‘Those Aren’t Decisions I Make’: Mike Gundy Falls from Mountain Top to Rock Bottom in Tulsa Loss

STILLWATER — Following Friday’s 19-12 loss to Tulsa, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy was asked what it feels like to hit rock bottom.

“Well, it’s different, obviously,” Gundy said. “You know, in 21 years, it’s a different position than I’ve been in. … We’ve certainly been in a different situation a lot of years in a row, but currently we’re not in that situation, but we’re in a position with guys that are still working hard, they’re still learning, we’re still playing with the young quarterback that in my opinion, in four or five weeks will be considerably different than he is now.”

Gundy’s record of 170-90 puts him 107 wins ahead of Oklahoma State’s next winningest coach, Pat Jones (1984-94). Gundy’s winning percentage of 65.4% puts him second all-time behind only Lynn O. Waldorf (1929-33), and his conference winning percentage of 58.6% ranks second all-time among OSU coaches with more than 10 conference games.

Gundy coached the Cowboys to eight 10-win seasons and two top-10 finishes. Before Gundy, Oklahoma State had three total 10-win seasons (last accomplished in 1988 when Gundy was the quarterback) and two top 10 finishes (in 1945 and 1984).

However, all of Gundy’s accomplishments now sit buried in the past behind an ongoing 11-game losing streak to FBS opponents dating back to last season’s 45-10 win at Tulsa.

“Well, obviously, we’re trying to come around,” Gundy said. “You know, we’re not where we were two or three years ago. You know we’re building back from where we were, and we just have to continue to push forward. We’ve had a couple of unfortunate incidents that have contributed to it.”

When asked to elaborate on what is different about his current team and the one that limped to a 3-9 finish last year, Gundy focused on the quarterback.

“Well, last year we went through four quarterbacks, and that made it difficult, as you know,” Gundy said. “I mean, we don’t, there’s no reason to not call it like it is. I mean, that’s extremely difficult.

“So right now we’re working with Zane. He’s young, he’s, was this is his second start? And so he does some good things, and there’s some things that he wants to do better. So as we move forward, we got to put him in a position to where he can continue to get better.”

Ahead of the 2024 season, Oklahoma State seemingly found itself in a position to take control of the Big 12. During that summer, athletic director Chad Weiberg said the Cowboys were “ winning like a blueblood” and that he felt good about the Cowboys’ inclusion in the future of college football as the sport continued to undergo changes at the national level.

“The investments that we’ve made, the great decisions that we’ve stacked on top of each other, the success that coach Gundy has had with the program has put (us) on the north side of that cutline,” Weiberg said in the summer of 2024. “And I feel really good about where our position is on the north side of that cut line, so as it continues to move, I like where we are.”

Now, the Cowboys have one week to turn things around ahead of conference play if they want to avoid spending a second consecutive season staring up at the rest of the conference in the standings.

In the coming days, and perhaps weeks, OSU fans and the country will question whether Weiberg still believes Gundy can get the job done in Stillwater. For his part, Gundy said he can’t afford to worry about what others say about his job security in the coming days.

“Those aren’t decisions that I make,” Gundy said on Friday. “And my decision is to do exactly what I mentioned earlier, and get these guys and keep moving forward and go on down the road, and that’s what we do.”