Mike Gundy is Very (Very!) Excited about OSU Football in 2020

In the wake of Oklahoma State’s 24-21 loss to Texas A&M on Friday evening in Houston, Mike Gundy — as he often does at the end of a season — talked about the next season. What will be No. 16 (!) of his career in Stillwater, USA.

He used the word “excited” five different times when discussing his 2020 squad. And on the surface, I agree that there’s reason to join him in jubilation at the possibility of OSU being extremely good next year with a potential Big 12 title appearance certainly in play (depending on a few caveats, which we’ll get to below).

First, here are all five of his quotes about excitement.

1. “But I am so excited about the future of Oklahoma State football. I can’t wait to get started. I told the team, I told the seniors, you’ve led these guys to where they are now.”

2. “We’ll fly home tomorrow, and I’ll probably go to work the next day after tomorrow because I’m so excited about the players we have coming back and where we’re at, the improvements we’ve made in all areas.”

3. “First thing we wanted to do this year is be a more disciplined team, and we were by far a more disciplined team. We improved toughness; not as much as we needed to, but we were tougher. So we’ll make some adjustments in the offseason. I’m really excited about the future of Oklahoma State football, and I can’t thank the seniors, the fans.”

4. “Well, [Braydon Johnson is] a guy that we might not have known much about if 2 doesn’t go down. He’s a reason I’m unbelievably excited about next year. He’s just starting to figure it out right now. He’s getting what we call confidence. With his act and speed and work ethic, if he continues to develop confidence, he’ll be a really good football player.”

5. “Chu got tired during the season a little bit and had some time to rest, got fresh. We’re unbelievably excited about him next year. I think there’s a really good chance he’s on our football team next year. I don’t think any of us could say 100 percent.”

So Gundy is excited. This is a good thing, especially for someone who is not often excitable. As for those caveats that determine whether we, too, should be excited, here they are.

1. Chuba returns
2. Tylan returns and is ?
3. OSU’s defense maintains its level of play and adds Calvin Bundage
4. Sanders is ?
5. OU falls off a bit (Riley gets hired away?)

I’m probably reaching on No. 5, and maybe that has nothing to do with why we should be excited about 2020. But to me, real wars with the Sooners represent large percentages of why anyone should be excited about any season (see: 2017). The other four — all ifs, ranging from the biggest to the smallest — if they hit, certainly provide plenty of reason for us to also be excited about 2020.

Mike Holder has seven days from the end of last season — so until this upcoming Friday — to decide whether to roll Gundy’s five-year deal over and give him a $125,000 pay raise to $5.25 million in 2020. His new contract will be from 2020-24. Holder will almost certainly do this, and we will write about it again. The beat will go on in Stillwater.

This is a good thing. I am good with this. Gundy has been and is awesome, and OSU has been terrific for a long time. My hope for this program and this year though is that his actual excitement matches what he says after a bowl game. On and off the field. In recruiting new talent and recruiting current talent (how many hours should OSU be pouring into recruiting Chuba to stay another year? How much is that worth?).

Because I think it’s easy to say that you’re fired up about X right after experiencing a high from X, but when the slogging reality of the offseason hits and you have to hire new coaches and get new talent committed and figure out how to dethrone the team down south that can’t stop winning conference crowns, the excitement that so easily envelops everyone invested in making this thing as successful as it can possibly be can sometimes feel a long way away.