Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy still speaking his mind after 20 years as head football coach

Updated Sep. 19, 2024 1:52 p.m. ET

Associated Press

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Mike Gundy's focus shifted from a reporter’s question to a whirring noise that was interrupting his weekly media session. The veteran Oklahoma State football coach figured out that the sound was a failing compressor on a nearby refrigerator.

“There’s no way y’all can hear very good,” he said.

Gundy left the podium, strolled toward the nuisance and began thinking aloud, cracking jokes with reporters as he figured out what to do. After deciding the best option would be to pull the plug, the temporary handyman assisted media members as they tipped the 'fridge forward so the outlet could be reached.

“That is an accomplishment,” he quipped, and then went back to his day job.

The moment offers a snapshot of what has made Gundy successful over 20 years as head coach at his alma mater. He has made a living out of pivoting, diagnosing problems, coming up with a plan and moving forward — on the field and off.

The 57-year-old Gundy has done this lately with name, image and likeness compensation for athletes and the transfer portal, two of the biggest changes in college sports. His embrace of both are key reasons his Cowboys take a No. 14 ranking into Saturday's home game against No. 12 Utah.

“I think when the when the NIL landscape changed and the portal became a thing, I think you saw across the college football, there’s a lot of those sort of older coaches that weren’t willing to adapt,” said former Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph, now with the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. “And I think he did it. And he jumped at the opportunity to change with the times. And I think his team’s been better for it.”

Keeping it real

Gundy is perhaps the most unfiltered coach in college football. And why not? The ex-Oklahoma State quarterback has a career record of 169-79 and trails only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney for the most wins at their current school.

His charm and wit have helped bridge the gap between Oklahoma State and programs with more resources. He's a straight-shooting cowboy from Midwest City who wore a mullet for years and once took his shirt off at a homecoming pep rally. He will go to extremes to promote his alma mater, whether it’s inviting Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart to an Oklahoma State equestrian event or holding his weekly radio show at a retirement community.

His anything goes approach occasionally gets him in trouble. He is known as much for the infamous “I’m a man, I’m 40” rant he made defending a player early in his head coaching career as he is for his winning ways. In 2020, he apologized after calling COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus, ” and he apologized again months later after he wore a T-shirt featuring the far-right One America News Network that created a rift with star running back Chuba Hubbard.

For better or worse, that's what comes with one of college football's most fascinating personalities.

“Mike doesn’t sugarcoat things,” said Cale Gundy, Mike’s younger brother and a former Oklahoma assistant. “Most coaches you hear things from … a lot of people are concerned about how they come off to the public and if it could affect you anyway recruiting or in a house, with parents or something. But that’s never been Mike. Mike’s going to tell you what he believes and who he is as a person.”

Gundy recovers from his mistakes with the same energy that creates his problems. Tylan Wallace, a former Cowboy who plays for the Baltimore Ravens, said Gundy’s direct approach was a reason the program didn’t fall apart during the 2020 season. The OAN incident led to team meetings that created opportunities for the team and the coach to bond.

He recovered on the field, too — in 2021 and 2023, the Cowboys reached the Big 12 championship game.

“He’s a players’ coach, for one,” Wallace said. “Just an awesome guy. Out there every day, he wants to compete. He wants guys that go out there that work hard and win. And I think he translates that to us -- the players -- every day.”

Feisty underdog

Gundy's frankness has offered a window into the world of an NIL underdog. He said he spends half his time coaching and the other half dealing with the changes in the college football landscape. He laments the fact that much of football isn't about football anymore and recently complained about agents calling and asking for more money.

He initially worried about NIL because he felt the inequity between players could cause problems in the locker room. Once he realized the change was inevitable, he got to work with a team of employees.

“You’re talking about budgeting, you’re talking about marketing, you’re talking about licensing -- a lot of things that I’ve been forced to learn that I really didn’t want to learn, but had to,” he said.

Gundy's team came up the idea to put QR codes on helmets to link fans to a team fund so they could donate to the program’s NIL money pool. The NCAA rejected the idea, saying it interprets the stickers as impermissible advertising and/or commercial marks.

Gundy said Oklahoma State spent $2.7 million on NIL last year in a world where he says Power Four programs are spending more than $15 million. He said he’s already lost several players in the next class because they wanted signing bonuses that Oklahoma State was not prepared to pay. So he’s banked on what has brought him the most success — himself, and the “Cowboy Culture” he has painstakingly helped create.

