Oklahoma State football has parted ways with football coach Mike Gundy after 21 seasons, the school announced on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Gundy, previously the second-longest tenured head coach with one program in the Bowl Subdivision, led the Cowboys to a 1-2 start this season, including a 19-12 loss to in-state foe Tulsa on Sept. 19, which was the school’s first at home to the Golden Hurricane since 1951. Oklahoma State also lost to Oregon 69-3 in Week 2.
‘Cowboy Football reached an unprecedented level of success and national prominence under Coach Gundy’s leadership,’ Oklahoma State athletics director Chad Weiberg said in the announcement. ‘I believe I speak for OSU fans everywhere when I say that we are grateful for all he did to raise the standard and show us all what is possible for Oklahoma State football.’
Oklahoma State has lost 11 consecutive games against Power Four opponents, its longest streak in program history. The Cowboys went 3-9 last season and were winless in Big 12 play. Gundy leaves the program with a 170-90 career record and has the school’s winningest coach of all time. He has 108 more wins than Pat Jones, who ranks second in program history with 62 wins.
Gundy said after the Tulsa loss that he had no interest in 2025 being his final season with the program, and was swarmed with questions about his future with the school.
“In 21 years it’s a different position than I’ve been in,” Gundy said. “As I say every week, my job is to evaluate the overall program, players, the systems … And then I have to make a decision on where we’re at based on what we have. That’s what I do. We’ve certainly been in a different situation a lot of years in a row, but currently we’re not in that situation.”
The 58-year-old coach helped build Oklahoma State into a perennial Big 12 title contender after taking over for Les Miles in 2005. He was Big 12 coach of the year in 2010, 2021 and 2023.
The fall from grace was fast for the program, as the Cowboys earned a spot in the Big 12 championship in 2023, and also beat archrival Oklahoma in the final Bedlam game before the Sooners left for the SEC after that season.
Gundy, a former Oklahoma State quarterback and Midwest City, Oklahoma, native, has only coached four seasons at other schools in his career, serving as passing-game coordinator at Baylor in 1996 and receivers coach at Maryland from 1997-99. He was an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1990-95, and again from 2001-04.