Gerl: Mike Gundy's unique run at OSU can't be overlooked

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Chad Weiberg, in its simplest form, nailed it on the head.

The Oklahoma State athletic director couldn’t have said it better.

“We all have high expectations for OSU football because of Mike Gundy,” Weiberg said. “... Thanks to (Gundy), we know winning the Big 12 Championship, going to the College Football Playoff and competing for championships are realistic (at OSU).”

That was hours after news broke Tuesday that Weiberg and OSU fired Gundy, a massive shake-up to the school’s athletic department.

And although a new era of Cowboy football is underway, Gundy’s can’t be overlooked or replaced. The quirky, sometimes polarizing, mulleted man led his alma mater to unparalleled success and drastically raised the barometer for OSU football. Simply put, Gundy is Cowboy football.

In his 21 seasons, Gundy became the winningest coach in school history with a 170-90 record. He also led OSU to 10 AP Top 25 finishes — something the Cowboys only did three times in the 20 years before he took over.

Gundy also became one of 10 coaches in college football history to record 18 consecutive winning seasons, a mark he set from 2006-23 to join the likes of Bear Bryant, Frank Beamer, Tom Osborne and others.

And since 2009, Gundy’s OSU teams reached five New Year’s Six Bowl games. The Cowboys also won the 2011 Big 12 Championship and played for the conference title in 2021 and 2023.

The list goes on and on. Gundy did what nobody else could at OSU: make it nationally relevant for several years.

Anyone else who would have won in Stillwater to the degree that Gundy did would have probably left for the Tennessee job (one Gundy reportedly flirted with), the LSU job, or a similar job.

Les Miles, Gundy’s predecessor, darted for LSU once he built a winning track record in Stillwater. Jimmy Johnson left for Miami.

But Gundy couldn’t quit on OSU. Outside of brief stints on Baylor and Maryland’s staff as an assistant coach, OSU is all he knew, dating back to his days as a star Cowboy quarterback, too.

“Legendary coach,” Doug Meacham, OSU’s interim head coach, said of Gundy.

All of the greats eventually lose their fastball, though.

In this modern era of college football, Gundy was slow to embrace name, image, and likeness and player empowerment, and was more comfortable with the old-school ways. The sport has changed tremendously, and it was probably time for a reset.

OSU has lost its last 11 games against FBS opponents and entered this past Friday’s game against Tulsa having not scored a touchdown against an FBS defense since Nov. 23.

There were questionable antics, and there were times when Gundy’s mouth got him in trouble. There were highs and there were lows.

Nonetheless, Gundy was one of the top coaches of his generation and built an ultra-successful program with mostly overlooked players. He’s the most important figure in program history and set a new standard for football in Stillwater.

There will likely be a mulleted statue outside OSU’s stadium in the near future, and it might just be called “Mike Gundy Field at Boone Pickens Stadium” one day.

Gundy more than earned that.