; I’m sure it’s his after the 2011 season, if Meyer wants it.
But if not Meyer, who? A lot of observers are listing Mark Stoops as a possible candidate. In fact, one oddsmaker listed the little brother of Bob and Mike as the No. 2 favorite in the derby.
Interesting. Mark Stoops’ stock certainly is rising after a very good season as Florida State’s defensive coordinator.
Mark Stoops is 43 — he turns 44 on July 9 — and gradually built up quite the resume. Mark, just like Bob and Mike, was an Iowa defensive back. Mark played for Hayden Fry from 1986-88, then was a graduate assistant for the Hawkeyes and then went into high school coaching.
Bob Stoops’ Kansas State ties helped Mark get into college coaching. Jim Leavitt, Stoops’ fellow co-defensive coordinator at KSU, was hired to start a football program at South Florida. Mark coached one year at USF, 1996, a season in which all the players redshirted.
Then Mark Stoops jumped to Wyoming to work for Dana Dimel, another member of Bill Snyder’s K-State coaching tree and another former colleague of Bob Stoops. Mark spent four years with Dimel, three at Wyoming and one at Houston.
Then Larry Coker hired Mark Stoops to coach Miami U. defensive backs, and in Year 1 Miami went 12-0 and won the national championship. Mark spent three seasons at Miami, then became Mike Stoops’ defensive coordinator at Arizona for six years. In 2010, Mark Stoops joined Florida State’s staff.
So that’s an impressive resume’. Coached at traditional powers Miami and Florida State. Coached at outposts like Houston and Wyoming. Coached at a down-program-that-should-be-better-and-got-there in Arizona. Coached at a fledgling program like South Florida.
Is that enough to get Mark Stoops a look from Ohio State? Is growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, enough of a hook for the Buckeyes to take notice?
In Mark Stoops’ favor, Ohio State historically does get stars in its eyes when searching for a coach. Woody Hayes was head coach at Miami-Ohio when hired by the Buckeyes in 1952. Earle Bruce was head coach at Iowa State when hired in 1979. John Cooper was head coach at Arizona State when hired in 1988. And Jim Tressel was head coach at Youngstown State when hired in 2001.
So the Buckeyes long have gone for a head coach, but they’ve gone to largely lower-status coaches with Ohio ties. Youngstown State and Miami-Ohio head coaches. Bruce was a long-time Ohio high school coach and Ohio State assistant. Only Cooper and Arizona State broke the mold.
So Mark Stoops might have a chance. It’s clearly Urban Meyer’s job to have. A phenomenal head coach at Utah and Florida, Meyer also has the Ohio ties. He’s an Ohio native and played at the University of Cincinnati, then coached at Ohio State. Meyer’s first head coaching job was at Bowling Green, yet another Ohio school.
NBA Finals: Miami act getting tiresome
The NBA Finals start Tuesday night, and the city of Miami — franchise, media, fans — seems to think everyone is against the Heat. Which is largely true. But I’m not sure everyone understands the primary reason.
The Dallas Mavericks are the people’s choice; it’s not easy making Mark Cuban and his billions the sentimental underdog, but the Heat has done it. And it’s not jealousy, which so many in south of Palm Beach claim.
It’s an aversion to shortcuts. The Heat is trying to win an NBA title via shortcuts. Without paying dues.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) celebrates his 3-pointer with forward LeBron James (6) during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, May 26, 2011, in Chicago. Miami won 83-80, and advanced to the NBA Finals. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Dallas has paid its dues. Dirk Nowitzki and Cuban and Jason Terry have paid their dues.
It would be difficult to claim that LeBron James and Chris Bosh have not paid their dues. Or Mike Bibby and Mike Miller and the Z-Man and whoever. LeBron most definitely paid dues in Cleveland, and Bosh toiled in the NBA outpost of Toronto.
So the shortcut is not about individual players. The idea of players colluding, superstars collectively deciding to join up for a title bid, is neither new nor alarming. Yankees, Lakers, Celtics, heck, the Atlanta Braves. almost 20 years ago.
The difference, as I see it, is the original foundation. When the Lakers trade for a Pau Gasol and sign a Ron Artest, they come from an already-established base. When the Yankees sign C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, they didn’t build a team around them. They already had Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.
