Oklahoma State Waited Too Long to Fire Mike Gundy

At some point you stop blaming bad luck, injuries and coordinators — and you start blaming the guy in charge. For Oklahoma State, that point came last December, when the only logical move was to fire Mike Gundy after an 0-9 Big 12 season.

The Cowboys had just staggered through one of the most embarrassing campaigns in program history: an 0-9 record in the Big 12 despite returning 20 of 22 starters from a team that had made the league title game the year prior. In 2023, OSU played for a conference championship against Texas. In 2024, with the same roster, they didn’t win a single conference game. If you’re the OSU Board of Regents, that should have been your “we can’t do this anymore” moment with Mike Gundy.

Instead, the Board gave him another life.

Rather than making a clean break after 2024, they let Gundy shuffle assistants like a blackjack dealer. He “cleaned house” by firing a few staff members then predictably struggled to hire quality replacements because the only viable coordinators were already locked into better jobs. The result? Doug Meacham and Todd Grantham ended up holding the keys to a car with no engine. Everyone in Stillwater could see it — except the people running the show.

Fast forward to Week 2 of the 2025 season. Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3.

A national embarrassment on CBS. A plane full of OSU donors sat in the stands at Autzen Stadium courtesy of athletic director Chad Weiberg’s junket. They didn’t see a team “competing,” as Gundy loves to say. They saw a flat-out execution, the Cowboys’ second straight nationally televised humiliation after a 52-0 loss at Colorado to close the 2024 season.

Now even the staunchest of Gundy supporters in the OSU fan base are calling for the coach's dismissal, as if it only now became clear that he's in over his head in modern college football.

My Question: If 0-9 didn’t get him fired, why would 69-3?

And the bigger one: What on earth did Gundy say in those boardrooms last winter that kept him around for another season?

Gundy’s Rope is Endless

The easy answer is politics. Mike Gundy is OSU’s winningest coach and a former Cowboy quarterback. He’s got equity in Stillwater that no outsider ever will. His longevity became his shield. Athletic Director Chad Weiberg and then-university president Kayse Shrum were reportedly the ones who stepped in to “save” him when the Board of Regents had their knives out after 0-9.

Both moves may end up costing them their jobs. Shrum’s already gone, her resignation landing like a coda to the failed Gundy save. Weiberg’s contract is up at the end of this year and even his strongest allies privately admit it’s unlikely he survives.

So yes, Gundy’s survival wasn’t about football. It was about politics and loyalty. And now the entire program is paying the price for not moving on when it was time to fire Mike Gundy.

What Did They Think Was Going to Happen?

This is where the Regents look not just cautious but reckless. After an 0-9 Big 12 season, the only real option was to fire Mike Gundy — yet they doubled down instead, then watch him patch together a staff with retreads and desperation hires — guys who weren’t on anyone’s radar as “program rebuilders?”

The Oklahoma State job, once one of the more attractive gigs in the Power 4, is now damaged goods. Any coach with options will look at what’s happening and ask two questions:

Why didn’t OSU move faster? If they’ll wait this long to fire a guy after 10 straight Power 4 losses, how decisive will they be when it comes time to support the next coach?

Where’s the money? Gundy himself admitted last week that OSU’s donors aren’t willing to spend what it takes in the NIL and transfer portal era. If he’s telling the truth then why would any coach who understands today’s game take this job?

That’s the biggest irony here: OSU didn’t just wait too long to make a change. They also waited long enough to let the program’s value slide all while telling the public they weren’t willing to spend like the big boys anyway.

The Oregon Massacre

The 69-3 loss wasn’t just another L in the standings. It was symbolic. OSU wasn’t competitive for a single snap. They were outclassed physically, mentally and schematically. Gundy told everyone his team was toast all week with the NIL back-and-forth he carried on with Ducks Head Coach Dan Lanning, ensuring Lanning would not only step on Gundy's throat, but twist until he was satisfied he'd helped the Pokes coach drive home the fact his program was no longer competitive with him at the helm.

Bill Haisten of the Tulsa World summed it up perfectly after trading texts with his network of OSU insiders:

“One: Shouldn’t Oklahoma State fire Mike Gundy now?

And two: Gundy’s teams have a history of showing up for big-game challenges like this one. What happened?”

That’s the thing. Gundy’s teams used to play up to their competition. They didn’t beat Oklahoma often — 4–15 tells that story clearly — but they made Bedlam interesting more times than not over the final decade before the Sooners bolted for the SEC, giving Gundy an excuse to cease playing them. Where he really made his mark was flipping the Texas series on its head. For a decade, OSU consistently sent the Longhorns home with bruised egos, proving they could stand toe-to-toe with the “big boys” even while OU always played the role of Big Brother.

