Mike Gundy, about to be 50, doesn't regret but won't repeat the 'I'm a man' rant

FRISCO, Texas — He turns 50 next month, which means we’re nearing the anniversary of the moment that defined him for so many. And yeah, Mike Gundy has considered commemorating his rant — “I’m a man! I’m 40!” — with a re-enactment.

“I don’t know if I could do it or not,” he said Tuesday. “But my 15-year-old could. He’s good at it. He’s capable of winning a talent show at junior high with it.”

Gundy, who is set to begin his 13th season as Oklahoma State’s coach, is the dean of Big 12 coaches by one measure (continuous time at the school and in the Big 12). By any gauge, he’s taken Oklahoma State to unprecedented sustained success. But even as the Cowboys are among the preseason favorites in the Big 12, Gundy gets more attention for the rant and for his hair.

The Mullet is shorter now after a haircut a few days ago, but it still resembled something he wore as a high school quarterback in the 1980s. Gundy said he trimmed it because it had grown so long, “it had ponytail potential.” But he estimated the value of publicity the hairstyle had generated for Oklahoma State at “somewhere in the millions,” and said he feels pressure to maintain it for that reason.

Gundy said he enjoyed the reaction from other Big 12 coaches.

“Bob (Stoops) liked it,” he said. “Dana (Holgorsen) wanted me to perm it. Coach Snyder just … shakes his head.”

Although Gundy has occasionally been at odds with Oklahoma State’s administration and with Boone Pickens, a five-year contract extension finalized last month pays him $4.2 million this year, includes an annual raise of $125,000 and automatically rolls over. Asked if he was willing to say he would never coach anywhere else, he hedged — but only a bit.

“I would think that’s true,” Gundy said. “Never is a long time. At some point you may be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. But I foresee being at Oklahoma State for a long time and finishing my college (coaching) career there."

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He said he doesn’t see coaching into his 60s, but said he is energized and ready for more.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m gonna be 50. I don’t feel any different than I did in my 30s, and I act like I’m 25."

Gundy said while attending a College World Series game earlier this summer, an LSU and a Florida fan heckled him good-naturedly about the rant.

“They were having a good time with it,” he said. “I took pictures with him. They were 20 to 30 beers over the limit. That’s the only time I’ve heard it in the last few years.”

Gundy said he has matured. The rant, he said, wouldn’t happen now.

“I think through things a lot differently,” he said. “Patience has become a big part of my life in a lot of areas. … At that time, I was young and energetic, all different things you do at that age. But now, it’s not that I would not have been frustrated, but I would not have ever reacted like that now like I did then.

“What I want my players to know is you can’t get too worked up over a situation. I’ve learned that over the last four or five years.”

But far from regretting the rant, Gundy sees it as a catalyst for the Cowboys’ success.

“It really kind of was the turning point for us at Oklahoma State in recruiting,” he said. “It opened up so many doors for us with parents who appreciated that.”