The Heat just started from Dwyane Wade and scratch. Didn’t even have a roster until August. Wade went to the schoolyard, picked LeBron and Bosh and said, you guys play with me.
Is this the way champions will be determined from now on. Just by superstars getting together on their own? If so, that’s a troubling development.
NBA media voted Pat Riley the league’s executive of the year. A total joke. If you want to reward the Heat for roster-building, Wade is the only choice.
The Miami project eliminated the notion of team-building. Of roster-building. Of collecting a variety of players — through draft, through trade, through free agency — and melding them into a championship contender. The Heat took a shortcut around that.
It has nothing to do with the arrogance of South Beach or Miami, a bad sports town if ever there was one. It has little to do with LeBron’s theatrical decision. It has little to do with the attitude of the players. Frankly, I find Wade, LeBron and Bosh not the least bit off-putting. They seem no less charming than most NBA superstars and more charming than some.
But it’s the process that worries fans. Is this the wave of the future? Is this kind of shortcut the way to win titles, and if so, does that mean hopelessness for about 25 NBA franchises?
Jim Tressel: Don’t forget the Troy Smith case
Jim Tressel is out as the football coach at Ohio State, and the current series of scandals is only the latest, not the first, trouble Tressel encountered in Columbus. There was the Maurice Clarett case, in which the Buckeye star tailback was suspended for the 2003 season after receiving improper benefits, and, most interesting of all, the Troy Smith case.
FILE - In a March 30, 2011 file photo, Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel arrives at a news conference in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State announced Monday, May 30, 2011 that Tressel has resigned as the NCAA investigates the Buckeyes for possible rules violations. Tressel says in a statement that he met with university officials and agreed that it is in Ohio State's best interest that he resign. The school says Luke Fickell, background right, an assistant head coach under Tressel, will serve as interim head coach for the 2011-2012 season.(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam, File)
Smith won the 2006 Heisman Trophy. But he was suspended late in the 2004 season for taking $500 from a booster. Smith was suspended for the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State and the 2005 season opener.
His infractions were similar to those of Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar, who was booted from the Sooner squad in August 2006. Bomar quarterbacked OU in 2005 but took money from Big Red Sports & Imports for work he did not perform.
OU coach Bob Stoops did not suspend Bomar. Stoops banished Bomar. Now, sources have said that when Stoops initially called in Bomar, he asked Bomar about the infractions and Bomar denied them. Stoops had the proof, confronted Bomar and sent him on his way.
What if Bomar had come clean? Would he have been given a suspension, ala Troy Smith, and been allowed to return to the team? Who knows?
Stoops generally has been lenient with players who have been charged with misdemeanors. Usually a one-game suspension. Things more serious — Ryan Broyles’ theft charges, for example — have resulted in a season-long suspension. But when major NCAA violations have occurred, mercy has been sparse.
Nobody knows how clean any football program really is. OU is no exception. But the outward appearances look better for the Sooners than they do the Buckeyes. When an Ohio State quarterback, a backup but with loads of potential, broke the rules, he stayed on the team. When an Oklahoma quarterback, a starter with loads of potential, broke the rules, he was gone.
Jim Tressel: Losing his job had to happen
Someone on the radio the other day asked me if the NCAA was finally going to do something about Ohio State and its football scandals under coach Jim Tressel. I said sure, the NCAA is so mad at the Buckeyes, it’s going to put TCU on probation.
You remember, during these periodic new revelations about the problems at Ohio State, the NCAA announced a probation for Boise State over minor violations.
But the NCAA never was going to be the arm of justice for Tressel. That was always going to have to fall on Ohio State itself, primarily sanctimonious president Gorden Gee. And justice arrive Monday morning, when Ohio State asked for and received Tressel’s resignation.
Tressel is out for the same reason that Chuck Klein eventually made the Baseball Hall of Fame. As Bill James wrote years ago, there’s just too much there. And there was too much for Tressel, from repeated reports of NCAA violations to coverups by Tressel himself.
Ohio State and Tressel had a pristine reputation until the last six months. Tressel’s professorial image contrasted with that of, say, the cocky Pete Carroll at Southern Cal. But with every new report, Tressel’s role in the problems at Ohio State dwarfed those of Carroll at USC.
