'No Negotiating Now': OSU's Mike Gundy Talks About NIL During Season
College football is much, much more like pro football than it ever has been before. The transfer portal is being treated as a free agency -- though there are no set parameters. The leagues are compiling to maximize profit and the sport is rapidly changing.
However, for Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, there are boundaries as it pertains to NIL and negotiating "salaries." Once football kicks off, the conversations are over and the focus is on the gridiron.
“That’s what I told the players. There’s no negotiating now,” Gundy told reporters. “The portal’s over. All the negotiation’s history. Now, we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football.”
Now, football is here. Fall camp is underway, and, in less than a week, college football will be being played. So, for Gundy and the rest of the Cowboys, the focus is set solely on the field and getting early results to kick off the 2024 season. The Oklahoma State head coach isn't answering any calls from any agents for the time being.
“The business side of what we do now is we have to have those conversations with them. ‘Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money. It’s non-negotiable now. We’ll start again in December,'” Gundy said.
Oklahoma State's approach to fall training camp will be a bit more different and aggressive than last season. The focus has to be on simulating game-like scenarios to prep the athletes for Week 1 against South Dakota State, not on stacking more dollars and simulating professional sports.
A season ago, the Cowboys had talent, but conservative play at camp to avoid injuries along with roster mismanagement led to Oklahoma State starting the season 2-2, though they rallied a strong conference season of play to make the Big 12 title game.
This time around, Oklahoma State will have the defense ready to go, meaning there will be much fewer missed tackles early in the season, while there won't be any position battles rolling well into the regular season.
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KADE KIMBLE
Kade is a strategic communications student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he also minors in Sports Management. He has been covering the Oklahoma City Thunder with InsidetheThunder.com since the 2022 season after having followed the team since its early days.