Daily Bullets (April 2)

Front-Loading the Deal

Underwood came to OSU for Dollar General money and in hindsight that may have been less than ideal.

Underwood was the lowest-paid Big 12 Conference coach in the field, trailing Bill Self, Bob Huggins, Scott Drew, Bruce Weber and Steve Prohm. This isn’t a surprise considering Underwood was the lowest-paid coach in the entire league, his $1 million annual salary coming in below Chris Beard’s $1.3 million at Texas Tech.

What’s more striking is where Underwood ranked compared to coaches outside the Big 12. Or outside college basketball’s so-called power conferences, even.

Underwood made less than all NCAA Tournament coaches from the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12, Big East and American. [TulsaWorld]

Nobody put a gun to Brad’s head and told him to take the low-ball deal offered by a basketball program in cardiac arrest from Travis Ford’s contract. And if you’re OSU and you offered me the same product half-off, wouldn’t you take it?

But could the situation have been different if we offered him more on his bet-on-yourself deal – if Illinois just doubled instead of tripled his salary? If we had matched the $2m offers out there initially and bought in more up front, maybe that raises the asking price from other schools and he doesn’t move.

It makes sense to pay our current coach $1m. It made sense to pay Brad $1m then. But if you don’t want to be a stepping stone job, you’ve got to quit doing stepping school things.

The rock in my shoe: OU rebounded from the dumps of the (post-Blake Griffin) Capel days by throwing the bank at Lon Kruger. We responded by paying throwing nickles on the dollar at a top up-and-comer then signed his assistant when he left to get paid.

Tyron Went Long

These are the kinds of things fun to hear from spring ball.

The longest pass completion of the scrimmage came on the first possession by the second team offense as red-shirt freshman quarterback Keondre Wudtee out of Bossier City (Parkway), La., found LSU transfer wide receiver Tyron Johnson for a touchdown. Johnson got a step on the defender made a tough catch and fought free to run into the end zone.

It would be a productive day for Johnson, who had to sit out and played on the scout team last fall after arriving from LSU. The New Orleans (Warren Easton Charter), La., product had to be eager to show how he could make plays in this situation and he did. He had several impressive catches in the scrimmage, some over the middle and also caught  another scoring pass from Taylor Cornelius later in the scrimmage. [GoPokes $]

The Louisiana long ball from Wudtee-to-Johnson could be something to keep an eye on. Gundy goes on to note how physical Johnson is going up to get the ball and his fearlessness concerning DBs. He’s checking boxes quicker than me on a customer satisfaction survey for free stuff.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Oklahoma State paid $15k for search consulting services….Rickie Fowler is back three going into the final round in Houston….ESPN says this Cowboy WR core is likely the best ever in the Big 12…Final Four Update: UNC held off Oregon and Gonzaga’s twin tower killed the South Carolina offense….Golf team in fourth after two days at the Aggie Invitational….Perspective on the UConn women’s 111-game win streak that just ended

A tough loss in 10 innings on Saturday.

FINAL: WVU 5, #OKState 3
Cowboys give up five unanswered runs and score on only one swing of the bat. Another tough one to swallow.

— Hayden Kyle Barber (@HK_Barber) April 1, 2017

We’ll really miss that dude.

3 coaches who played Vincent Taylor this year:
1. "Best DT we played"
2. "We just couldn't block him"
3. "Freak show"

#2 ranked DL (pff)

— Erik Burkhardt (@ErikBurkhardt) April 1, 2017

.@BOBSLEDR, @ngslider take men's bobsled National Championship while @vogtfornic and Briauna Jones win women's! https://t.co/MR4ELUx7bk pic.twitter.com/g6nzkgfemn

— USA Bobsled Skeleton (@USABS) March 31, 2017

Former Cowboy wide receiver here takes the bobsled natty.

What You Missed on PFB

• On Trey Carter’s switch to defensive tackle
• Great to see senior Trey Cobb back out there
• Hear from the Pokes after the late loss to the Mountaineers