Mike Gundy

Mike Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. Gundy became Oklahoma State's coach on January 3, 2005. In 2007 he received national media attention for his heated criticism of a newspaper article on one of his players.

Playing career
At Midwest City High School, Gundy played quarterback, and was voted Oklahoma Player of the Year in 1986. Gundy was heavily recruited by the Oklahoma Sooners but in the end signed with the Oklahoma State University Cowboys. He became the starting quarterback midway through his freshman year. Gundy would become the all-time leading passer in Oklahoma State and Big 8 Conference history. In four seasons Gundy threw 49 touchdowns and 7,997 yards, including 2,106 yards in 1987 and 2,163 in 1988. He led the Cowboys to bowl wins in the 1987 Sun Bowl and 1988 Holiday Bowl aided by two Hall of Fame running backs, Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders. He also led OSU to two 10-win seasons.

Mike Gundy held the record for most consecutive passes attempted without an interception at the start of a career by a freshman in Division 1 history with 138, until Baylor freshman Robert Griffin III broke it in 2008. Coincidentally, Baylor was playing against Gundy's Oklahoma State team when Griffin surpassed the mark. After the game, Gundy was able to personally congratulate Griffin on the accomplishment.

Early positions
When Gundy graduated, he joined Pat Jones's staff as an assistant coach. He was wide receiver coach in 1990, quarterback coach from 1991–1993 and offensive coordinator from 1994–1995.

Gundy was quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator for Baylor during the 1996 season. He was on staff with Larry Fedora at Baylor and would rekindle that relationship when he became head coach at Oklahoma State, bringing Fedora on as his offensive coordinator. After the season, he moved again, this time to Maryland where he was wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator from 1997–2000 for the Terps.

Oklahoma State
In 2001, the Oklahoma State University head football coach job became vacant when Bob Simmons resigned and a search produced Les Miles and Mike Gundy as the finalists. Miles was hired as head coach and Gundy was brought aboard as offensive coordinator. The team would go on to three straight bowl games in Miles's last three years as head coach and when Miles left in 2004 to take the LSU job, Gundy was named immediately as Miles successor and the 22nd head coach at Oklahoma State.

His first season saw the expulsion of eleven players from the team and the Cowboys struggled to a 4–7 record winning only one Big 12 conference game.

In his second season, the Cowboy offense began to click and the Cowboys would finish 7–6 including a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Independence Bowl.

In 2007, the Cowboys again posted a 6–6 regular season record and a bowl win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the Insight Bowl. After their second straight bowl appearance, Gundy was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2013 season.

2007 media controversy
On September 22, 2007, Gundy made comments that became the subject of a nationwide media controversy and generated a viral video. Following his team's victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Gundy criticized an article that was critical of one of his players including the now famous line "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm forty!"

Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman wrote the original article discussing Bobby Reid, the former starting quarterback, and reasons why he might have been demoted to second-string. The OSU coaching staff publicly supported Reid earlier in the year, but later demoted him with no public explanation to the media. The Oklahoman sports editor, Mike Sherman, also stood by the story. Mike Griffith, president of the Football Writers Association of America, called Gundy's behavior "completely inappropriate." CBS Sportsline's Dennis Dodd went further saying, "Mike Gundy needs to be reprimanded, definitely suspended, probably fined and maybe fired." OSU athletic director Mike Holder stood behind Gundy, saying that "nothing is more important to us than our student-athletes."

2008 season
In 2008, Gundy led the Oklahoma State Cowboys to their best season in 20 years. They were ranked in the top 15 for most of the season. The season ended with an appearance in the Holiday Bowl, where they lost to Oregon. Gundy was rewarded with a new seven-year contract worth $15.7 million. The contract, which extends through the 2015 season, went into effect on January 1, 2009.

2009 season
Gundy led the 2009 Cowboys to another solid season. Going into the annual Bedlam game against rival Oklahoma, the Cowboys were 9–2 and poised to secure their first-ever BCS bowl bid and notch only the fourth 10-win season in school history. However, the Cowboys were beaten by Oklahoma 27–0, and went on to lose the Cotton Bowl to Ole Miss.

2010 season
The 2010 Cowboys rolled through the regular season, finishing with a share of the last Big 12 South title (the Big 12 dropped the divisional format after the 2010 season). Along the way, they set numerous records for points scored, as well as total and individual yardage.

With a 48–14 victory over Kansas on November 20, Oklahoma State won 10 regular-season games for the first time ever. It was also only the fourth 10-win season in the school's 111-year football history.

A loss to Oklahoma in the final regular season game kept the Cowboys out of the Big 12 Championship Game. They did, however, rout Arizona in the Alamo Bowl for their school-record 11th win.

2011 season
The Cowboys entered 2011 with their highest expectations since the 1980s. They opened the season ninth in both major polls. Gundy's Cowboys didn't disappoint, starting the season 10–0, the best start in school history. Gundy has had a hand in four of Oklahoma State's five 10-win seasons (two as quarterback, two as head coach). With a 52–45 win over Kansas State, the Cowboys rose to second in the AP Poll and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, the highest national rankings in school history. On November 18, Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State in double overtime 37–31, all but dashing their national title hopes, but remained in the BCS hunt with a series of upsets in the following weeks, along with a convincing 44–10 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners on December 3, snapping an eight-game losing streak in the Bedlam rivalry. It was also Gundy's first win over Oklahoma as a player or a coach at Oklahoma State; he'd gone 0–4 while the Cowboys' quarterback.

On December 4, it was announced that Oklahoma State had earned a spot in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl, being barely eclipsed out of the BCS National Championship game by second-place Alabama by the smallest margin between #2 and #3 in BCS history. Many AP voters hinted that if the Cowboys were to beat Stanford as they did the Sooners, and Alabama upset SEC West rival LSU in the BCS Championship Game, the Cowboys could earn a split title with an AP Poll #1 ranking (this is opposed to the USA Today & Harris Coaches polls which are contractually bound to vote the winner of the BCS title game #1).

The #3 Cowboys beat the #4 Stanford Cardinal 41–38 in the Fiesta Bowl, marking Oklahoma State's first BCS bowl win, and first outright Big 12 Conference title in the same season, though it was not enough to convince voters to give OSU a split title.

Personal
Gundy and his wife, Kristen, have three children, Gavin, Gunnar and Gage. His brother, Cale Gundy, was a starting quarterback at Oklahoma in the 1990s and is currently OU's running backs coach.

Coaching tree
Many current NCAA Head Coaches and Assistants trace their career back to Gundy's coaching tree. Included among those are North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen and University of Illinois head coach Tim Beckman. Fedora and Holgorsen served as offensive coordinators under Gundy, while Beckman was his defensive coordinator. Gundy, in turn, can trace his career back to the coaching tree of College Football Hall of Fame members Johnny Majors and Woody Hayes through Miles.