Oklahoma State fires football coach Mike Gundy after two decades at helm

Updated September 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM CDT

Gundy spent more than three decades as a player and coach at OSU, including the past 21 seasons leading the program.

He is OSU's longest-tenured and winningest coach, with 170 victories. That is 108 more wins than the second-winningest coach in program history, Pat Jones.

Gundy was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year three times — as recently as 2023 — and has won two national coach of the year awards.

After experiencing a losing season in 2005 as a first-year head coach, Gundy's teams embarked on 18-straight seasons with winning records.

But, in 2024, his team finished with a record of 3 wins and 9 losses, and was held winless in conference play for the first time in 30 years.

Earlier this month, the team suffered the program's worst defeat since before Oklahoma statehood in a 69-3 loss to Oregon. The final straw seems to be a 19 to 12 loss on Friday to the University of Tulsa, which featured a chorus of boos from the home crowd.

Gundy addressed questions about his future at OSU in a press conference on Monday.

"When I was hired here to take this job, ever since that day, I've put my heart and soul into this and I will continue to do that until at some point if I say 'I don't want to do it' or if somebody else says, 'we don't want you to do it,'" Gundy said.

That point came on Tuesday.

In a statement, OSU Athletic Director Chad Weiberg said Gundy raised the standard during his tenure, but the decision is about what's best for the program.

"College football has changed drastically in the last few years, and the investment needed to compete at the highest level has never been more important," Weiberg said. "As we search for the next head coach of Cowboy Football, we are looking for someone who can lead our program in this new era."

In a Tuesday press conference following the announcement, Chad Weiberg said the expectation level Gundy set — and the loss to Tulsa — made the move necessary.

"We have higher expectations than that," Weiberg said. "So when it just appeared that that was not going to be met, I felt like for the good of the program, it was time to make this decision so that we could start the process of getting the program where we want it to be."

Weiberg said offensive coordinator Doug Meacham will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Gundy agreed to a restructured contract in December 2024 that included a pay cut and a reduced buyout. He is reportedly owed $15 million because he was fired before Dec. 31, 2027.

Gundy first arrived at OSU as a quarterback in 1986. He started at the position for four seasons and led the Cowboys to two bowl wins. He ended his playing career as the Big Eight Conference's all-time leader in passing and total offense.

After graduation, he was hired as a position coach for four years before serving as offensive coordinator in 1994. He later had coaching stints at Baylor and Maryland before returning to OSU as offensive coordinator under head coach Les Miles. When Miles left for LSU in 2004, Gundy was hired as the head coach.

Under Gundy's tenure, OSU enjoyed eight seasons of 10 wins or more, a Big 12 championship in 2011 and appearances in the Big 12 Championship game in 2021 and 2023.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

Gundy's tenure as head coach was not without controversy.

In 2007, he took over a press conference to criticize an article written by The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson about the benching of quarterback Bobby Reid. In his three-minute defense of the player, Gundy created a viral moment when he shouted, "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!"

He recently parodied that rant in a commercial for Consumer Cellular.

In 2020, OSU star tailback Chuba Hubbard threatened to boycott the program after Gundy was photographed wearing a t-shirt of the far-right news channel OAN (One America News). Gundy later apologized, saying he was disgusted with how the network felt about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Gundy refused to suspend star running back Ollie Gordon after he was arrested for an alleged DUI in 2024. In an interview after that incident, Gundy casually remarked that he probably had driven drunk "a thousand times." That comment earned him criticism from sports journalists and MADD.

The Cowboys start Big 12 Conference play against Baylor on Saturday, the program's first football game without Gundy at the helm in two decades.

This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.