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

Published Sep. 19, 2024 2:06 p.m. ET

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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 he jumped at the opportunity to change with the times. And I think his team’s been better for it.”

Gundy, a former 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 wore a mullet for years and once took his shirt off at a homecoming pep rally. He invited Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart to an Oklahoma State equestrian event and has held his weekly radio show at a retirement community.

His anything goes approach occasionally gets him in trouble. He is well known for the infamous “I’m a man, I’m 40” rant he made defending a player early in his head coaching career. 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.”

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.

Gundy said he now 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. Once he realized 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 said Oklahoma State doesn't have as much NIL money as many power conference teams and that he has already lost several players in the next class because they wanted signing bonuses the school was not prepared to pay. So he’s banked on 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.

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 led Midwest City High 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, under-recruited running back named Barry Sanders got his attention at 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. Sanders won the Heisman Trophy in 1988 and set records that still stand.

Former Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones 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 the following year. Three rough seasons followed before things took off.

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.”

The Cowboys have won at least 10 games eight times on Gundy's watch. 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.”

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

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