It’s been almost nine years since the infamous “I’m a man, I’m 40!” rant from Oklahoma State football head coach, Mike Gundy.
The tirade is rehashed time and time again throughout college football seasons.
However, heading into 2016, Gundy has given people another reason to talk about him; he recently released the first head coaching app in professional or collegiate sports just in time for the Cowboys’ home-opener this Saturday.
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“Coach Gundy felt like we had an opportunity to be one of the first programs to have a head coaching app,” said Chris Deal, OSU’s Director of Football Creative Services. “There’s an ‘Ask Gundy’ option within the app, so we’ve given it a personal touch. It’s also a great way for recruits and fans to connect with Coach but also the Cowboy football program. We felt like it was a win-win to promote the program.”
While the ‘Coach Gundy’ app is very much centered around the 49-year-old coach — with sections for his football camp, fan Q&A and a dedicated photo gallery — the app is largely focused on connecting fans and recruits with Oklahoma State football and the University as a whole.
According to Deal, Gundy helped drive the internal conversation earlier this summer about how the Cowboys could up the digital ante in college sports. A mobile app seemed like an all-encompassing medium to connect fans with the program, but more importantly, keep them connected 365 days a year.
Through work with an outside vendor in July and August, Deal chose from a management system the areas he wanted to develop, which included Cowboys in the NFL, All-Americans, staff members’ social media accounts and game notes.
Deal said that this will be his “pet project” for the 2016 campaign as he continues to fine-tune the app and update the statistics and game notes in real-time; he confirmed to SportTechie.com Monday morning that the app, which is available on iPhone and Android devices, received over 5,000 downloads in its first 24 hours.
Launched my new app today at our media luncheon. Check it out and stay connected with @CowboyFB! #GoPokes #okstate pic.twitter.com/PJ6QPeT26C
— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) August 25, 2016