July 15, 2024 • 12 mins
Former Oklahoma Sooner Quarterback and College Football coach Cale Gundy joins the show in Hour 2 to talk about the new beginnings for Texas and Oklahoma. Cale gives his thoughts on the upcoming season for OU in the SEC and why he's higher on the program than most.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
We're back. It's the Craig WayShow with Hall of Fame broadcaster and voice
of the Texas Longhearts Craig Way,once more coming away from SEC Football Media
Days right in the heart of downtownDallas here at the Omni Hotel. As
we mentioned, one of the greatthings about this gathering in all the past
(00:30):
years Big twelve Media Days and nowSEC Media for these ogs back to Southwest
Conference Days, is the opportunity toget together with people who work in this
business, and if you're really lucky, you get to visit with people who
played the game at an elite leveland work in the business. And our
(00:53):
next guest is a perfect example ofthat. Former Oklahoma Sooner quarterback assistant coach.
Now he's living the world of atalking dog, said the one and
only Kale Gunney from the Sports tamWe'll good to see. How are you.
I'm doing great? Thanks for havingme on. Yeah, I mentioned
a Kale that you know. Isaid, I'm old enough to remember being
in the broadcast booth in nineteen ninetythree, so that was thirty one years
(01:15):
ago. This fall when he hadan outstanding game and the Sooners won that
one. That was a long onethirty eight seventeen. Well only that one,
only that one of the four,So the other ones were kind of
went back and forth but ended upon the Longhorn side. So and you
told me that earlier. I thoughtyou'd have been like twelve years old,
right game? Yeah, if only? Yeah, you know, So,
(01:36):
how do you like in this sideof the aisles so to speak? We
talked about in this day and hwhen you hear both sides of the isle
that people are talking about from apolitical perspective, I'm just talking about from
a sports broadcaster as opposed to anathlete who played the game at the level
you played it it. How's thisstriking that I've always had an interest in
this and the radio or TV.I've always enjoyed it and always had,
(01:57):
you know, a lot of opportunity. He's just being a quarterback and uh
a baseball player uh as well,and uh obviously coaching. So you know,
I'm probably in the minority though,because most coaches don't really like to
have anything to do with sports radiobecause they don't like to hear uh people
talking bad about him if they don'tplay well the game before. Yeah,
(02:20):
but you know, he don't giveit him. That's true. I mean,
I think he's got tenure. He'sgot tenure, so he's gonna he's
gonna say what he wants to say. And you know, it kind of
is what it is. Somebody askedme earlier today about it, and I
said, well, I said,you know, our mother's no longer live.
She left us a couple of yearsago, but my dad is.
And and you know, if ifyou look at it from my dad's view,
(02:42):
my dad probably looked at you andsay, well, I just told
the truth. Right then if youwent to Ma and Mam would say,
Michael Ray, you probably shouldn't havesaid that. There's a better way to
say certain things. So, uh, but no, I I really enjoy
it. You know. I lovelistening. I love sports. I mean,
I love all. I'm an Fone guy, I'm a Wimbledon Tennis,
(03:05):
I'm a tour defontse. I mean, I've got one of those bikes.
I used to cycle all the time. And so I just love sports
and I love people. You playedbaseball also at a very high level.
You like you follow baseball, courseI do, and obviously follow softball very
closely. I played baseball. Youwould know this, But I played baseball
OU when I was there, OhI remember, yeah. And I've had
two nieces play softball at OU withPatty. I had one another niece play
(03:30):
at OSU. My daughter played.So I just kind of like it all,
you know, for the most part. And I asked you come on
because I did want to talk aboutOklahoma and Sooner football and this this thing
where Texas and Oklahoma are going intogether. And I'll get to that in
the moment, but since we're onthe subject, i'let's stay with it as
(03:50):
being on this side of the game. Has it changed affected, altered in
any way shape or form your relationshipwith your brother for those who don't know
his brother, of course, MikeGunny, the head coach of the Oklahoma
State Cowboys. Has it changed things? No, no, No, We've
always you know, we're the sameand we're a very close family. And
(04:13):
you know, I told you Iwas just on the phone with him,
and you know he's he's my dad'sup there. He got tractor and they're
mowing property on How old is henow? Is eighty five years old?
Yeah, And that's just how heis. Uh, he works, works,
works all day long and he's youknow, he takes great care of
(04:33):
himself. So uh but no,we're a very close family. And you
know, the last couple of years, I think I told you earlier.
