Could Mike Gundy Survive Another Losing Season in 2025?
![Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy speaks during a press conference at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater Okla., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy speaks during a press conference at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater Okla., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_6000,h_3375,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_pokes/01jjsfpmp5xbg18dxbpa.jpg)
The Cowboys’ expectations aren’t high, but their coach might be fine for the season regardless of the outcome.
Oklahoma State looked close to a football head coaching search for the first time in two decades in December. After a 3-9 season, OSU fired coordinators Kasey Dunn and Bryan Nardo in the week following the final game. Instead of the search for those coaches earning full attention, the Cowboys pondered the fate of 20-year coach Mike Gundy.
After a tense few days, Gundy agreed to a restructured contract to help with the ever-changing landscape of college football through the transfer portal and NIL. While those few days seemingly sent a message that OSU won’t tolerate losing, it also might have shown the program isn’t quite ready to make a drastic change.
Over the offseason, OSU had its most change in the entire Gundy era, with a new coach coming in at almost every spot, it seemed. From Todd Grantham and Doug Meacham coming in as coordinators to all the guys they brought in to help install their systems, OSU’s coaching staff has a plethora of new faces in 2025.
With so much change in the offseason, the Cowboys face some clear pressure to perform on the field next season. Along with the coaching changes, various transfers from across the country have made their way to Stillwater, looking to play a key role in OSU’s potential turnaround.
However, the immense change also leaves immense uncertainty. While effectively gutting a 3-9 team to look for better results is a solid plan in theory, the adjusting period to so many new people could take a while.
In the era of NIL and the transfer portal, repeating success from year to year has only become more difficult for a program like OSU. And over the past decade and beyond, OSU’s stability at head coach has been a key part of its continued success.
Considering how much change the program has gone through this offseason, it might be difficult for OSU to consider firing Gundy even if he were to lead another three-win campaign or similar and go through an even more hectic offseason next year.
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