Rece Davis on how Oklahoma State fans should view Mike Gundy: 'They shouldn't speak ill of Mike Gundy'

Mike Gundy didn’t see his tenure and his time at Oklahoma State end as anyone may have hoped. That said, with all he did accomplish in Stillwater, Rece Davis says the ‘Pokes owe him nothing but appreciation.

Davis has since discussed Gundy’s firing with Pete Thamel while on the ‘College GameDay Podcast’. That included a note of how he should be remembered after 21 years as head coach of the Cowboys.

“For Oklahoma State fans, I think the one thing? They shouldn’t speak ill of Mike Gundy,” Davis said.

Gundy has been a Cowboy for nearly four decades of his life, having played for them during the late 1980s and then coaching them in some capacity for three decades in total since 1990, over two of those decades as head coach since 2005. Since then, Gundy became the all-time winningest coach in program history at 170-90 (.654), with 18 straight winning seasons and became one of the all-time best coaches in the history of the Big 12. That’s all despite what happened in his final 15 games, with the ‘Pokes going 4-11 in leading to his firing this week.

Of everything on that resumé, though, Davis circled one thing for Gundy that should earn him gratitude forever from those inside Boone Pickens. That’s with him leading Oklahoma State to two wins in their final three games against Oklahoma in Bedlam, despite being 4-15 all-time against OU, with one ending the tenure of Lincoln Riley in Norman in 2021 and the other ending the series as we know it, following the Sooners’ realignment, in 2023.

“They should only praise Gundy, and his mullet and everything he did, because of this,” Davis began. “They call the rivalry with Oklahoma as Bedlam. Bedlam implies that it’s insane, you don’t know what’s going to happen – except, in this rivalry, you know exactly what’s going to happen. Oklahoma is going to win, because they always have. Oklahoma State’s record in the Bedlam rivalry? 20-91-7. Now, that is one thing on the field that Mike Gundy never quite got, because no one got beating Oklahoma consistently.

“But, when Oklahoma moved on to the SEC, when they left Oklahoma State behind as lesser than? Whether it was directly articulated that way, it was most certainly implied – you don’t get to come with us, we don’t care about you, we’re going with Texas. And, you know what? Oklahoma is right. They are a bigger brand than Oklahoma State. Doesn’t mean Oklahoma State wasn’t good, and it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t finish things by getting a little pound of flesh and Oklahoma State won two of the last three in the rivalry. And, on one of the more glorious night for Oklahoma State Football, Mike Gundy sent Lincoln Riley away, he sent Caleb Williams away, and he sent Oklahoma away with a big fast (loss) in the Bedlam rivalry. Oklahoma State fans should be grateful for everything, but they’ll always have that night.”

It may not have ended well, but Gundy leaves as the all-time best coach in Stillwater’s history. That, along with his late success against the Sooners, should be all he needs to eventually be remembered well by those at Oklahoma State.