Now the Cowboys don’t even look like they belong on the same field as Oklahoma, Texas or Oregon.

What Good Would Firing Him Midseason Do?

This is the question being asked all over Stillwater right now: fire Mike Gundy now or wait until December?

Here’s the reality: firing him today doesn’t magically fix the win-loss column. With 60 new players, this season’s already a lost cause. Promoting Grantham or Meacham as an interim won’t change the product they put on the field the past two weeks.

But firing him now does buy OSU something they’ve lacked for two years: time. Time to identify the right next head coach. Time to quietly work back channels. Time to be at the front of the line in December instead of standing in the back waiting for everyone else to finish their hires.

By waiting, OSU risks another whiff. By moving now, they at least position themselves to compete for the best available names.

Who’s Next?

That’s the conversation fans want to have. And while the Sporting News and others have thrown out names, the list is a mix of realistic and fantasy.

Zac Robinson (Falcons OC, former OSU QB): The cleanest succession plan. Reportedly willing to return as coordinator and coach-in-waiting last year before Gundy nixed the idea. If OSU had cut the cord in 2024, Robinson would already be in Stillwater.

Alex Golesh (USF): A former OSU GA who’s thriving at South Florida. Runs the kind of uptempo offense OSU fans love. But USF is hot right now, and after his Bulls beat Florida Saturday, he's more likely to end up on the sideline in the Swamp than the one in Stillwater. Truth be told, it's arguable that the gig he has now isn't preferable to OSU, especially if you enjoy upward mobility.

Jon Sumrall (Tulane): The hottest non-Power-4 name in America. But with Kentucky likely to open, not to mention Florida, Auburn and Arkansas, Oklahoma State's odds of getting him are – at best – a pipe dream.

Collin Klein (A&M OC): Feels destined for Kansas State more than Stillwater.

Andy Kotelnicki (Penn State OC): Everyone’s flavor of the month, but how real is his connection to OSU?

Jeff Traylor (UTSA): This is the coach I would be chasing in Stillwater, even before Robinson. He's a proven program-builder with Texas recruiting ties, and he’s already shown he can win with less (last week his Roadrunners gave Big Money Texas A&M all it could handle despite having about 10-percent of the resources the Aggies have at their disposal).

And then there are names that make less sense: Eric Bieniemy (always a candidate, never a hire), Todd Monken (ties to OSU but doing fine with the Ravens) and Jim Knowles (why would he even consider a return to Stillwater?).

If OSU is serious, they’ll need to open the wallets and get aggressive. Anything less and they’ll be shopping from the bargain bin again.

The Legacy Question

Mike Gundy has 170 wins and 89 losses. He’s OSU’s winningest coach. He gave Cowboy fans Bedlam drama, double-digit win seasons and a 2011 Big 12 title that will live forever in Stillwater lore.

But legacy doesn’t erase reality. The last two years have dragged OSU from “steady Big 12 contender” to “laughingstock of Power 4 football.” Ten straight losses to Power 4 opponents. The last two by a combined 121-3 to Colorado and Oregon.

It’s not just losing. It’s irrelevance. And that’s the death sentence for a program in a sport where being forgotten is worse than being bad.

Where Does OSU Go From Here?

Here’s the real question OSU fans should be asking: Do you trust this leadership group to get it right?

The Regents blinked after 0-9. Shrum is gone. Weiberg is a lame duck. Gundy is daring them to fire him — and knowing him, he’ll probably make them do it instead of taking the easy “retirement” route.

So what happens now? Does OSU get bold, clean house and start selling donors on a new vision? Or does it keep dragging its feet, waiting until December and risk starting a rebuild two years late with no momentum?

The answer will shape the program for the next decade.

Final Thought

Mike Gundy gave Oklahoma State its golden era in college football — as long as we're not counting the mythical 1945 National Championship OSU laid claim to a few years ago.

But college football changed — NIL, the transfer portal, fundraising, donor relations — and Gundy didn’t. He resisted. He complained. He dragged his feet.

And now he’s dragged OSU down with him.

The Board of Regents should have ended this story last year. By waiting, they made the job less attractive, the rebuild harder and the donors angrier. They chose loyalty over logic.

Now they’re reaping the results. And unless they act soon, they’ll be left watching another wave of coaches pass them by while OSU searches for answers in a sport that doesn’t wait for anyone.

Because the truth is simple: the Mike Gundy era is over. The only question is how long Oklahoma State is willing to pretend otherwise.

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Jason Watkins is the founder and managing editor of HOF Media Group and the HOF College Football YouTube channel. He can be reached at jw@hofmedia.us.

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