‘I Have as Much Energy Now as I Did When I Took This Job’: Gundy Shuts Down Retirement Talk After Loss to Tech

In 20 years at the helm at Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy’s team has never finished worse than it will in 2024. The Cowboys came into this season as a Big 12 contender and thus a candidate to break into the expanded College Football Playoff. But following his team’s 56-48 loss on Senior Day, Gundy had to step to the podium for the eighth straight time to take questions on a loss.

The Cowboys’ 18-year bowl streak was pronounced dead in early November. Fans have been booing QB decisions since September, and now, heading into their season finale at Colorado, the Cowboys are in danger of reaching nine losses for just the third time in program history.

Despite all of that, there were some positives to take from Saturday’s game. OSU’s offense looked as good as it has maybe all season thanks in large part to Maealiuaki Smith’s productive first start and Ollie Gordon’s returning to form, even if it was against the Big 12’s worst scoring defense. And the Cowboys had a chance up until the final Texas Tech drive. Despite any silver linings, it was another in string of losses that Gundy has never experienced this year with arguably one of the fullest cupboards in terms of talent and experience coming in.

There have been wonderings from the outside regarding the future of the program. Gundy’s ill-spoken comments about negative people not being able to pay their bills only further dusted up his relationship to the fanbase earlier this month.

After Saturday’s loss, Tulsa World columnist Bill Haisten asked Gundy pointblank if he would be back to coach this team next year. Here’s the exchange as it unrolled.

“Are you saying, am I gonna get fired?”

“No,” Haisten responded.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re asking me then,” Gundy continued. “There ain’t no way that the old lady’s letting me retire if that’s what you’re asking.

“I have as much energy now as I did when I took this job, and most of you guys think I’m crazy, which I am. When I get up in the morning about 5:30, I start thinking about football. And even though we’re in a really tough situation here that we haven’t been in in 18 years, I’m excited to come to work tomorrow and try to find a way to beat Colorado. I just like that stuff.

“The outside noise, which I don’t know about because I don’t read social media, doesn’t bother me. I am concerned for our team, because they’re 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 year olds who live on social media, and I worry about them, but we try to educate them, and I don’t pay attention to anything, right? I mean, I’m the same person now as I was in August.”

It would be hard to imagine that there aren’t some changes made during this fast-approaching offseason, but one change that some have started to wonder about seems to have its answer. Along with his rolling five-year deal, his latest contract extension included details that mean his current buyout is 75% of his remaining which would put the price tag for parting ways with him without cause at north of $25 million.