ESPN names 5 candidates to replace Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State announced on Tuesday that it would be parting ways with head coach Mike Gundy after 21 seasons. The Cowboys didn’t win a Big 12 game in 2024 and opened the 2025 season 1-2, including an embarrassing 69-3 loss to Oregon and a home loss to Tulsa.

Gundy was in the midst of his 21st season as the head coach at his alma mater, where he became the winningest coach in program history. However, it’s been a rough go lately as Oklahoma State had won just four of its 15 games played since the beginning of the 2024 season.

Now that the coaching search is on, ESPN has named five possible candidates to replace Gundy at Oklahoma State. Next season will mark the first since 2004 that hasn’t included Gundy coaching from the sidelines in Stillwater.

Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle

Ben Arbuckle is currently in the midst of his first season as Oklahoma‘s offensive coordinator, and he is excelling under head coach Brent Venables. Through four games, the Sooners are 4-0 and are averaging 31 points per game. This is a major improvement from last year, where Oklahoma ranked second to last in the SEC in points per game (24.0).

Prior to landing the gig in Norman, Arbuckle served as Washington State‘s OC from 2023-24. The Cougars went from averaging 26.1 points per game in 2022 (pre-Arbuckle) to averaging 31.7 points in 2023 and 36.6 points in 2024. He has proven to be a valuable asset to any program he calls plays for and would be a prime candidate to call plays in a strong offensive-minded league such as the Big 12.

Texas State HC G.J. Kinne

G.J. Kinne is currently in his third season as Texas State‘s head coach. In that span, he’s led the Bobcats to a 19-11 record and back-to-back wins in the First Responder Bowl. Prior to Kinne’s stint, the program had won just a total of 20 games in the last seven seasons (2016-2022).

Kinne was a former NFL quarterback who began his coaching journey as a GA at SMU in 2017. He has quickly risen up the coaching ranks and should be a prime candidate to turn around yet another program in Oklahoma State. He played college football and was named C-USA Offensive Player of the Year at Tulsa, the program that effectively ended Gundy’s stint in Stillwater.

Texas A&M OC Collin Klein

Collin Klein was a prominent college football quarterback at Kansas State from 2008-2012, where he won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, was named an All-American and was a Heisman Trophy finalist. He had been with his alma mater from 2017-2023 as the OC/QB coach before moving to Texas A&M last season.

Klein has been pivotal in A&M quarterback Marcel Reed‘s development and is in charge of an offense averaging 42.3 points and 480 yards per game this season. He could certainly be a prime candidate to land at Oklahoma State and potentially coach against his Wildcats in Big 12 play.

North Texas HC Eric Morris

It took two full seasons, but Eric Morris is finally experiencing success at North Texas. After going just 11-14 over his first two seasons, Morris has led the Mean Green to a 4-0 record to open the 2025 season. This includes a 59-10 blowout victory over Washington State and a 45-38 win over Army last weekend.

Morris, a former Big 12 standout at Texas Tech, was with the Red Raiders coaching staff from 2013-2017 before being hired as Incarnate Word‘s head coach in 2018. That was just another program that he’s turned around, as he won two Southland titles in 2018 and 2021. Oklahoma State could mark his third rebuilding job if hired.

UTSA HC Jeff Traylor

UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor is the longest-tenured coach of any names mentioned on this list. Traylor took over the program in 2020 and has led the Roadrunners to a 48-22 record with back-to-back bowl game victories. Traylor actually took a unique path to college football, as he broke onto the scene as a prominent coach at Gilmer High School in Texas. He then bounced around Texas, SMU and Arkansas before finding success at UTSA.

Although he started strong, Traylor may be a bit of a risk as his program has slipped a tad recently. After going 39-14 through his first four seasons, his Roadrunners are just 9-8 in their last 17 games.