Gundy4Ever

Photo Attribution: @eknielsen

It’s pretty safe to say that Mike Gundy, since he took over, has exceeded every reasonable expectation we, as Oklahoma State fans, burdened him with.

The miracle-worker who had taken over for Bob Simmons had just been hired at one of the top ten programs in the country and even he could only muster a 9-4 Cotton Bowl season.

So surely the backyard kid with the ironic hair and tucked-in rain jacket couldn’t be held to a higher standard than that, could he? Well he was by Boone Pickens and, by proxy, Mike Holder.

And he has delivered.

Sure, he’s been lucky and he’s stumbled into some gems (one of his favorite recruiting tidbits to point out is that Weeden was a walk-on), but the trajectory of the program since he gutted it clean in 2005 has been right there with the likes of all of college football’s big boys. They have the 8th most wins in the country since 2008.

Because of where we were, we appreciate where we’re at. And he does too:

I would prefer to be here for a long, long time and hopefully the powers (that) be will make that decision for me,” Gundy said. “I really enjoy the people here, I enjoy the situation. We’ve obviously gotten to a level here that has not ever been accomplished. I don’t know that anybody … would have ever thought it could have happened.

No, nobody did. And if someone tries to tell you otherwise, he or she is either A.) inhaling recreational drugs somewhere with Tommy Devereaux or B.) running PR for the university.

Jeff Latzke goes on,

Gundy is making $2.1 million this season under a contract that runs through 2015, and he’s the fifth-highest paid coach in the Big 12, just behind Missouri’s Gary Pinkel and Texas A&M’s Mike Sherman.

Gundy should have some grad assistant splice the second halfs of A&M’s games against OSU, Arkansas, Missouri, and OU from this year, walk into Holder’s office, throw it in his DVD player, and just point at Mike Sherman’s blank stare the entire time before saying “this guy makes more than me, fix that”, and walking out.

Gundy also stands to get a $500,000 bonus if Oklahoma State — which is second in the BCS standings — wins the national championship.

I’m sure Boone is kicking in a bit more above that.

The contract has a $3 million buyout if Gundy were to take a job elsewhere. “It’d be hard to get me from here. It’d be really hard,” Gundy said.

There’s two things that have kind of gone against what most coaches at my level would call smart: One would be to say that this is your New York Yankees job and then two to say that you want to stay here forever and be committed to this program,” Gundy said.

“Most coaches in my position at our level would say that those would be the two dumbest things a guy could ever say for your future as a coach. So, I’m obviously not very good at handling those situations.”

Clearly, maybe Dez has an agent to lend him.

For what it’s worth though, Gundy has always been loyal to and handsomely rewarded his assistants including, inexplicably, Joe DeForest.

“You can’t stop,” Gundy said. “If you like it, you’ve got to keep putting money in the jukebox. The music’s not going to just keep playing forever.”

No, it’s not. It’s most certainly not.

Then came the most curious part of the story…

Gundy said he doesn’t expect to be coaching in another 12 to 15 years and he hopes to spend the rest of that time in Stillwater.

Whoa! 12 years and he’ll only be 55. Bill Snyder, though I know he’s kind of an exception, was just getting things rolling with Ell Roberson and Michael Bishop at that age.

What’s Gundy going to do? Actually, that begs an interesting question: what exactly does Gundy do when he’s not trolling the sideline at BPS? We know the practices are scant and that he loves to run and, I believe he said “eat some good food,” but what else? If I ever get to write a feature on one OSU figure, there’s no doubt in my mind who I’m choosing.

Gundy finishes Latzke’s story with this,

“I don’t think it’s ever a good time to move. … We think it’s better for our boys to be in the situation that they’re in but in this profession, that doesn’t always mean that’s going to happen,” Gundy said. “In fact, I would say that the majority of this profession doesn’t have that choice.”

No worries Mike, you’re three wins from never having to move anywhere again. You can have Stillwater, and not just figuratively, someone should literally donate the title to all the land in Stillwater to your family name.

Just three more.

Story courtesy of the AP