I think I did my son's coachingfor my brother, yep at at Osu
and he's twenty nine. So I'vehad the opportunity to spend a lot of
time up there and watch a lotof practices and kind of get around Oklhoma
State football a little bit. Ispent a lot of time still at at
(04:55):
Ou. I mean some of them. I mean I recruited Sethia Trail and
coach Seth Latrol. I was therewhen Joe John Finley was there, DeMarco
Mohon or Murray. I coached andrecruited, you know. So I've got
great relationships and you know what.That's what it's all about. Anyways,
It's all about relationships. Everything is. I'm a huge relationship guy. I
love people and love getting to knowpeople. Do you miss anything about coaching?
(05:15):
I miss the players because I youcoach them hard and you love them
harder. That's how That's what IThat was kind of my philosophy. And
trust me, I coached them hard. But I also loved them harder than
anybody else, and I coached Itdidn't matter if they were my running backs.
When I coached running backs or widereceivers. Uh, it didn't matter
(05:38):
if he was a scout team ora walk on. I mean, if
you needed to be coached, Icoached you. But I also took pride
in to try to coach the otherthree hundred and fifty days out of the
year that has nothing to do withfootball, you know, and just try
to help help them in everyday lifeand give them opportunities and just tell them
(06:00):
what it's really going to be like. You know, the real world is
really damn tough when you get outthere. You know, you don't have
that locker room, you don't havethat equipment room, and get closed,
you don't have that cafeteria. Imean, the real world's gonna slap you
in the face and tell you toget back. At the end of the
line, you got to go towork, you know. So I miss
that. And then the other thingI miss is I miss going and playing
on the road. I love thatmore than anything. I loved going with
(06:24):
our seventy or sixty seven players andplaying on the road playing in somebody else's
environment and letting them get after youand you're just there with your with your
team. Only I miss that busy. McHale Gunny from the Sports Animal and
Oklahoma City Course, former Sooner quarterbackand assistant coach. How about your thoughts
(06:46):
on this? I mean, wethose who listen to Austin know all about
They've heard not only from Sark andfrom athletic Director Crystal Conti CDC has talked
about it quite a bit several othersabout the access moving to the SEC and
the excitement and all that sort ofstuff. What's what's your take on the
folks up in Cleveland County and andand really all the greater Oklahoma City area
(07:12):
and Norman about this impending move instarting competition this fall. I would say
there's probably some nervous nervousness in inthis group, and you know I I
don't think there's there's any nervousness withthe players or the coaches, because I
(07:32):
know the mentalities. I know allthose guys and so I know what they're
about, and I know how they'recoaching them every single day. I know
Jerry Smith, the strength coach.I know how he's coaching them every single
day. I mean, he ishe is, He's got hands on him
every single day. So they're tryingto do their best to prepare them.
But there is going to be thatlearning process, you know, and I
I you know, you and Italked about it earlier. I had a
(07:54):
chance. I coached at UAB whenI first started in the mid nineties,
so I lived in I lived inHohover, and I lived in Pelham,
so I was right in the middleof Auburn in SEC and Alabama and Tennessee,
and it is different. I canremember playing at Legion Field. We
play on Saturday and Alabama played somebodythere the next Saturday. There'd be two
thousand RVs out there seven days outbefore Tennessee came to town or they played
(08:18):
an Iron Bowl game there. SoI think there's people are a little nervous,
but I think, you know,I've got more faith in them.
And I think that's probably just becauseI played there and I coached there forever.
Yeah, you know, I amdefinitely the minority of what I think
they can do. I think they'rea nine nine to maybe a ten one
(08:39):
team. I really really did oneof the things that you like most about
them, and by the same token, the things that have you the most
trepidation the most. Well, ifthis works out, then it'll be good.
But it's an if right now,Before you get to that, what's
the thing you like the most,Well, there's a bunch of f's,
you know. I think you know. Last year they went on the road
and they got beat by Kansas.Last year they went on the road and
(09:01):
they got beat by Oaklham State andmy brother up there. Well, they
got to go to Auburn this year. Okay, and given Dan Tevie,
that's gonna be just as difficult asgoing on the road to play in Kansas
or Rosu. Now you've got togo to play Ole miss and Missouri,
who people think are top ten teams, and you start looking at the schedule,
you're like, oh crap, I'mtrying to I'm trying to add up
and get to nine. You know, they've got a young quarterback who is
(09:26):
very, very good in Jackson Arnold. He's got a great arm, he
can run. I think Seth Latrailand Joe John Finley will do a tremendous
job of putting them in the rightsituation. Their best group on offense is
their wide receivers. They're extremely talented, very fast, a lot of playmakers,
(09:46):
so I think they'll do a goodjob of trying to find ways to
protect the quarterback, get rid ofthe ball fast. The weakness is their
offensive line, and that's not good. Now they had the best, one
of the best, if not thebest, off into line coaches and Bill
Beatenbow, But I just I don'tknow about the true talent to consistently playing
the SEC or every Saturday and movepeople and stop people on a consistent basis.
