Mike Gundy gives introspective answer on finding himself at Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy has been one of the top coaches in college football since taking over Oklahoma State. In the midst of his 19th season with the program — and what a 19 seasons they’ve been — one has to wonder whether Gundy has thought about different jobs over the course of his coaching career.

Evidently, there’s nowhere else Gundy would rather be, and he reminisced back to the beginning of his coaching career during an appearance on Breaking the Huddle with Joel Klatt. In addition to speaking of the highlights of his coaching career, Gundy revealed how he found himself ay Oklahoma State, and even touched on a game where his Cowboys took on Klatt while he was quarterbacking Colorado.

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“You know that game you’re talking about, you guys, the first play of the game, you ran a power play for a touchdown. You went 76 yards first play of the game,” reminisced Gundy. “I had the stomach flu for two days. I was throwing up at halftime. I don’t know if it was the flu or watching us in the first half, but what’s interesting when you talk about that is I think the most important thing is to kind of come to grips with who you are. There was times where I thought about maybe I wanted another opportunity. Maybe I wanted another challenge. Could I start over at another school, and build the program the same way I did at Oklahoma State? I finally settled in a realized this is kind of who I am. I’ve got players that come back now. You know, I’m going on my 19th year here in a few months, and they’re coming back and they’re bringing their kids into our camp. So I’ve been very, very fortunate.

“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish here, and proud for the players. You have a new President now that’s in her second year and a new Athletic Director in her second year, and there’s kind of some new, fresh blood and everybody’s hungry, so times couldn’t be better for us at Oklahoma State.”

While Oklahoma State went 4-7 under Gundy during his first season in 2005, the Cowboys haven’t had a record that’s fallen below .500 since. In the process, Oklahoma State has made a bowl game every single season since Gundy’s first, including victories in the Fiesta Bowl, Alamo Bowl and Liberty Bowl.

At 4-0 to begin the 2022 season with a victory over defending Big 12 champions Baylor, Mike Gundy has Oklahoma State on the right track once again. His words resonate more than ever, as Gundy wouldn’t rather be anywhere else than coaching a hungry Cowboys team.