Bill Haisten
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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The 2025 Cowboys appear to be the least talented of Mike Gundy’s 21 Oklahoma State football teams. OSU seems doomed to another miserable run through the Big 12 schedule.
It is believed, however, that Gundy is not considering an in-season retirement/departure, and it would be stupid for the university to fire him now.
Let this season run its course. An interim-coach situation would not result in a suddenly better situation and victories.
As the Cowboys lost to Tulsa on Friday night, this was the rock-bottom moment: when “Fire Gundy!” chants emanated from the OSU student section. After the game, Gundy was asked about his employment status.
“Those aren’t decisions that I make,” he said. “My decision is to do exactly what I mentioned earlier — to keep moving forward and go on down the road. That’s what we do.”
This week, OSU opens Big 12 play against Baylor. A Cowboy loss feels inevitable.
You always hear coaches talk about the importance of “controlling the controllables.”
That’s a problem for Gundy: the “uncontrollables.” An “uncontrollable” like the Chad Weiberg contract mystery.
As the athletic director and Gundy’s primary university contact, Weiberg is working without a contract and may not get a new contract.
Do you remember this sort of crap happening when Boone Pickens was a strong OSU presence and Mike Holder was the athletic director?
No, you do not.
Gundy occasionally was at odds with Pickens and Holder, but never to the detriment of the bottom line: filling the stadium and winning football games.
When Gundy was critical of fans 11 months ago, he lost the support of some administrators, some donors and some fans. Maybe a lot of fans. That commentary, along with losing — it resulted in a $1 million pay cut for Gundy, and revised contract terms that resulted in a more university-friendly buyout situation.
I’ll have to do a thorough review of Gundy’s money history, but as the head coach he has been paid more than $75 million.
It’s been a beautiful partnership: Gundy got rich and famous, and Oklahoma State became a renowned football school.
The trick now is to fix Oklahoma State football before it becomes a 10-year train wreck of mediocrity. And the trick there is to have smart, aggressive leaders who have a plan, and that’s where OSU is said to be lacking at the moment.
I still believe that Gundy is ready to take a break from the stress, and to walk away as the most significant figure in Cowboy football history.
However, whether it’s a peaceful or acrimonious parting of the ways, and whether there’s a nasty fight over money — I don’t know what to expect.
Might Gundy do what Arkansas football legend Frank Broyles did 49 years ago?
On Nov. 7, 1976, and with four games remaining on the Razorback schedule, Broyles announced that he would retire from the Arkansas football job at season’s end. When Broyles made that announcement, Arkansas had only one loss: a 9-3 home loss to the University of Tulsa.
Broyles at that time was only 51 years old — seven years younger than Gundy today.
On Friday at Boone Pickens Stadium, Gundy’s 11½-point-favorite Cowboys were beaten 19-12 by Tulsa. No Golden Hurricane team had beaten OSU since 1998, and no Hurricane team had beaten OSU in Stillwater since 1951.
Not so long ago, Gundy had a successful, fun-to-watch program. In 15 seasons since 2008, Gundy teams were ranked in the top 15 of the AP poll.
Even his 2024 team — an 0-9 Big 12 team — was ranked 13th before everything unraveled.
A Saturday text message from a former pro football player: “OSU does not have one (NFL-caliber) player on the roster.”
Either during Gundy’s Monday news conference or sometime soon, does he announce a retirement plan?
With a 16-21 record and several blowout losses since midseason 2022, and now with this team that seems to be the worst of all Gundy teams, the Oklahoma State program is as broken as the OU program was at the end of its Howard Schnellenberger-John Blake period.
The easy reaction is to point the finger of blame at Gundy and Gundy only.
Did you notice that 17th-ranked, unbeaten Texas Tech hammered out a 34-10 road win over Utah on Saturday? Texas Tech’s donors, administrators and football coaches are aligned and have a plan.
On Oct. 25, OSU faces the Red Raiders in Lubbock.
Lord, have mercy.
It is said that many OSU donors aren’t willing to give again until the athletic department and football program are fixed, and it would seem impossible to successfully market 2026 Cowboy football unless there’s a complete rebuild and fresh leadership.
As I visited several pregame tailgate sites on Friday, I was introduced to Steve Reibert, a 1991 OSU graduate who owns a Tulsa company (Integrated Metals Inc.) and was wearing the best-looking Southern Hills golf shirt I’ve ever seen.
I asked Reibert for his opinion of the condition of Oklahoma State University and the Cowboy football program.
“I think coach Gundy has done a tremendous job in building up the university to where it’s at now,” Reibert replied. “I’m not as upset with the performance of coach Gundy as I am the performance of the entire university. They’ve made bad decision after bad decision.
“I was a club-seat (patron). I prefer the club seats to the suites because people in the club seats actually pay attention to the game. My wife and I founded the Pokes With a Purpose collective that supported football primarily, but also supported all other university-sponsored sports — male and female.”
“This is the part that may shock you,” Reibert continued. “I did not renew my football season tickets this year.”
Reibert explained that his ticket decision was symbolic — a statement that he disapproved of the February resignation of then-OSU President Kayse Shrum, and that he was appalled by OSU’s ticket-price increase after having been 0-9 in the Big 12.
I’m attempting to get OSU’s current total on 2025 season-ticket sales, and to determine whether the drop from last year was severe. The Friday announced attendance was 48,842. Actual attendance appeared to be around 42,000.
The Boone Pickens Stadium capacity is 52,202. Attendance figures may dwindle as the season progresses.
It’s unbelievable that OSU football is such an awful condition. And if there is a look ahead at who might coach the Cowboys after Gundy retires, who exactly would do the looking?
The athletic director doesn’t even have a contract.
Coaches who might be intrigued by OSU’s facilities, Gundy’s impressive salary numbers and the Cowboy program’s success probably would be bothered by what is said to be rampant university leadership dysfunction. What a mess.
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Bill Haisten
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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