Brad Underwood Really, Really Loves Gallagher-Iba Arena

Confession: I thought I loved Gallagher-Iba Arena. It has become clear that mine is only the tenuous, tepid kind of feeling not fit for the most meaningful types of relationships. Mine is a puppy love compared to how much Brad Underwood loves Gallagher-Iba Arena.

At every turn this preseason, Underwood has professed his undying affection for the Old Lady, as Doug Gottlieb once named it.

“One of the main reasons I took this job, I believe in this building,” said Underwood at OSU media day last week. “I believe in the culture and the tradition of Oklahoma State Basketball. Oklahoma State fans, when we took the job in the spring we brought young people here. The game day experience is incredible. There is very few fan bases that have more pride than the OSU fan base.

“When this building is full, it’s the best there is in college basketball. I believe that. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’ve seen a lot of them. We put people in this building, we can elevate this program, not just to the status we all want. We should be there. We are an elite program and we should act like that.”

He reiterated this on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Day.

“I still get goosebumps, the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I walk into Gallagher-Iba Arena every single day,” said Underwood. And I get goosebumps reading that.

“To stand on Eddie Sutton Court every day, there’s 806 wins there with Coach Sutton, two Final Fours, Coach Iba won a couple national titles. That’s pretty important. I’ve always said Gallagher-Iba is one of the elite basketball arenas in all of the country. That excites me – getting that crowd going, getting that fanbase. We have an extremely educated fanbase – that excites me.

“As a young guy growing up in McPherson, Kansas, and understanding those ‘Saturday Game of the Week’ in the Big Eight back in that day and then getting the opportunity to play in those arenas and to go back as a coach in those arenas, this is very special for me.”

It didn’t stop there!

“We have one of the most special venues in college basketball,” said Underwood. “I’ve never been in that venue for a game when it hasn’t been full … or really close. It can be as impactful a building as there is in the league.”

Whoooooooo boy. I am all in. I am drowning in orange Kool-Aid. Underwood is smart. He knows his target market. He knows what makes us tick, and that nothing really makes us tick like a popping GIA on a Monday night on a frigid Oklahoma night in February. I hope we get a few of those in the next few years. It sounds like Underwood does too.

“We have to make that a special venue again.” – @OSUCoachBrad pic.twitter.com/0E2wEJegib

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) October 25, 2016