Mike Gundy Suggests Ex Texas Longhorns Coach Mack Brown as Potential CFB Commissioner

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy believes appointing former Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown or Nick Saban to a Roger Goodell-like position in College Football could help save the sport.

Dec 30, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Texas coach Mack Brown sings the school song after the game against Oregon Ducks at Alamo Dome. Oregon defeated Texas 30-7. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-Imagn Images / Soobum Im-Imagn Images

In the constantly evolving world of college football, the implementation of NIL and the transfer portal have made huge impressions on how programs operate and grow their dynasties. Teams aren't just an extension of academics anymore, but completely separate entities in a league of their own.

And a league needs a commissioner, according to Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy.

The head coach to the Cowboys of nearly 20 years said during a press conference on Monday that NCAA football needs to start conforming to professional standards and practices, just like the NFL. He named the two best options for the position of commissioner as none other than current North Carolina and previously Texas head coach Mack Brown and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

“It’s a simple process. College football needs a commissioner," Gundy said. "And if it’s one of the four guys, now, if it’s the SEC commissioner, I don’t care, we need a commissioner. Then we need the Power Four, or Power Five if we go back to it. Those commissioners are under them. And then we need a football oversight rules committee that is going to enforce whatever rules that we say there are. Whether that is recruiting, NIL, salary cap, employment agreements, transfers, whatever those rules are, and they need to follow the NFL model.”

"It's big picture. I just gave you a short version of what I think should happen," Gunday said. "Coach (Mack) Brown in North Carolina when he retires, Coach (Nick) Saban... that’s your football commissioner."

Gundy's concerns came not long after it was announced that the athletic directors of the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences would be scheduling meetings to discuss their future plans in the postseason, something that Texas will be weighed in on, now being an SEC team.

Prior to coaching for North Carolina, Brown was the head coach for the Longhorns from 1998-2013 and was one of the most influential figures in Texas football history.

He gave Texas its first national championship title in the 2005 Rose Bowl, going undefeated that season, and totaled two Big 12 championships, seven bowl games, and five conference division titles across 16 years.

After a few years to reconcile, Brown returned in 2019 to coach the Tarheels, seeing the slow but sure rate of success, giving North Carolina a conference division championship game berth in 2022.

Whatever the future holds for college football, Gundy has made two solid arguments for putting Saban or Brown at the helm, as they each hold vast knowledge of how the NCAA works and have plenty of experience under their belts.