Posted by: Chris Vannini on November 13, 2012

Earlier this week, Brian Kelly had no problem revealing he voted Notre Dame at No. 1 on his Coaches Poll ballot. It was Notre Dame's only first-place vote.

At his weekly press conference, Mike Gundy was asked about coaches politicking for their own teams.

A year ago, Gundy said Alabama deserved to be ranked higher than his Cowboys following a loss to Iowa State. But he changed his tune by the end of the season, saying the Tide had already gotten their shot. The campaign didn't work, and we all know Alabama won the rematch with LSU, while Oklahoma State won the Fiesta Bowl.

"I think each coach has to make a decision based on what gives his team the best opportunity to play in the championship game," Gundy said. "I don't know that there's a perfect time. That's how we handle it here. It's really hard for me to speak for anybody else, but our staff has talked about it, and obviously I had a method for what I thought was best for us last year and it didn't work.

"We ran in the election and finished third. So I don't know that I have all the answers, but that would be my opinion."

Gundy was asked if he would have changed anything about his strategy last year. He said no, but that it probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway.

"I think the way we handled it was the best way," he said. "At one particular point, the way it transpired, we didn't deserve to be in the game, but as it finished up, we certainly felt like we did. To put it aside for a week and then be willing to roll the dice and say you had to be really good the next week to put yourself in that situation to promote, I think it worked well for us, we just finished third by not a lot. I don't know that it would have mattered, looking back on it."

___________________________________________________

Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com