A Brief History of Mike Gundy’s Contracts at Oklahoma State

Update (3:30 p.m.): Gundy’s salary changed almost right after I posted this. The numbers  have been adjusted to reflect his new salary.

Since we’ve been talking about Mike Gundy and money so much this week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the history of Gundy’s three contracts at Oklahoma State.

The numbers of the first one are absolutely stunning given what the college football landscape is these days and where Oklahoma State fits into it. Gundy signed contract No. 1 in 2005 and has signed several extensions and additional contracts since then.

All of that culminated earlier this year when he signed what amounted to a lifetime deal worth $4.2 million with a $125,000 annual raise (that got bumped on Friday to $5 million in 2018 with the same raises). Here is the USA Today data on Gundy’s contract history. The only years USAT did not have I found on NewsOK.

The reason I extended the years to 2022 is because Gundy has an automatic rolling year tacked onto the end of his five-year deal unless OSU states otherwise within seven days after the season ends. So unless they say something to him, Gundy will have a “new” five-year deal at the beginning of January 2018 after OSU’s bowl game worth $26.3 million.

Where that gets a little dicey is when it comes to the buyout. Todd Graham had a similar deal with Arizona State, and it was not renewed for 2017 so he had a four-year contract but was subsequently fired, and ASU is probably going to have to pay him around $12 million.

OSU owes Gundy 75 percent of whatever is left on his contract if they fire him, per his contract. The fact that he will always have a five-year deal worth north of $26 million could make that an expensive endeavor.

Here’s that portion of his contract.

So let’s say Gundy goes 2-10 next year and OSU wants to fire him. Neither of those things will happen, but hypothetically-speaking, let’s say they did. They would owe him 75 percent of whatever is left on his 2018-19 contract plus the next four years. That would be over $15 million. Makes the Travis Ford buyout seem tame!

Gundy has what he wants — job security for a long time and a ton of money every year, and as a result, Oklahoma State gets a coach who can’t stop winning 10 games.

Gundy will have likely earned well over $60 million by the time he’s done in Stillwater, which is a ton of money. Counterpoint: He’s been worth every penny.

Related: Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World is reporting that the OSU board of regents are discussing Gundy’s compensation during their meeting on Friday.