Mike Gundy honest about pros, cons of Oklahoma State staffing changes

The 2024 season ended in a frustrating 3-9 record for the Oklahoma State Cowboys where they went winless in Big 12 play. That prompted some major changes from head coach Mike Gundy, who swapped out both his offensive and defensive coordinator.

For Gundy, there are both pros and cons about those staffing changes. As he explained, continuity in the program and on the coaching staff is important but so is adapting to the changing landscape of college football.

“The time I’m talking about waking up and thinking about things,” Mike Gundy said. “That’s the one thing because in my opinion over 19, 20 years here we’ve developed into a big-time college football organization based on continuity and development and Rob Glass and his plan and bringing young men in and expecting them to play in years three, four, and five. And to a certain extent, we could still have some of that, but it’s not going to be as much. We’re not so naive to think that that’s going to have to be that way moving forward.”

In the Transfer Portal, Oklahoma State has been active and currently has the 51st-ranked class in the 2025 transfer cycle, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. That is part of the massive turnover the program is dealing with at this point.

“So, we have to deal with the hand that we’re all being dealt in college football and that essentially free agency can happen at any time. At any time now. It used to be a portal window. Now, I guess, there’s not a portal window. So, our coaching staff, what I’ve asked those guys to do is to put their heads together in both rooms — and I’m excluding Sean [Snyder] and Joe [Bob Clements] and special teams. It’s not as big of an impact there as it is on offense and defense,” Gundy said.

“And the fact that they almost have to think a little bit like the NFL from the standpoint that if you were to pick a player up off waivers or off somebody’s practice squad and you have a game in eight days, you’ve got to get him ready to play or why would be pick him up? It’s a little bit like that now, in our opinion, not as much because we still have more time.”

In the past few years, Oklahoma State has gone through several changes at its coordinator roles. That includes four defensive coordinators in five seasons and now a new offensive coordinator after five years of Kasey Dunn.

“But as I said, we have 32 new players that are here currently,” Gundy said. “And we need to get them prepared that when we start spring football, they can go out and play and they can practice and give us an idea of what we have on both sides of the ball. Compared to in the past that might be an 18-month process. Now, it’s going to happen much quicker.”

Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State will unveil its new look roster and coaching staff on August 30th against UT-Martin.