Details on Mike Gundy's Recent Contract Reinstatement

STILLWATER – The details have been released on what really amounts to a reinstatement of Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy’s contract. Former Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder amended Gundy’s automatic rollover contract in the summer of 2020 after he said he did an investigation into Gundy and his running of the football program. Upon taking over as President of Oklahoma State University Dr. Kayse Shrum and new athletic director Chad Weiberg set out to undo the Holder amendment to the Gundy contract. They were able to get that done early in the football season and the response was all kinds of harmony that had not been seen between the top three officials on the Stillwater campus in some time.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Dr. Shrum and Gundy airborne heading to Big 12 Media Days this past summer.

The contract is now official and signed and has been released to various news sources that requested the details of the contract under the open records act. Among the news sources were The Oklahoman, The Tulsa World, and Associated Press.

The new contract actually took effect on July 1 and Gundy is going to receive $4.875-million for the year ending Dec. 31. That date on the contract bumped him up $500,000 from what he would have received otherwise. Subtracted from that amount is a $171,875 reduction agreed to help the department because of revenue shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gundy’s salary will increase by $125,000 each year he remains at the school on Jan. 1 of each year beginning with this Jan. 1 when he will coach the Cowboys in the Play Station Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. That increase will continue through the life of the contract making it a perpetual agreement with Gundy and the school.

In the previous contract, Oklahoma State would have owed Gundy just over $7.1 million if they fired him without cause. This new contract calls for a buyout if Gundy is fired without cause of close to $14.7-million. The buyout will go up again as the percentage would continue to go up with the increased length of the contract.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Mike Gundy early this past season which ended with Oklahoma State 11-2 and in the Fiesta Bowl. 

With the recent rash of coaching changes and schools locking in coaches around the college football landscape along with the success Gundy has had guiding the Oklahoma State program sources have told Pokes Report that Gundy may be in for a new deal in the not so distant future. The powers to be at Oklahoma State understand conference realignment and the fragile state of the college football hierarchy and showing the intent of being a highly successful football program depends a lot on perception and that includes salaries of head coaches and their coaching staff. Gundy is coming off an 11-2 season and is now 148-69 in his 17-years as Cowboys head coach.

Holder’s actions in the summer of 2020 had to do with Gundy’s running of the program and relationship with his players following star running back Chuba Hubbard’s protest of a picture taken on a fishing trip with Gundy and his sons at Lake Texoma. Gundy was wearing a t-shirt sent to him by a conservative cable news network that Hubbard found insensitive.

The head coach said he didn’t wear the shirt intentionally. It was sent to him and he was looking to wear a shirt he didn’t mind getting dirty with fish blood and everything else that comes with striper fishing at Lake Texoma. Gundy admitted in hindsight it was a mistake to wear that shirt.