“It helps here that people can look at us and say, okay, this is what this school’s done for 20 years, at least we know they’ve graduated 552 players and at least we know they win games,” he said. “Now, they might not have as much money, but I want to send my son to school there.”

Gundy has made a career out of finding overlooked players, encouraging them and helping them become successful. That will probably become more important than ever if Oklahoma State doesn't land top-tier players with NIL money.

“We’ve had great people here, and we’ve gotten very fortunate to have tough kids, really tough young men that love to play football that somebody might’ve thought weren’t as talented as we did,” Gundy said. “But they were willing to be -- regardless of the physical situation we put them in -- they were willing to compete at a high level and play and love Oklahoma State."

It makes sense that Gundy has an affinity for diamonds in the rough — Gundy himself was one. He was just under 6-foot tall, yet left Oklahoma State as the Big Eight's all-time leading passer.

Formative days

His competitive nature was forged in Midwest City, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. He grew up competing with younger brother Cale, who eventually became the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. Cale, four classes behind Mike, remembers the rugged games in the neighborhood.

“He was always the quarterback, and I was always the quarterback on the other side,” Cale Gundy said. “And these games were vicious. I mean, we had tons of bumps and bruises and lots of bloody noses and foreheads cut open.”

Mike Gundy had a storied career at Midwest City (Oklahoma) High School, leading the Bombers to the 1985 Class 5A state football title before heading to Oklahoma State.

A quality that would stay with Gundy surfaced in 1986. He showed he had developed an eye for talent when an undersized underrecruited running back got his attention at a practice.

“We had a freshman scrimmage after practice one day in August, and he just ran through everyone like water,” said Gundy, who struck up a conversation with his fellow newcomer. “I told him, ’You know, you could win the Heisman one day. You’re that good.'"

Gundy was right. The player, Barry Sanders, won the Heisman Trophy in 1988 and set single-season records that still stand.

The conversation after that scrimmage, just weeks after they met, stuck with Sanders.

“That was the first time I ever heard my name mentioned with the Heisman Trophy,” Sanders said. “And at that point, I was like, ‘This guy must be crazy. What is he talking about?'”

Coaching career

Former Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones picked up on Gundy's acumen and hired him as an assistant coach. Gundy was on the Cowboys' staff from 1990 to 1995. He was an assistant at Baylor and Maryland before returning to Oklahoma State as offensive coordinator from 2001 to 2004.

He became head coach in 2005 and got off to a rough start. Oklahoma State went 4-7 his first year, then 7-6 the next two years before taking off.

“It was probably closer to year eight where I felt like ‘We have this running pretty good now, we have some sustainability, people are buying into the thought process, we actually have a culture,’" Gundy said. "So it took a while.”

He got national attention for his “I'm a man, I'm 40” rant during the 2007 season. The response was largely negative at first, but eventually, it worked for him.

“What he’s realized over time since then is that, that really did resonate with future players, recruits coming up and their families,” Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg said. “You know, ‘I want to play for a coach that has my back like that.’ Or, ‘I want my son to play for a coach that’s going to have their back like that.’ And that is coach Gundy.”

It hasn't been all roses. Gundy has a 4-15 record against rival Oklahoma, with all but one those losses coming while Cale Gundy served as an assistant for the Sooners.

“It was tough to play some of those games,” Cale Gundy said. “It was tough to win some of those games and ... see the effect that it had on him and his program. Those times were tough.”

Still, the Cowboys have won at least 10 games eight times on Mike Gundy's watch. They were on the verge of competing for a national title in 2011 before losing to Iowa State in overtime. The Cowboys routed Oklahoma the next week, then beat Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl to finish with a No. 3 AP ranking.

His success has brought suitors over the years, but no one has been able to pry him away from Stillwater.

“He’s wanted to stay there,” Cale Gundy said. “There’s been other people that have called. There’s been other opportunities. But his heart is with that place, and it’s given him and his family and his kids the opportunity to stay around all of our families and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and to grow up together.”

The fact that Gundy has spent most of the past 40 years building the Oklahoma State program is special to Sanders.

“I think a lot of the alums and people like myself appreciate the fact that you have a real Oklahoma State Cowboy with those kind of Oklahoma State roots here every day, continuing those traditions and and being very successful and identifying with these kids and being a caretaker of the program,” he said.

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AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker and AP freelance writer Todd Karpovich contributed to this report.

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