When it Comes to Dissatisfaction With Mike Gundy, Be Careful What You Wish For

When it comes to dissatisfaction with Mike Gundy over his recent job performance — both this season and in recent years — I would offer only two words of caution: Be careful.

Be careful of your perspective.

Be careful of what his presence — and potential absence — would mean for the health of OSU football.

And be careful, most of all, of what you wish for.

Mike Gundy is the winningest coach in OSU football history. He is, and over the course of most of the last two decades has been, a beacon of consistency. Expectations being so high this season can, in large part, be contributed to the monster Gundy has created. Fans every year now can reasonably expect to be in the mix for a Big 12 championship. That is undeniably a good thing. My father tells me of the Bob Simmons era often. I hear it could be much worse.

This season hasn’t been good, and I’m not one to sugarcoat, either: Gundy has flat not been on his game. The offense is a shell of the high-octane unit most expected to see this season when Tylan Wallace and Chuba Hubbard opted to return. The in-game maneuvering has been average at times, awful at others. And in big and small games — OU and TCU, for instance — Gundy’s Pokes have looked lethargic and lifeless in large spurts. Even Gundy admitted as much after an embarrassing performance in Norman two weeks ago.

“I didn’t think that we did a very good job of coaching, more so now than what I thought after the game on Saturday night,” Gundy said via The Oklahoman. “I thought the players played hard and competed. I thought we could’ve done a better job of coaching.

But what’s that old adage? Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Yeah. That applies here. Maybe the devil OSU could find to succeed Gundy turns out to be Lincoln Riley 2.0. Maybe he turns out to be Howard Schnellenberger. Who the heck knows? The Xs and Os sharpness can only take you so far in Stillwater, where recruiting, development and culture are just as key.

OSU’s season has not been what many expected it would be. Offensive line injuries have been piling up. Inconsistent quarterback play has plagued the team all year. And firepower on offense has been as hard to come by as the dreadful 2014 season, when Daxx Garman was the quarterback and tight ends were being asked to play along the offensive line. It has not been especially pretty.

And yet, OSU is bowl eligible already for the 15th (!) consecutive season; the program was in the hunt (until it abruptly wasn’t) deep into November; and the defensive turnaround from last season to this season is worthy of praise. There are positives, dependent upon your perspective and perhaps how you viewed the season before it began.

Do you want Mike Gundy to recruit better? That’s a fair ask, I’d think. Do you expect the offense to be more productive than the one that we’ve seen all season? Yes, yes, I think we all do. Should you expect to win more than two Bedlam games in 15 seasons? Yup! But by and large, Gundy has been good, is good, and will continue to be good, for the short- and long-term health of this program.

Hitting a hard reset by moving on from him would be a tough financial pill to swallow in a pandemic. It’d also set back recruiting. And no doubt, it’d stunt the momentum a new coach would hope to have by taking over. Talk about a tough situation to try and take over. No one wants to sign up to be the guy that follows the guy. And especially not under current circumstances.

So let it all out, folks. Scrutinize Gundy any way you like. Truth be told, he deserves it. But don’t let a wrecked season warp your expectations. Gundy’s as good as OSU’s ever had, and like it or not, he’s OSU’s best hope of righting the ship.