Josh Pate reacts to Mike Gundy firing, outlines next step for long-time Oklahoma State coach

The news that Mike Gundy was out at Oklahoma State rocked the college football world on Tuesday. For more than 20 years he piloted that program, posting a strong overall winning percentage.

Things, of course, had gone south in recent years. And Gundy will not get the chance to right the ship.

“From ’06 to 2023, above .500 every year. Just an incredible run,” Josh Pate said on Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “And it ended poorly, as most tenures do. Very few of them end on your terms. But there’s a bunch of young adults around Stillwater who have never known an Oklahoma State coaching search.”

Where Oklahoma State will turn will be a fascinating topic of conversation over the coming weeks and months. The program has a lot going for it, but it needs to get more clear alignment from the administration to the coach.

That wasn’t there late in Mike Gundy’s tenure, and Pate explained part of what made the relationship crumble. He opened up:

“Here’s kind of the long and short of it. And maybe Mike Gundy will tell his story eventually, I don’t know,” Pate said. “I think he was already checked out this year. The word is that it was a complete disaster behind the scenes at Oklahoma State, and the word was they came to him and sort of strong-armed him into taking a paycut this past year.

“And the paycut, the money saved from the paycut was going to go into the NIL fund, and then he took the paycut and the money didn’t really go where he expected it to go. A lot of staffers got out of dodge when they could. And I think Mike Gundy was just kind of on autopilot this year. He acted like it, he carried himself like it from afar. And I don’t blame him. I don’t even blame him. Hate that there are players there who’s one experience in college football has to be burned during this.”

So how did things spiral so quickly on Mike Gundy? Well, there was some back-and-forth Tuesday in terms of the reporting on his exit.

“He was not afforded the opportunity to retire and finish the season, reportedly,” Pate said. “So there were some mixed reports out there earlier today they came to him and said, ‘Do you want to announce your retirement? We’ll let you finish the season.’ Apparently that wasn’t the case. These folks hated each other. I mean Mike Gundy wasn’t getting along with anyone in the administration there, that’s well known in Oklahoma State circles.”

So what’s next? Perhaps another coaching gig. Pate, though, would prefer a different outcome.

“Mike Gundy’s next move, according to those close to him, is he wants to get right back into coaching,” Pate said. “Football coaches are put on this earth to coach. I’ve got no problem. Coach till you’re 100 for all I care.

“But selfishly I hope he takes a few years off from coaching, because Mike Gundy unfiltered with a microphone in front of him would be about as entertaining as any pregame show could hope to produce to you, any kind of studio show could hope to offer you.”