(10:11):
That's the concern of going from theBig twelve to the SEC. It's
like it's like boxing. Okay,in the Big twelve, I believe we
were in the we were fighting lightheavyweights and you could take punches and maybe
get knocked down and get back upon your feet. Well, now you're
playing. Now you're boxing heavyweights.You may be boxing guy that's not even
(10:31):
good, but one punch you maynot that Saturday. So true, that's
that's the learning curve. How doyou practice? How physical can you be?
I've talked to coaches who've coached inthe Big twelve. In the SEC,
you're just trying to get players thisSaturday and try to keep them as
healthy as you can. That wasthe biggest learning curve in making this move
(10:52):
well. And I would imagine alsoin talk the learning curve there, they're
a lot of things I know thatyou're excited about that. You think this
team can do really well. Yeah, no doubt. I think this team
I love. I know how BrentVinables is, I know the passion,
I know how he can recruit.I think it's very important the first two
(11:16):
years that they have some good successbecause if you roll out there and you
have a couple seven eight wins,you're going to continue to have a hard
time recruiting kids out of the SECand pulling them to Oklahoma to play in
that same conference. You know,the best players in the country mainly are
(11:37):
in the Southeastern Conference, and occasionallyyou could go steal one and pull one
in the Big Twelve that didn't wantto play in the SEC. They wanted
to play in the Big Twelve.Well, now you're going to get kids.
Why is the kid needs to leaveFlorida or Alabama and Georgia and go
halfway across the country to play inthe same conference, whereas family and friends
can play. So if they don'thave some success early, it can get
(12:00):
really tough. I believe in thisconference. Okay, he's Kale Gundy and
you hear on the Sports Animal inOklahoma City. You know, at least
he's not throwing passes against Texas anymore. That's a good thing. No,
I'm not. I spent a lotof time at the Lake, spend a
lot of time with Coach Switzer,a company that we work for, a
coaches Cabana, and absolutely love it. Travel, get to go see a
lot of my former players play.That's where life's good. Right, life
(12:22):
is good. Hey, I appreciateyou doing this. Thank you very much.
All right, Kale Gundy with us. We've got more coming up.
Will continue from SEC Football Media Dayshere in Dallas at the Amni Hotel on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zoneof the IR Radio app.
We're back. It's the Craig WayShow with Hall of Fame broadcaster and voice
of the Texas Longhearts Craig Way,once more coming away from SEC Football Media
Days right in the heart of downtownDallas here at the Omni Hotel. As
we mentioned, one of the greatthings about this gathering in all the past
(00:30):
years Big twelve Media Days and nowSEC Media for these ogs back to Southwest
Conference Days, is the opportunity toget together with people who work in this
business, and if you're really lucky, you get to visit with people who
played the game at an elite leveland work in the business. And our
(00:53):
next guest is a perfect example ofthat. Former Oklahoma Sooner quarterback assistant coach.
Now he's living the world of atalking dog, said the one and
only Kale Gunney from the Sports tamWe'll good to see. How are you.
I'm doing great? Thanks for havingme on. Yeah, I mentioned
a Kale that you know. Isaid, I'm old enough to remember being
in the broadcast booth in nineteen ninetythree, so that was thirty one years
(01:15):
ago. This fall when he hadan outstanding game and the Sooners won that
one. That was a long onethirty eight seventeen. Well only that one,
only that one of the four,So the other ones were kind of
went back and forth but ended upon the Longhorn side. So and you
told me that earlier. I thoughtyou'd have been like twelve years old,
right game? Yeah, if only? Yeah, you know, So,
(01:36):
how do you like in this sideof the aisles so to speak? We
talked about in this day and hwhen you hear both sides of the isle
that people are talking about from apolitical perspective, I'm just talking about from
a sports broadcaster as opposed to anathlete who played the game at the level
you played it it. How's thisstriking that I've always had an interest in
this and the radio or TV.I've always enjoyed it and always had,
(01:57):
you know, a lot of opportunity. He's just being a quarterback and uh
a baseball player uh as well,and uh obviously coaching. So you know,
I'm probably in the minority though,because most coaches don't really like to
have anything to do with sports radiobecause they don't like to hear uh people
talking bad about him if they don'tplay well the game before. Yeah,
(02:20):
but you know, he don't giveit him. That's true. I mean,
I think he's got tenure. He'sgot tenure, so he's gonna he's
gonna say what he wants to say. And you know, it kind of
is what it is. Somebody askedme earlier today about it, and I
said, well, I said,you know, our mother's no longer live.
