Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy Weighs In On BYU Transfer Caleb Etienne
Apr 17, 2023, 7:26 PM
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said BYU transfer Caleb Etienne lost his starting job with the Pokes. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy is never afraid to speak his mind.
On Monday, he shared his thoughts on one of his former players, Caleb Etienne, transferring to BYU. Etienne had a brief stay in the portal announcing he was entering on April 14, then landing with the Cougars on April 17.
H O M E 🤙🏾 @BYUfootball pic.twitter.com/Bl0KYwdzvc
— Caleb Etienne (@BIG_CALEB76) April 17, 2023
During a media availability session on Monday in Stillwater, hours after Etienne announced his commitment to BYU, Gundy was asked by a reporter about the spring transfer portal window. The question was, “Do you think this is something that’s here to stay and you guys are just going to have to adapt to?”
Mike Gundy on the Caleb Etienne transfer
Cayden McFarland from Tulsa, Oklahoma, NBC affiliate KJRH TV shared a video on Twitter of Gundy’s response to that question. Gundy’s reply centered around Etienne.
Mike Gundy says Caleb Etienne "felt he got beat out (of a starting job), so he left."
Etienne started 13 games at Left Tackle for the Cowboys last season and announced his transfer to BYU today. pic.twitter.com/HUSXVuvzDH
— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) April 17, 2023
“Well, Caleb just felt like he got beat out. So he left,” Gundy said. “But that’s his choice.”
Gundy, the longest-tenured head coach in the Big 12, then shifted his comments on the Transfer Portal at large.
“I think now everybody’s coming around in the portal, realizing that the portal is there for a variety of reasons,” Gundy added. “Players can get more money in NIL. They can be a player that’s late in their career and just says, ‘I want to do something different, want to go somewhere new.’ Or a guy says, ‘I’m not going to be a starter. I want to be a starter.'”
BYU, Oklahoma State will meet this fall
Last season, Etienne started 13 games at left tackle for the Cowboys. When he announced his intention to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal last week, there was an OSU media outlet that stated Etienne’s transfer was “not a surprise to Oklahoma State coaches.”
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“As of now, we have one guy –which would be Caleb– and he didn’t feel like he was going to start here and he was going to lose his job, so he wanted to go somewhere else,” Gundy said. “I’m not a big fan of the portal in the spring because it’s extremely difficult to replace roster numbers. But I don’t make the rules and standards. I just adjust to them as they go.”
BYU will face Oklahoma State on November 25 in Stillwater. It will be the first meeting between the two programs since the 1976 Tangerine Bowl. Already, there’s some extra juice added to this Big 12 matchup.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU moving to the Big 12 Conference on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
