Mike Gundy: 'I'm a man, I'm 40' rant 'the best thing that ever happened to us in recruiting'

There are very few football coaches who have a better rant to the media in their careers than Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy does.

That rant, in which Gundy went to bat for a player, demanding that criticism be directed at himself instead of players on the team because “I’m a man, I’m 40,” has stuck with him over the 17 years since then. At the same time, as he explained on The Pat McAfee Show, it’s actually had its benefits long-term, particularly in recruiting.

“I’m an old soul,” Mike Gundy said. “I’m 57 years old…way past being a man. Way past being a man, I’m an old man now.”

Today, it’s not necessarily often that a recruit or younger person brings up the rant. After all, they likely don’t remember it. Instead, it gets brought up more often by family members, particularly the grandparents of recruits.

“What’s interesting is I’ve signed a bunch of ’em [photos], but now when I go into homes and recruiting, the grandparents bring it up because they were around. The younger generation, they’re like, ‘What?’ They might have heard it on somebody’s ringtone but essentially the grandparents bring it up,” Gundy said.

“It might’ve been the best thing that ever happened to us in recruiting.”

Certainly, Mike Gundy has found plenty of success at Oklahoma State since then. 2007, when Gundy first unleashed his rant, it was only his third season as the head coach of the Cowboys. Since then, he’s won the Big 12 and two Fiesta Bowls while consistently putting Oklahoma State at the top of the country.

To this point in the 2025 recruiting cycle, Oklahoma State has the 43rd-ranked recruiting class in the country, according to the On3 Industry Ranking football Team Recruiting Rankings. That’s currently the ninth-ranked class in the Big 12, with plenty of time for that to change.

Mike Gundy on NIL negotiations during season

NIL has become a key aspect to both recruiting players to a roster and retaining players on a roster. Mike Gundy knows that but he’s still insistent that he doesn’t want any NIL negotiations during the season.

“That’s what I told the players. There’s no negotiating now. The portal’s over. All the negotiation’s history. Now, we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football. The business side of what we do now is we have to have those conversations with them. ‘Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money. It’s non-negotiable now. We’ll start again in December,’” Gundy said.

“Now, we’re able to direct ourselves just at football. And that part is fun because there’s been so much other stuff going on, it’s been hard to really focus on football.”