Tressel’s past was full of questionable practices. Maurice Clarett, the star of Ohio State’s 2002 national title team, was found to have a number of NCAA violations. A booster-payment scandal was found at Youngstown State when Tressel was coaching that school to Division I-AA prominence.
Truth is, you can’t judge a coach by his cover. Displaying protocol and spouting ethics is no assurance that a coach is playing by the rules. Tressel’s sweater vest was a shroud.
Tressel’s primary crime was his lying to NCAA investigators. But in the wake of the Dez Bryant scandal, it’s good to know that prominent coaches like Tressel and Bruce Pearl (Tennessee basketball) are held to the same standard — though with the coaches, it seems the NCAA is requiring employers to do the dirty work.
And finally, Ohio State was willing to do just that. My impression of Ohio State football culture is that the Buckeye fans might be a little less fanatic than the supporters of national powers farther South. I had dinner with a couple of Ohio State fans in Dayton, Ohio, in March. Big Tressel fans, but also deeply fearful that everything come out was true, and if it was, there was no expressed defense of Tressel. That impressed me.
I think those kinds of thoughts eventually got to Gordon Gee.
Chat with Berry Tramel at 11 a.m.
Thunder: Comparing OKC & Chicago collapses
Amazing. Another epic collapse in the NBA conference finals.
Three nights after the Thunder melted down against Dallas, the Chicago Bulls did the same. The Miami Heat beat the Bulls 83-80 to win the East, despite Chicago owning a 77-65 lead with 3:12 left in the game.
The Thunder held a 99-84 lead over the Mavericks with five minutes left in Game 4 of their series.
Both were choke jobs. Both were just total disasters. Which was worse?
The Mavericks finished regulation with a 17-2 run. The Heat finished with an 18-3 run. The Thunder held on to at least get to overtime. The Bulls did not.
The Thunder led by 15 with five minutes left; the Bulls led by 12 with 3:12 left. By the 3:12 mark of the Thunder-Mav game, Dallas was within eight, 99-91.
The Thunder’s only points of the last five minutes came on Russell Westbrook’s jumper with 2:33 left (which made it 101-91). The Bulls’ only points of the last 3:12 came on a Derrick Rose’s spinning drive for a basket with 1:46 left (to make it 79-72) and Rose’s foul shot with 26.7 (which made it 81-80; Rose missed the tying second foul shot).
The Thunder scored on only one of its final 11 possessions. During that span, the Thunder made just one of nine shots, committed two turnovers and missed its only two foul shots. Chicago’s meltdown was not so much offensive; the Bulls missed four of their final five shots and committed two turnovers, plus the 1-of-2 foul shooting.
The Bulls’ collapse was on defense. Miami scored on its final seven possessions. No stops for Chicago. The Heat scored 18 points in a span of 3:03 on those seven possessions. Read that sentence again. Miami had scored 65 points in 45 minutes, then scored 18 points in three minutes. Miami made three 3-pointers in the spree, including a Dwyane Wade 4-point play, and Wade missed a foul shot that would have completed a 3-point play.
The Thunder’s defense during its collapse was not much better, but least OKC had two defensive stops during that time. The Thunder committed three backcourt fouls on rebounds or loose balls.
The Thunder’s problem was clear. It quit scoring. Two points in five minutes is not winning offense.
The Bulls’ problem was equally clear. Its awesome defense disappeared. Eighteen Miami points in 183 seconds is not winning defense.
Which meltdown was worse? The Thunder’s was worse from a deficit standpoint; a 15-point lead with five minutes left. The Bulls’ was worse from a time standpoint; a 12-point lead with 3:12 left.
Bottom line, the Bulls’ collapse was worse, for this reason. It ended the season. The Thunder got to play another game, and though it lost in Dallas in Game 5, the Thunder’s performance in taking the Mavericks to the wire (Dallas won 100-96) negated some of the sour taste of Game 4. The Bulls do not get to play another game. They live with this an entire off-season.
