Oklahoma State football: Mike Gundy assures recruits that OSU will maintain status quo

Mike Gundy flirted with Tennessee and Arkansas. Todd Monken entertained — and eventually took — a head coaching opportunity at Southern Miss. And Bill Young started — or at least admitted he had started — thinking about retirement.

With that amount of uncertainty surrounding the three most important members of the coaching staff, how has that impacted the Cowboys' recruiting pitch?

Not much, according to Gundy.

Now that Gundy has committed to returning to OSU in 2013, his message is largely about maintaining the status quo.

He assures recruits that the Cowboys are committed to running the same Air Raid spread offense, just like when they went through the transition between Dana Holgorsen and Todd Monken before the 2011 season. That means, no matter who Gundy brings in as his next coordinator, the same skill players who fit OSU's system last February will still fit this December.

“I'm just going on experience after Larry (Fedora) and Dana and then Todd,” Gundy said. “(A coordinator change) doesn't shake guys up very much.”

Four-star receiver Fred Ross, the Cowboys' first commitment of the 2013 class, is a perfect example.

“He never wavered,” said Ricklan Holmes, Ross' coach at John Tyler (Texas) High School. “Whoever they bring in to replace Monken, in reality, we all know who runs that offense. So as long as the main piece (Gundy) stays there, the offense stays the same.”

Gundy also said that recruits tend to put a stronger emphasis on their relationship with a position coach, because those assistants now mostly recruit the players they would coach, rather than a geographic area.