Oklahoma State fires head coach Mike Gundy after 1-2 start in 21st season

By Ralph D. Russo, Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams

Oklahoma State announced Tuesday that Mike Gundy is out as head football coach, ending his 21-year head-coaching tenure after two of the worst losses of his career.

Four days after the Cowboys lost 19-12 at home to Tulsa, Oklahoma State decided to make a change it considered last December and parted ways with the winningest football coach in school history. The Cowboys (1-2) are also just two weeks removed from a 69-3 loss at Oregon that was the most lopsided ever under Gundy.

“College football has changed drastically in the last few years, and the investment needed to compete at the highest level has never been more important,” athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a news release. “As we search for the next head coach of Cowboy Football, we are looking for someone who can lead our program in this new era.”

On Friday, Oklahoma State reached a new low, losing to in-state rival Tulsa for the first time in 11 meetings dating back to 1998, and for the first time in Stillwater since 1951.

The end of Gundy’s tenure also came 18 years and one day after he went off on a newspaper columnist by exclaiming, “Come after me: I’m a man! I’m 40!” — an iconic rant that this year he recreated for a TV commercial for a cell phone company,

The former Oklahoma State quarterback, who played with 1988 Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders, was 170-90 at his alma mater. Gundy had spent 35 of the past 40 seasons as a player, assistant or head coach at the school. As head coach, he won one Big 12 title and had just two losing seasons — his first (2005) and last (2024) full year in charge.

Gundy survived a standoff with school administrators after a 3-9 record in 2024 that included a winless Big 12 season. Gundy agreed to make staff changes and took a $1 million pay cut, but he kept the job he has held since 2005. His restructured contract called for a $15 million buyout.

During his regularly scheduled Monday news conference, Gundy was asked whether he has had any recent conversations with university administrators about the future.

“I don’t necessarily think that there has to be a conversation. I can honestly say no,” Gundy said Monday. “But I think that (the administration) shares a same vision that I have. And I think that maybe the conversation hasn’t really had to take place because I’ve been here for 21 years, and I think they know what’s on my mind and I probably have a pretty good feel for what they want. So I don’t really know that needs to take place.”

Asked if anyone from the university had been in contact with an agent or representative of his at the time, Gundy said: “I haven’t had an agent in a long time.”

A pivotal season for the brash and sometimes defiant 58-year-old started with a routine victory against UT Martin, an FCS school, but the trip to Oregon looked ominous, and Gundy’s comments leading up to the game only served to draw attention to it.

Gundy said that while Oklahoma State had spent about $7 million over the previous three seasons on name, image and likeness compensation for players, “I think Oregon spent close to ($40 million) last year alone. Now, I might be off a few million.” Gundy then suggested teams might be better off only playing nonconference opponents with similar budgets.

Ducks coach Dan Lanning responded that at Oregon they “spend to win.”

The Ducks scored two touchdowns within the first two minutes of the game and led 42-3 at halftime. The only losses in Oklahoma State history that were worse were 67-0 to Oklahoma in 1907 and 75-0 to the Sooners in 1904.

The bottom has fallen out quickly for Gundy’s program. Just two seasons ago, Oklahoma State made a surprising run to the Big 12 title game, the Cowboys’ second conference championship appearance in three years.

That came after Gundy ran into controversy in 2020, when he wore a shirt bearing the logo of right-wing news outlet OAN (One America News) that briefly seemed to put him at odds with some of his players.

Gundy seemed to make a habit of having his teams rise when expectations were low, but doubters started speculating whether he was slipping.

During his two decades in Stillwater, Gundy turned Oklahoma State into a consistent winner and Big 12 contender, though he rarely was able to get past rival Oklahoma. Gundy went 4-14 against the Sooners but still pushed the Cowboys to their greatest heights, including the 2011 Big 12 title. That team finished 12-1 and ranked No. 3 in the country and had a case to play in the BCS Championship Game.

At the peak of his career, Gundy was courted by Arkansas, Tennessee and others, but the Oklahoma native stayed put and became synonymous with Oklahoma State.

“There’s never, ever, become a time that I haven’t wanted to come to work and pour my heart and soul into what I do for the players. That has never come about,” Gundy said Monday.

Gundy was the second-longest tenured active head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (27 seasons) and tied with Utah’s Kyle Whittingham.

Gundy is the third major college football coach fired before the end of the September. UCLA fired DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech let go of Brent Pry after Week 3. Like Oklahoma State, those Power 4 schools made the move just days after their teams lost at home to Group of 5 programs.

The Cowboys are next scheduled to host Baylor at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. An interim coach has not been announced.

(Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

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