Thunder: Much was learned in Dallas series
The Thunder season is over, courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks in a five-game Western Conference Finals. But the Thunder learned much about itself. Here is a little the Thunder learned:
1. Nick Collison is an elite defender. I know, Dirk Nowitzki had a series for the ages. But the Thunder refused to double-team Dirk, while the Mavericks double-teamed Kevin Durant the majority of the time (and Russell Westbrook some). The Thunder made the decision that it would live with whatever Nowitzki produced, and in the end Nowitzki hurt the Thunder.
But Collison’s defense still was excellent. He made Nowitzki work for his shots, even to the point that Dallas coach Rick Carlisle questioned whether Collison was playing fair. With Collison, Serge Ibaka’s shot-blocking and Kendrick Perkins’ post defense, the Thunder is set in the middle defensively.
2. James Harden has to play a bunch. Harden averaged 26.7 minutes per game during the regular season. He averaged 29:54 per game in the Denver playoff series, then 32:17 in the Memphis series and 32:15 in the Dallas series. Harden’s days of playing less than 30 minutes per game are over.
3. In small doses, Russell Westbrook and Harden can swap positions, with Harden initiating the offense and Westbrook playing on the wing. Harden is not a full-time point guard; heck, he’s not a part-time point guard. But in the right circumstance, Harden is very effective at getting the offense started. He’s an excellent passer and penetrater, and Westbrook cutting in from the wing is dynamite.
4. Eric Maynor is not a starting point guard, at least not on a contending team. Maynor has been a superb two-year backup to Westbrook, and in Game 5 Wednesday night, Maynor and Westbrook played together, to some acclaim. But Maynor’s defensive deficiencies were exposed by J.J. Barea. The Thunder can spot Maynor in certain situations, but he can’t handle the defensive load on a regular basis.
5. Daequan Cook is valuable even when not shooting. Cook scored six points in Game 1 against Dallas and eight points in Game 2. But he went scoreless the final three games and didn’t even shoot the final two games. But Scotty Brooks kept using Cook, in limited doses, because he spreads the floor. With Durant getting double-teamed by the Mavs, the Thunder had to have a lineup that could keep the Dallas defenders spread out, and Cook provided that.
6. Durant played a whale of a series against the Mavericks. His shooting wasn’t always on; Durant made just 42.9 percent of his shots (Nowitzki made 55.7 percent). But Durant was excellent in other areas. He averaged 28.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocked shots and 4.0 assists. All of those numbers were up from his averages in the regular season, in the Denver series and in the Memphis series, with the exception of scoring against the Nuggets (32.4). Look at it this way; Durant scored almost as much as Nowitzki (32.2) and rebounded almost as much as Tyson Chandler (10.6).
7. Scotty Brooks will roll the dice. I know we think of him as consistent and maybe even stubborn. But three times in five games Brooks did something he hadn’t done in months. A) Game 1, Brooks turned to Nate Robinson for a spark. It didn’t work, and no one ever should have believed it would, but this was a sign that Brooks wasn’t going to go with status quo. B) In Game 2, Brooks rode a hot lineup consisting of Durant and four reserves (Collison, Maynor, Harden and Cook) the entire fourth quarter, until foul-outs in the final seconds. And C) In Game 5, Brooks played Maynor and Westbrook together, which he had done a little early in the season but not at all in recent months.
Thunder: Ultimate resiliency test in Game 5
The Thunder has been known for its resiliency. Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night in Dallas is the ultimate test of that resiliency.
The Thunder is coming off a spirit-crushing defeat. ESPN reported that in the last 5,000 NBA games in which a team had a 15-point lead with five minutes left, the Thunder (in Game 4) is the only team to blow the lead.
With the Mavericks poised to win the series Tuesday night in front of the home crowd, it would seem the Thunder is facing an emotional and mental mountain.
“It’s definitely going to show what type of team we are,” Russell Westbrook said. Westbrook said the key to overcome the momentum swing is “just stay committed. Stay committed with your team and stay together.
“If you worry about the last game, it’s going to be tough to win tonight.”
Dallas center Tyson Chandler played on the U.S. National Team last summer with Kevin Durant and Westbrook.
“They’ve got pride,” Chandler said. “They’re gonna come out here and play hard.” Chandler said he “didn’t know how tough it’s going to be” on the Thunder to rally from such a discouraging defeat, “but we’re going to try to make it tough on ‘em.”