She left us a couple of yearsago, but my dad is.
And and you know, if ifyou look at it from my dad's view,
(02:42):
my dad probably looked at you andsay, well, I just told
the truth. Right then if youwent to Ma and Mam would say,
Michael Ray, you probably shouldn't havesaid that. There's a better way to
say certain things. So, uh, but no, I I really enjoy
it. You know. I lovelistening. I love sports. I mean,
I love all. I'm an Fone guy, I'm a Wimbledon Tennis,
(03:05):
I'm a tour defontse. I mean, I've got one of those bikes.
I used to cycle all the time. And so I just love sports
and I love people. You playedbaseball also at a very high level.
You like you follow baseball, courseI do, and obviously follow softball very
closely. I played baseball. Youwould know this, But I played baseball
OU when I was there, OhI remember, yeah. And I've had
two nieces play softball at OU withPatty. I had one another niece play
(03:30):
at OSU. My daughter played.So I just kind of like it all,
you know, for the most part. And I asked you come on
because I did want to talk aboutOklahoma and Sooner football and this this thing
where Texas and Oklahoma are going intogether. And I'll get to that in
the moment, but since we're onthe subject, i'let's stay with it as
(03:50):
being on this side of the game. Has it changed affected, altered in
any way shape or form your relationshipwith your brother for those who don't know
his brother, of course, MikeGunny, the head coach of the Oklahoma
State Cowboys. Has it changed things? No, no, No, We've
always you know, we're the sameand we're a very close family. And
(04:13):
you know, I told you Iwas just on the phone with him,
and you know he's he's my dad'sup there. He got tractor and they're
mowing property on How old is henow? Is eighty five years old?
Yeah, And that's just how heis. Uh, he works, works,
works all day long and he's youknow, he takes great care of
(04:33):
himself. So uh but no,we're a very close family. And you
know, the last couple of years, I think I told you earlier.
I think I did my son's coachingfor my brother, yep at at Osu
and he's twenty nine. So I'vehad the opportunity to spend a lot of
time up there and watch a lotof practices and kind of get around Oklhoma
State football a little bit. Ispent a lot of time still at at
(04:55):
Ou. I mean some of them. I mean I recruited Sethia Trail and
coach Seth Latrol. I was therewhen Joe John Finley was there, DeMarco
Mohon or Murray. I coached andrecruited, you know. So I've got
great relationships and you know what.That's what it's all about. Anyways,
It's all about relationships. Everything is. I'm a huge relationship guy. I
love people and love getting to knowpeople. Do you miss anything about coaching?
(05:15):
I miss the players because I youcoach them hard and you love them
harder. That's how That's what IThat was kind of my philosophy. And
trust me, I coached them hard. But I also loved them harder than
anybody else, and I coached Itdidn't matter if they were my running backs.
When I coached running backs or widereceivers. Uh, it didn't matter
(05:38):
if he was a scout team ora walk on. I mean, if
you needed to be coached, Icoached you. But I also took pride
in to try to coach the otherthree hundred and fifty days out of the
year that has nothing to do withfootball, you know, and just try
to help help them in everyday lifeand give them opportunities and just tell them
(06:00):
what it's really going to be like. You know, the real world is
really damn tough when you get outthere. You know, you don't have
that locker room, you don't havethat equipment room, and get closed,
you don't have that cafeteria. Imean, the real world's gonna slap you
in the face and tell you toget back. At the end of the
line, you got to go towork, you know. So I miss
that. And then the other thingI miss is I miss going and playing
on the road. I love thatmore than anything. I loved going with
(06:24):
our seventy or sixty seven players andplaying on the road playing in somebody else's
environment and letting them get after youand you're just there with your with your
team. Only I miss that busy. McHale Gunny from the Sports Animal and
Oklahoma City Course, former Sooner quarterbackand assistant coach. How about your thoughts
(06:46):
on this? I mean, wethose who listen to Austin know all about
They've heard not only from Sark andfrom athletic Director Crystal Conti CDC has talked
about it quite a bit several othersabout the access moving to the SEC and
the excitement and all that sort ofstuff. What's what's your take on the
folks up in Cleveland County and andand really all the greater Oklahoma City area
(07:12):
and Norman about this impending move instarting competition this fall. I would say
there's probably some nervous nervousness in inthis group, and you know I I
don't think there's there's any nervousness withthe players or the coaches, because I
(07:32):
know the mentalities. I know allthose guys and so I know what they're
about, and I know how they'recoaching them every single day. I know
Jerry Smith, the strength coach.I know how he's coaching them every single
day. I mean, he ishe is, He's got hands on him
every single day. So they're tryingto do their best to prepare them.
