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Did Mike Holder’s and Brad Underwood’s Relationship Become ‘Fractured’?

Published

7 years ago

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As the whirlwind of reports involving Brad Underwood’s departure to Illinois surface, one particularly unsettling narrative sticks out.

Had the relationship between Brad Underwood and Mike Holder become “fractured”?

Many have scoffed at Mike Gundy’s flirtations with other schools as a part of contract negotiations. His three-way relationship with Holder and Boone Pickens has been nothing if not tempestuous over the years. Is this completely unrelated or a partial reflection on Mike Holder’s personality or how he resides as Oklahoma State’s athletic director?

Franschilla spoke with Berry Tramel of the Oklahoma less than two weeks ago about Brad Underwood and his contract. Here’s an excerpt from Berry’s article.

So Holder, who this week declined to comment about Underwood, knows that his coach is underpaid and also knows what can happen when getting too exuberant about a first-year coach.

“Mike Holder ought to just drive the Brinks truck up to the office,” cracked ESPN Big 12 analyst Fran Fraschilla.

“No, seriously, I think he should be paid commensurate with the other coaches at the top part of the league. He fits Oklahoma State. He’s Big Eight. He’s old-school Big Eight, Mr. Iba connections. He’s a great fit on that campus.”

No one disagrees. Including Underwood, who said his contract is not on his mind as the Cowboys enter the Big 12 Tournament this week. NewsOK

Obviously, this was a shocker for most involved. Even as early as last night, after the Cowboys ended their first season with Underwood with a close loss to Michigan, there was no indication from Underwood or to his players.

So what happened? We know that Illinois made the big offer. Did Mike Holder decline to match or even negotiate? Or was he even given the opportunity? And if that is the case, Underwood must have had an inclination that he was going to get favorable offers following the season.

It is a business, and I wouldn’t have expected him to lay down his hand if there was something in the works, but it seems pretty obvious that Underwood didn’t have too hard of a time moving on.

That’s where the question of relationship between he and some part of OSU — mainly Mike Holder — comes into question. Jeff Goodman, who originally broke the news of the Illinois hire, seemed to have shed some more light on the situation.

If that is the case, was Underwood even going to give OSU a chance to make a counter offer or was he gone before the phone call ended?

Regardless of the relationship side of things, it’s three times the money! If anyone would like to offer to triple my salary, I will drop everything I’m doing and talk to you right now. Money talks.

But Mike Holder knows that. He’s an intelligent person, obviously. So was the relationship that bad, or was this still a reaction from the ridiculous contract Holder handcuffed to Travis Ford?

But if it came down to failed negotiations, this statement doesn’t make a ton of sense.

We don’t know the whole story and probably never will. Either way, this is a bad look for OSU and a really bad look for Mike Holder.

And this is kind of a scary thought.

And this.

Keep it here for more details as they come out and we’ll of course be on top of OSU’s second head coaching search in as many seasons.

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