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How Bob Simmons Could Have Had Matt Holliday Instead of Tony Lindsay

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If you haven’t read John Helsley’s terrific piece on the Holliday family, you should. There were so many great tidbits in it, and it’s even more appropriate now that OSU is three wins from the College World Series championship matchup.

The thing that stuck out most to me for some reason was this about Josh’s brother Matt who has made $129 million in his career with the Rockies and Cardinals. It had to do with Matt playing baseball (and football) at Oklahoma State which he obviously did not do. Matt was drafted in the 1998 draft by the Rockies in the 7th round.

Here’s what his dad Tom said about why Matt eschewed Stillwater for the pros.

“I was totally content in him coming here and playing two sports,” Tom told the Oklahoman. “I was. If Les Miles hadn’t left here (as the offensive coordinator), he would have stayed. He was really tight with Les. We lived two doors down. And Les had that encompassing fatherly thing.”

Les definitely does live that #DadLife

But how weird is it that Les leaving to be the Dallas Cowboys’ tight ends coach in 1998 affected the future of the program so much. Les was there from 1995-1997 as Bob Simmons’ OC and then from 2001-2004 as the head coach.

The butterfly effect of Miles leaving and Matt not coming is fascinating. What happens with Josh Fields if Matt comes? Does OSU still beat OU in 2001? Does Les get the LSU job? Does Gundy get the OSU job? Matt Holliday was a big fish, and OSU didn’t get him apparently because Les Miles had gone south to coach Dallas. And that worked out pretty well for everybody.

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