But there is going to be thatlearning process, you know, and I
I you know, you and Italked about it earlier. I had a
(07:54):
chance. I coached at UAB whenI first started in the mid nineties,
so I lived in I lived inHohover, and I lived in Pelham,
so I was right in the middleof Auburn in SEC and Alabama and Tennessee,
and it is different. I canremember playing at Legion Field. We
play on Saturday and Alabama played somebodythere the next Saturday. There'd be two
thousand RVs out there seven days outbefore Tennessee came to town or they played
(08:18):
an Iron Bowl game there. SoI think there's people are a little nervous,
but I think, you know,I've got more faith in them.
And I think that's probably just becauseI played there and I coached there forever.
Yeah, you know, I amdefinitely the minority of what I think
they can do. I think they'rea nine nine to maybe a ten one
(08:39):
team. I really really did oneof the things that you like most about
them, and by the same token, the things that have you the most
trepidation the most. Well, ifthis works out, then it'll be good.
But it's an if right now,Before you get to that, what's
the thing you like the most,Well, there's a bunch of f's,
you know. I think you know. Last year they went on the road
and they got beat by Kansas.Last year they went on the road and
(09:01):
they got beat by Oaklham State andmy brother up there. Well, they
got to go to Auburn this year. Okay, and given Dan Tevie,
that's gonna be just as difficult asgoing on the road to play in Kansas
or Rosu. Now you've got togo to play Ole miss and Missouri,
who people think are top ten teams, and you start looking at the schedule,
you're like, oh crap, I'mtrying to I'm trying to add up
and get to nine. You know, they've got a young quarterback who is
(09:26):
very, very good in Jackson Arnold. He's got a great arm, he
can run. I think Seth Latrailand Joe John Finley will do a tremendous
job of putting them in the rightsituation. Their best group on offense is
their wide receivers. They're extremely talented, very fast, a lot of playmakers,
(09:46):
so I think they'll do a goodjob of trying to find ways to
protect the quarterback, get rid ofthe ball fast. The weakness is their
offensive line, and that's not good. Now they had the best, one
of the best, if not thebest, off into line coaches and Bill
Beatenbow, But I just I don'tknow about the true talent to consistently playing
the SEC or every Saturday and movepeople and stop people on a consistent basis.
(10:11):
That's the concern of going from theBig twelve to the SEC. It's
like it's like boxing. Okay,in the Big twelve, I believe we
were in the we were fighting lightheavyweights and you could take punches and maybe
get knocked down and get back upon your feet. Well, now you're
playing. Now you're boxing heavyweights.You may be boxing guy that's not even
(10:31):
good, but one punch you maynot that Saturday. So true, that's
that's the learning curve. How doyou practice? How physical can you be?
I've talked to coaches who've coached inthe Big twelve. In the SEC,
you're just trying to get players thisSaturday and try to keep them as
healthy as you can. That wasthe biggest learning curve in making this move
(10:52):
well. And I would imagine alsoin talk the learning curve there, they're
a lot of things I know thatyou're excited about that. You think this
team can do really well. Yeah, no doubt. I think this team
I love. I know how BrentVinables is, I know the passion,
I know how he can recruit.I think it's very important the first two
(11:16):
years that they have some good successbecause if you roll out there and you
have a couple seven eight wins,you're going to continue to have a hard
time recruiting kids out of the SECand pulling them to Oklahoma to play in
that same conference. You know,the best players in the country mainly are
(11:37):
in the Southeastern Conference, and occasionallyyou could go steal one and pull one
in the Big Twelve that didn't wantto play in the SEC. They wanted
to play in the Big Twelve.Well, now you're going to get kids.
Why is the kid needs to leaveFlorida or Alabama and Georgia and go
halfway across the country to play inthe same conference, whereas family and friends
can play. So if they don'thave some success early, it can get
(12:00):
really tough. I believe in thisconference. Okay, he's Kale Gundy and
you hear on the Sports Animal inOklahoma City. You know, at least
he's not throwing passes against Texas anymore. That's a good thing. No,
I'm not. I spent a lotof time at the Lake, spend a
lot of time with Coach Switzer,a company that we work for, a
coaches Cabana, and absolutely love it. Travel, get to go see a
lot of my former players play.That's where life's good. Right, life
(12:22):
is good. Hey, I appreciateyou doing this. Thank you very much.
All right, Kale Gundy with us. We've got more coming up.
Will continue from SEC Football Media Dayshere in Dallas at the Amni Hotel on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zoneof the IR Radio app.
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