Oklahoma State Fires Football Coach Mike Gundy Following Loss to Tulsa
STILLWATER, OK – Oklahoma State University has reportedly fired head football coach Mike Gundy, effective immediately, after a 34-27 loss to Tulsa dropped the Cowboys to a 1-2 record on the season. The move ends a 20-year tenure for Gundy, the most prosperous coach in program history and, until recently, the second-longest tenured coach in college football behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
The firing comes after a disastrous 2024 season where OSU finished 3-9, losing every conference game and suffering multiple-possession defeats in all but three of those losses. While Gundy built a consistent winner for much of his career, things began to unravel after a 10-4 season and Big 12 title game appearance in 2023.
Gundy took over for Les Miles after Miles departed for LSU following the 2004 season. His frist year resulted in a 4-7 record, but his teams later avoided a losing season until 2024. During his tenure, the Cowboys reached double-digit wins eight times and came within a missed field goal of playing for a national championship.
In 2011, OSU went 12-1, averaging 49 points per game led by quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon. That season saw a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Iowa State, where a 37-yard field goal attempt by Quinn Sharp sailed wide, ultimately costing the Cowboys a potential national title run. The loss dropped Oklahoma State to No. 4 in the BCS rankings, where they remained behind LSU and Alabama.
Gundy returned for the 2025 season with a restructured contract and new coordinators Doug Meacham and Todd Grantham,following a season-ending 52-0 loss at Colorado. That loss occurred weeks after Gundy was forced to apologize for controversial remarks made about fans criticizing his struggling program.
Prior to this season, Gundy operated under what was essentially a lifetime contract. His previous rolling five-year contract included a buyout based on a percentage of his future salary. The new deal, signed after the 2024 season, reduced his salary to $6.75 million in 2025 and was a four-year agreement through 2028 with a $15 million buyout.
Gundy leaves Oklahoma State with a career record of 170-90. No other OSU coach has more than 62 career wins, and only Pappy Waldorf, who coached from 1929-1933, boasts a better winning percentage.
He is the third coach to be fired within the first four weeks of the 2025 season, signaling a possibly active coaching carousel in college football. UCLA’s DeShaun Foster and virginia Tech’s Brent Pry were also dismissed after their teams started the season 0-3.
