Mike Gundy gives honest assessment of where his mind is at after reworked contract

Mike Gundy gave an honest assessment of his mindset following a reworked contract going into the 2025 season.

Oklahoma State had a down year in 2024, going 3-9. It was the worst record of the Gundy era that’s lasted two decades.

But he had a feeling about this past season but is excited to continue as head coach and get back to the top of the Big 12 and beyond.

“We knew we were going to be in a rebuilding stage, numbers wise, based on the players we had this year,” Gundy said. “And so I think that the fans will be really excited about Oklahoma State football. My energy level, my commitment to Oklahoma State, to Oklahoma State football, is stronger every year.”

Gundy wanted to make it clear he didn’t sit down with Oklahoma State regents either, regarding his future.

“I didn’t have a sit down with the regents,” Gundy said. “I mean, I don’t know if you meant to say that, but I don’t. I don’t have sit downs with regents. That’s not protocol, but Dr. Shrum and Chad and I had really good conversations about the future, about the portal, about NIL, about revenue sharing, things that are very important in dealing with college athletics today. It gave me an opportunity to be a part of the future. 

“You know, times are changing. We all know that. And so it really gave us a chance to visit and look to the future and what’s best for our athletic department and with me, obviously, particularly football. But once we’ve accomplished that, and then went through the process of hiring coaches and new staff and trying to rebuild our roster. One thing I failed to say earlier is, you know, we had a very senior dominated roster this year.”

Mike Gundy in an interesting head space going into 2025

Gundy is 169-88 in his career but Oklahoma State is coming off the worst season during his tenure. A 3-9 season in 2024 was certainly questionable.

Especially considering seasons that finished 12-2 and 10-4 in 2021 and ‘23. 

“But I get it. We’re moving forward,” Gundy said. “Sometimes that happens, you know, I’ve been fortunate enough to be the head coach here a long time, and we had a season that we didn’t like, but, you know, maybe sometimes that’s going to happen. So my message to them, that was a long answer, is that there’s a tremendous amount of commitment in our organization, and it starts at the very top.

“And the one thing that I tried to accomplish in putting a staff together was a group of guys that had energy, passion and could give us some diversity in dealing with players in the time of college football that we’re dealing with now.”