Maverick Jason Terry was asked about the ESPN camera shot late in the game that showed the Thunder bench disconsolate, even though OKC trailed by only three points with 40 seconds left.
“The last picture in my mind from that game was Durant wearing the championship belt and Nate Robinson cheering around on the sidelines,” Terry said, referring to Durant mimicking putting on a belt, ala Aaron Rodgers, after the Thunder took a 99-84 lead with five minutes left.
“I just new right then it was too early to celebrate,” Terry said. “We know, of all people, what can happen.”
The Mavericks had a 23-point lead on Portland in the third quarter of Game 4 in their first-round playoff series yet lost the game.
Thunder: Nowitzki talks about the comeback
Long about midnight, Dirk Nowitzki took the podium and talked about the Mavericks’ amazing comeback, from 15 points down with less than five minutes left to force overtime and eventually beat the Thunder 112-105 in a game that will be long remembered in Oklahoma City.
Dirk Nowitzki (41) of Dallas puts a shot over Oklahoma City's Nick Collison during game 4 of the Western Conference Finals in the NBA basketball playoffs between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Oklahoma City Arena in downtown Oklahoma City, Monday, May 23, 2011. The Thunder lost game 3 to the Mavericks 112-105. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Nowitzki finished with 40 points, including 12 in those final five minutes and two more to start overtime.
“I can’t remember another comeback like that,” Nowitzki said. “Our defense was unbelievable down the stretch. Trix (Shawn Marion) and J-Kidd (Jason Kidd) did a wonderful job on (Russell) Westbrook and (Kevin) Durant, making catches tough.
“The other guys were kind of helping and zoning. And really what was killing us all night long was offensive rebounds. They got a lot of tip-ins, tip-outs for shots, and finally there in the last five minutes, I only recall one offensive rebound they had.”
True enough. Brendan Haywood said much the same thing. That after James Harden fouled out with 4:34 left in regulation, the Mavs sold out to stopping Durant and Westbrook.
That makes Harden’s foul-out the game’s biggest play. It was a terrible play — fouling while trying to rebound a missed Thunder shot, which sent Harden to the bench and the Mavs to the foul line, with no time off the clock. The Thunder loses its No. 3 scorer and lengthens the game with with 4:34 left and a 99-86 lead.
The Thunder had 11 possessions after taking a 99-84 lead. Dallas never failed intentionally to lengthen the game. If the Thunder had taken no shots during that stretch, if the Thunder had just committed a shot-clock violation every possession, that would have been 264 seconds — four minutes and 24 seconds.
Now do you see the enormity of Dallas’ comeback? No way do the Mavs come back without monumental help from the Thunder.
Anyway, more of Dirk.
“Once we got to OT, we had to feel good about ourselves, after being down 15 and making all that comeback, and we obviously talked about it in timeouts, that we’ve got to go for it now,” Nowitzki said. “We’re here and this is our ballgame, we’ve got to go for it.
Dirk Nowitzki (41) of Dallas celebrates during overtime during game 4 of the Western Conference Finals in the NBA basketball playoffs between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Oklahoma City Arena in downtown Oklahoma City, Monday, May 23, 2011. The Thunder lost game 3 to the Mavericks 112-105. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
“We’re just a veteran team trying to play off each other … I don’t remember actually calling a play the last couple minutes. We just ran down and pick-and-rolled and free flowed it.”
Nowitzki said he didn’t sense any frustration on Durant but that the Mavs did a good job helping Marion on Durant. “When he came off down picks, we were kind of right there,” Nowitzki said. “When he faced up and (isolated) Shawn, our bigs and Tyson did a good protecting the rim. Yeah, so our defense was phenomenal. When you’re down 15 with a couple of minutes to go, you’re obviously desperate.”
Nowitzki said the biggest play to him, at least offensively, was his 3-pointer that made it 101-94 with 2:22 left. It immediately followed the Thunder’s only points in the final five minutes — a jumper by Westbrook that gave OKC a 101-91 lead.
“The one three I shot was either do or die,” Nowitzki said. “At that point, we were down 10. So if it goes in, great. And if not, then it just wasn’t our night. And we were able to get that three in.”
