Mike Gundy tells the world what he probably should have kept to himself when it comes to Oklahoma State the last few years
Last season was the worst one that Mike Gundy has ever had at Oklahoma State. They won just a few games when it felt like everyone had them competing for the Big 12 Championship again. But, they were nowhere close, despite bringing back a ton of players from a team that was successful in 2024. […]
Last season was the worst one that Mike Gundy has ever had at Oklahoma State. They won just a few games when it felt like everyone had them competing for the Big 12 Championship again.
But, they were nowhere close, despite bringing back a ton of players from a team that was successful in 2024. The Cowboys are now trying to turn this thing around, and I think it's pretty obvious that if Gundy has another season like the one he just had, in the era of college football that we are in, then he could be on the hot seat, or even fired.
Because it's no secret that Gundy has struggled with the new era of CFB, whether it's NIL or the transfer portal era, or both, honestly, it feels like he either hasn't been able to adjust to it all, or he has just refused to. Scratch all of that — it doesn't feel like any of that, because it is that. He basically said so himself that he refused to adjust.
"I almost was just like, I thought this would go away, surely this can't last. And then it just kept building momentum," Gundy said to Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman. "And then, after a point, about 18 months ago, I said that this was not going away, and we were going to have to make some real adjustments here. So the truth be known, this portal class from January is the first class that we ever bought.
"We hadn't bought portals, which hurt us over the last year or so from a depth standpoint, and that was nobody's fault. That's not the administration's fault, not the donors. That was really kind of my fault, because what I had done was take money that had been raised and spread it amongst the troops somewhat evenly to the current players. We didn't go out and solicit players and pay them to come to our team. We did that starting, which I think we all agree, if you don't do that, you're not going to survive."
And that explains a lot, honestly. The Pokes were one of the worst teams in the country last year in terms of Power Four play, and that's because when disaster struck, like injuries, or literally anything else that can happen, they weren't ready. They didn't have any depth, they didn't have the skill players they needed, the offensive line was bad, and anything else you can think of.
So, if you're a Cowboys fan, you have to hope that situation really opened up Gundy's eyes. Sure, he says it has, but you really have to hope it has. There are coaches everywhere who are too stubborn to change, and Gundy was one of them. But this new era of college football will leave you behind faster than you can blink if you're not careful.
Now, Gundy and the Pokes have some catching up to do.
EA’s ratings for Oklahoma Sooners in CFB26 bring controversial surprise about the state of the team in 2025
The second game in the recently revived college football video game series, College Football 26 (or CFB26, for short), has been met with tremendous excitement based on early reviews. The first game, released last year, was a resounding success, and the sequel seems even more promising. As part of their efforts to drum up excitement […]
