Mike Gundy on navigating player entitlement in NIL era: 'The money aspect has to go to the side'

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is still adjusting to the way things are in college football with NIL. For the majority of the 21 years that he has been the coach at his alma mater, it hasn’t been something he had to worry about.

Through the first three seasons after NIL was introduced in 2021, Gundy and the Cowboys still found success. They finished runner up in the Big 12 twice and compiled a 29-12 overall record. But the team fell flat of expectations last year to go 3-9, its worst finish ever under Gundy.

That has led to a lot of questions entering the 2025 season and forced the coach to change his roster management strategy. During his press conference at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, Gundy opened up on how he deals with players and assistant coaches being increasingly motivated by money.

“I’m trying to figure out how to combat entitlement from the world in general, much less college athletes,” he said. “That’s a real challenge. I shared earlier with the group that one thing I’ve said to the team twice this summer and to the coaches (is that) when we start this summer, two things have to go out the window. One, thinking of transferring or taking other jobs as a coach or a player. Two, the money aspect has to go to the side.

“Because for the most part, the coaches and the players, including me, are gonna be at this location until at least December. The teams that can put that to the side and the coaches that can put that to the side, concentrate on coaching and playing football and find a way to come together, in my opinion, get the best chance to win. That’s the only way that I think we can handle the monetary side of college football at this time.”

After last year’s disappointing results, Gundy and Oklahoma State restructured his contract with the coach seeing a $1 million salary reduction. The money saved will reportedly go toward player revenue sharing from the school.

The Cowboys also attacked the transfer portal more heavily than they have in any offseason during Gundy’s tenure, bringing in a class of 39 players. Part of that had to do with the fact that OSU also saw a large group of players move on from the program, but a lot of it also signaled a change in philosophy for the coach.

For someone who has been at it as long as Mike Gundy has, the NIL has taken some getting used to. But he’s come to the realization that the formula for winning is a lot different than it used to be, and has even found some enjoyment in creating a new process.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be the head coach for now going on 21 years,” he said. “We had 19 winning seasons in a row and played a really high level of college football. And for the majority of those years, we could have beat any given team in the country on any given day at any time. We had to go through a little bit of a rebuilding phase this year, one because we needed to upgrade in certain areas, but the other because we lost a large number of veteran players last year. We were gonna have to rebuild anyway. We were prepared for that.

“But I will say that the changes with the way we go about rebuilding, whether it’s financially or roster management have been challenging but also intriguing because it’s something new. It’s different than it’s ever been before in my 21 years as a head coach.”