Following a historically bad season in 2024 at Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy is under a lot of pressure to succeed this fall.
He was recently listed alongside LSU’s Brian Kelly, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell, and Auburn’s Hugh Freeze by 247Sports as coaches with the most to prove in 2025.
“Winless in the Big 12? Oklahoma State hit rock bottom last fall under Mike Gundy, the league’s longest-tenured coach,” 247Sports’ Brad Crawford wrote. “Despite returning most of the impact players from the previous year’s team that finished as Big 12 runner-up, the Cowboys offered little continuity on either side of the football, which led to nine losses and the first losing season for the Cowboys since Gundy’s first campaign two decades ago. Gundy’s contract was amended, and he re-built his coaching staff in the hopes of making 2024 a distant memory sooner rather than later.”
Heading into 2024, the Cowboys were ranked as a Preseason Top 25 team by every major media outlet and were picked to finish third in the Big 12 Preseason Media Poll. The team returned the bulk of their roster from 2023, a season that ended in a loss to Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.
No one could have predicted what would happen next.
Oklahoma State dropped every single game in conference play, finishing the year at 3-9 overall and 0-9 in Big 12 play. The group suffered injuries to some major pieces and saw a steady decline in play from Alan Bowman and Ollie Gordon.
Will 2025 be different?
Mike Gundy believes so, addressing the elephant in the room at a recent press conference, reaffirming his commitment to correcting Oklahoma State’s path forward.
“We knew we were going to be in a rebuilding stage, numbers-wise, based on the players we had this year,” Gundy said. “And so I think that the fans will be really excited about Oklahoma State football. My energy level, my commitment to Oklahoma State, to Oklahoma State football, is stronger every year.”
