Mike Gundy predicts college football players will be 'employees,' use transfer portal as NIL negotiating tactic

Mike Gundy has made some interesting comments on NIL in recent days, including some that have put him under the microscope of ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum blasted Gundy on Tuesday for essentially saying publicly that he has shut down all NIL negotiations now that his team has entered the season. While Finebaum viewed that as a move detrimental to recruiting efforts, Gundy simply views it as reality.

The Oklahoma State coach further opened up on his stance on Wednesday on the Pat McAfee Show.

“So it’s interesting that there’s negotiation that’s going on in college football now, but essentially it stops when the portal closes unless the young man is just going to hold out till next year or go play in the Canadian league,” Gundy said. “So essentially what I shared with them is that with coaches and players, everybody, including myself, all the negotiations, all the money is off the table. We pay our players very well here. They have certain functions that they have to take care of to be able to get their money through the NIL concepts.

“But the big challenge is to get players who are not used to making money to say, ‘Look, the negotiations are over.’ When the portal opens back up, whether we like it or not, I think you’re going to see more players going in the portal to negotiate, not necessarily to try and leave. That’ll be the big change. “

In other words, as the sport shifts to a model with revenue sharing, it’s going to be a bigger battle negotiating with certain players. Some are deserving of their asking price, while others won’t be.

But Gundy can’t envision a world where there remains a sort of gentleman’s agreement with these deals. Sooner or later there is going to have to be hard-and-fast rules agreed to in ink.

“Now, we’re waiting on the judge to sign off on this revenue sharing that I’m sure you guys are aware of and you’ve talked about a bunch,” Mike Gundy told McAfee and his crew. “Once she signs off on this we’ll all have parameters for what direction this goes. I don’t think there’s any question, Pat, that we’re headed towards college football players being employees. And the reason I say that is because we’re going to be negotiating seven-figure contracts. I don’t know anywhere in the world where there’s seven-figure contracts negotiated without a contract. So I just don’t see it happening.”

Gundy pointed out one of the big reasons that NIL is worth it is because of the returns it can provide the university.

“I’ve been at Oklahoma State since 1986 other than five years of my life as a player and a coach and a head coach,” Gundy said. “Coach Eddie Sutton was here for a long time in basketball. When they went to the Final Four, when football has success, wins 10 games, wins championships, goes to big bowl games, our enrollment goes up every year. So it drives the market.”

Mike Gundy doesn’t know exactly what the future holds for the sport, but he does see more concrete entities emerging that what we have right now. It’s the only way to make things really work.

Football is the primary revenue generator, so it’ll drive the decision-making.

“In my opinion football is essentially the face of the university in most cases,” Gundy said. “And the money that’s generated and the revenue we’re making now, for the players, is being shared as we move forward. And what you’re saying’s exactly right, because we can’t get to the details and the how to handle this in the right manner without contracts, in my opinion.”

Mike Gundy provided a non-football example to bring his point home.

“Your wife talks you into buying a vacation house,” he said. “You’re not going to go down and buy a vacation house without a contract. It’s not going to happen. So the point being is that you have to have contracts to move forward. There’s marketing, there’s branding, there’s so many things. And I really believe that college football teams are going to eventually break away and become their own company.”