Nowitzki was asked how the Thunder was feeling after the game.
“You know, I’ve obviously had my fair share of leads and lost them,” Nowitzki said. “It’s all part of the game. It happens. It happens to the best teams in the league. The good thing about us, we didn’t cave in there in the fourth. We hung in there, kept battling, even though it didn’t look good, but kept trying to make plays.
“It was a great comeback for us. Definitely one of the best that I can remember being a Maverick, in a very important game.”
OU football: Dealing with Austin Box’s death
There is no chapter in the coaching manuals on how to deal with death. Football players aren’t supposed to die. Not in their prime.
So Bob Stoops has a challenge in the coming months on how to deal with Austin Box’s death. How does Stoops deal with the tragedy? How does he address it with his team? How often does he bring it up?
Forget the ramifications of who will play middle linebacker. How will Stoops deal with his team concerning Box’s death. They always say that young people believe themselves to be indestructible. So when that belief is shattered, how do they respond? Not as ballplayers, but as people? That is Stoops’ charge as the head coach.
OU has been fortunate over the years. I can’t remember a Sooner who died while still on the football team. Jim Mackenzie died in office as head coach in April 1967, but no player.
In this photo taken Dec, 4, 2010, Oklahoma's Austin Box holds a championship poster after 23-20 win over Nebraska in the Big 12 championship NCAA college football game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma state medical examiner's office says Austin Box has died. Spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said Thursday afternoon, May 19, 2011, that Box's body was on the way to the medical examiner's office, but she had no further information. (The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)
But the tragedy has struck Oklahoma State and Texas.
UT lost offensive lineman Cole Pittman in a car crash 10 years ago February. In a recent interview with Leadercast, Longhorn coach Mack Brown called Pittman’s death “absolutely one defining moment that helped me with my leadership. He was a young man who just turned 21 years old, he’d just gotten engaged, he was going to be a sophomore as a starter on our team for the first time.
“He was returning home after spring break when he missed a curve — his truck flipped, and he died. For the next three- or four-day period, I felt the importance of being the head football coach at Texas and trying to manage a tragedy; trying to make some sense out of it for our parents who were afraid of losing their children. It affected me as a father with children; I had to try and make sense out of it for me. I felt the weight that came with trying to figure out how to help Cole’s parents.
“How do you call a father and tell him he’s lost a son? How do you walk downstairs and tell a football team that was getting ready to start spring practice that one of their peers was not with us anymore? There’s the funeral and the memorial service that stick in your mind for life — you never forget.
“And even as you move forward it lingers, it shapes you. That experience changed my life.”
Then in May 2005, OSU defensive back Vernon Grant died in a Dallas car crash. He was a team leader for the Cowboys. Mike Gundy had been OSU’s head coach about five months.
“I don’t think there’s a written plan for it,” Gundy said a few days after Grant’s death. “Just be there for ’em in a sincere way. I am not a psychologist.”
Here’s what I wrote after talking to Gundy in May 2005.
“Coaches motivate and inspire and discipline. They line up young men in the right spots on the field and try to line them up in the right spots off the field. When needed, coaches put an arm around a shoulder or bark instructions. To the good ones, it all comes naturally.
“But there is nothing natural about this. Nothing natural about addressing a roomful of 20-year-olds who 15 minutes ago thought the world would stay forever young and now have glazed looks across their faces. Nothing natural about suddenly coming to grips with vincibility, rather than gradually, the way it comes to most of us.
“They don’t teach this at the Pat Jones School of Coaching. They don’t teach this at any school of coaching. Recall the weathering look of Eddie Sutton, who in the days and weeks and even years after the OSU plane crash took on the aging process of a sitting president, who goes into the White House vigorous and comes out gaunt.”
Gundy said the loss of Grant was “out of my hands. I can’t control it.”
Gundy said he simply told his team how he felt. Told his players how he personally dealt with the tragedy.
“I get up in the morning and go to work, and go run at lunch if I have time, then go back to work,” Gundy said. “I continue with my everyday lifestyle. I know that’s what he would want us to do. If Vernon would come back, he would say, ‘Why is everyone sitting around worrying about me?’”
