It is truly both an end to an era and the beginning of a new one for the Oklahoma State football program after the firing of longtime head coach Mike Gundy.
Gundy, an OSU alum, had been on the Cowboys' coaching staff for all but five years of his nearly four-decade career, including the last 20 as the head coach. That was until he was dismissed Tuesday, bringing an end to the second-longest active stint of any coach in the top level of college football.
While Gundy's next step remains to be seen, he met with the team and staff after his firing with one final message.
“Mike came in after practice and talked to our guys, the staff, all the guys in the West End Zone,” said Oklahoma State director of football business Kenyatta Wright, via 247 Sports' McClain Baxley, “and he told everybody after practice ‘You look this adversity in the eye. You keep the course. Stay the course and you continue to fight and beat Baylor's a–.' That's what it's about. He's going to always cheer for Oklahoma State and hope Oklahoma State does great, but at the end of the day, the message to our kids was to finish the task.”
Former #OKState head coach Mike Gundy visited with the Cowboys after practice Tuesday. Here’s what he told the team, per Kenyatta Wright. pic.twitter.com/nYLHSJaQ21
— McClain (@McclainBaxley) September 24, 2025
Gundy is undoubtedly the greatest coach in Oklahoma State football history, having recorded a record-shattering 170 wins over the past two decades, as well as a Big 12 Conference championship in 2011 and a divisional title the year before.
From 2010 to 2023, Gundy led the Cowboys to eight 10-win seasons, including the 2011 campaign in which they finished 12-1, won the conference and Fiesta Bowl, and are believed by some, including Gundy, to have been the best team in the country despite being left out of the BCS National Championship in favor of LSU and Alabama.
Despite his success, 2024 was an unmitigated disaster for Gundy and OSU; after a 10-4 season in 2023, the Cowboys won just three games in '24 and lost every one of their nine conference games. The last time Oklahoma State had gone 3-9 or worse was 1991, when Pat Jones led the Cowboys to an 0-10-1 record. Additionally, they had not finished winless in conference play since 1994, the penultimate season of the Big Eight.
Through three games this season, Oklahoma State is 1-2 after losing 69-3 to Oregon and 19-12 at home vs. Tulsa.
Per the terms of his contract's buyout clause, Gundy is owed $15 million by the university.
