Brad Underwood Discusses His First Few Months At Oklahoma State

In an 11-minute interview with CBS Sports’ College Insider yesterday, Oklahoma State Basketball coach Brad Underwood gave an interesting peek into his first couple of months in Stillwater. He mentions his engagements at alumni events, running basketball camps, recruiting in and out of state, and even enrolling his kids in schools.

He also touches on his history with the Big 8 as well as the Big 12, and his views on his fit in Stilllwater, both as a player being recruited to Oklahoma State and now as a coach.

What Underwood noted as his most important part of the first few months is recruiting the existing players on the team, and stresses the importance of learning more about them, their goals, and their talents.

A particularly enlightening segment of the interview comes around the eight-minute mark where Coach Underwood discusses his style of play and how he sees the integration of his system take shape over the summer with his new team.

Check out the full interview here.

In a separate piece with Sports Illustrated, Underwood took part in a Q&A to discuss his start. He touches on many of the same topics as the interview with College Insider, including recruiting, his fit with Oklahoma State, and his desire to coach in Stillwater. He provides some valuable insight into his long journey to a head coaching position in college hoops.

“I think the journey helped me a great deal,” said Underwood. “I think it helped prepare me. The one thing I’ve been very blessed with in my life is that I’ve been around really good coaches. That goes back to the high school level, where I had a Hall of Fame coach in the state of Kansas. I got to play for Jack Martin. To be with Jim Kerwin [at Western Illinois] for two years. To be with Bob Huggins [at Kansas State], Frank Martin [at South Carolina]. I’ve been very fortunate. All those coaches have one thing in common: They all won.

“I don’t know why it took so long. I’m not a guy who is a big self-promoter. I guess it’s my Midwestern values. I just kinda showed up and did my job and did it to the best of my abilities. I took a lot of pride in it. I didn’t want to be a head coach just to have the title. I wanted to be a head coach in a program that allowed you to win. And there’s not a lot of those jobs out there. So I was selective.

“Stephen F. Austin presented that opportunity, and I’m very grateful. The importance of winning, the importance of the culture of basketball there was terrific. I’ve said many times, when I walked in the interview, I wasn’t sure. When I walked out, I knew that I wanted it. It was the president, the board of regents, and the athletic director in that meeting. Those are the three most important people in a university, and there they were sitting in a basketball interview. That meant a great deal for me.”

Check out the full transcript of the Q&A session with Sports Illustrated here.