Oklahoma State AD Chad Weiberg denies Mike Gundy claim that NIL funds are behind

Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg assured fans that the football program has enough support to thrive in the NIL era. That had been a topic often brought up by former coach Mike Gundy, who claimed prior to a 69-3 loss against Oregon that the disparity in NIL for the programs also contributed to the disparity on the field.

Gundy was fired Tuesday after a 1-2 start to this season and coming off of the program’s first home loss against Tulsa since 1951. Weiberg addressed the media following that decision and was given the opportunity to offer his thoughts on where the Cowboys stand as far as NIL funds.

“The game has changed and I think there are a few programs out there that are highly resourced, especially in the era that we’ve come out of,” he said. “As we move into the revenue sharing, I think that has the potential to change a little bit. We don’t need to get into all that now. What I am extremely comfortable with is we are resourced at the level we need to be resourced at. This is not an inexpensive football team that we have on the field this season.

“I feel really good about the investment we’ve made here. I feel great about the support that we have here. All you have to do is go back to the game on Friday and remind you that this was a Friday night football game, coming off a 3-9 football season and coming off the game before and we had a full house. We had 123 suites that are sold out. We’ve got 3,600 club seats. This place has support. There are people who are committed to winning here. Our donors are committed to winning here and giving us the resources that we need to win here. Our administration is supportive.”

Gundy took a $1 million pay cut this past offseason after finishing with a 3-9 record and failing to win a single Big 12 game in 2024. The product on the field was drastically different than any team in Gundy’s two decades as head coach, as he put up a winning record every year from 2006 to 2023.

Ironically, Gundy failed to live up to the standard he himself helped build during the last two seasons of his tenure at Oklahoma State. Now it’s Weiberg’s job to find a candidate that can help the Cowboys get back to enjoying that level of success.

The AD believes he won’t have any issue finding qualified candidates interested in doing so. In part, that’s because Oklahoma State has proven itself as a winning program before.

“We have won football games here and we can win football games here,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going to be talking to candidates about some kind of dream or something that’s never happened here before. I’m going to be talking about the standard that has been established here and we have the support for that. We need to continue to grow that support. This is a continued opportunity for the OSU family to come together and support this program.”