STILLWATER – Mike Gundy went on another state-of-the-world tangent Monday.

In the midst of a six-game losing streak, Gundy, the Oklahoma State coach, was asked if his time as an assistant coach helped him deal with the ups and downs of a season. It’s a solid question because as a head coach, Gundy hasn’t had to deal with issues of this magnitude due to the Cowboys’ successes under him. But somewhere in the middle of answering that question, Gundy referred back to a question about the nature of his work, which is different from more traditional work because thousands of people are watching the product he puts on the field, which Gundy then turns to went. say this:

“In most cases, the people who are negative and express their opinions are the same people who can’t pay their own bills,” Gundy said. “They don’t take care of themselves. They don’t take care of their own families. They don’t take care of their own work. But they have a duty to speak out and complain about others because it makes them feel better. But in the end, when they go to bed at night, they are the same failure they were before they said something negative about someone else.”

According to USA Today, Gundy will earn $7.75 million by 2024. That makes him, again according to USA Today, the highest-paid coach in the Big 12 and the 17th-highest paid coach in the country.

As part of the quote that was more than 800 words long, Gundy also said that he refuses to watch the news because he is tired of people “complaining and whining” about something instead of trying to find a way to make it better to make.

There were 52,202 fans in the stadium, according to OSU’s box score, for the Cowboys’ 42-21 home loss to Arizona State on Saturday, leaving the Cowboys at 0-6 in conference play. That crowd thinned dramatically at intermission, but some stayed to watch the Cowboys get outscored 21-7 in the second half. Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo had more all-purpose yards (274) than the Cowboys had total offense (270). Near the end of the tangent, Gundy had a message for OSU fans.

“But I think it’s important for all Oklahoma State fans to know that we’re very aware of what’s going on, and we all have to put our trust in someone at some point in life,” Gundy said. “And I think they need to trust that we have a good plan for what’s happening here in the big picture, and that we have answers. Sometimes they are not short-lived. Sometimes they are long-term answers.”

To ensure as little context is lost as possible, here is Gundy’s full quote and a tweet with the audio of that quote:

“I coached for 11 years before we ever won more than five games. I don’t know if that helped because being a head coach is very different from being an assistant coach. It’s not even on the same level. In my opinion, as an assistant coach you are responsible for your players. You are responsible for your recruitment area. As a head coach I deal with 215 people, so it’s very different.

“That is why, in my opinion, I need to get a better feel for a broad picture of the organization in general. The summary of all this is that this place has had huge success for 18.5 or 19 years – I can’t really do the math. But unfortunately, most people in life are weak, and as soon as things don’t go as well as they thought, they fall apart and panic. And then they want to point fingers and blame other people. You see it happen in everyday life. People do it all the time. That’s why I refuse to watch TV and watch the news because I’m tired of people complaining and whining about this and that instead of just doing something about it and trying to find a way to make it better.

“Well, that’s what happens in college athletics. And like Jenni said – she’s absolutely right – it’s just on the bigger stage where people can express their opinions. And in most cases, the people who are negative and express their opinions are the same people who can’t pay their own bills. They don’t take care of themselves. They don’t take care of their own families. They don’t take care of their own work. But they have a duty to speak out and complain about others because it makes them feel better. But in the end, when they go to bed at night, they are the same failure they were before they said something negative about someone else.

“But what we’re trying to do here, as I’ve said to the team all the time, is that the most important thing you can do in life is make sure you maximize your chances of being the best person and as successful as possible in whatever transaction you choose. Sometimes we may fall short, which in most cases, as I said before, 50% of people do on Saturday. And I tell them, ‘Look, that doesn’t make you a failure, okay? What makes you a failure is that if you have a bad attitude about it, you’re not going to try to improve yourself, and if you shut it down. Then as far as I’m concerned you’re a failure.’ That’s debatable. That’s just my opinion, and that’s how we hold ourselves accountable in this organization.

“For example, you guys have been following Oklahoma State football for a long time. There have been times when we played against teams with eight to ten players. It was not our intention to be on the field with them. We might have lost 37-35 at the end of the game. So you ask yourself, “Does that make us a failure?” In my opinion not. So there’s just a big picture.

“But I think it’s important for all Oklahoma State fans to know that we’re very aware of what’s going on, and we all have to put our trust in someone at some point in life. And I think they need to trust that we have a good plan for what’s happening here in the big picture, and that we have answers. Sometimes they are not short-lived. Sometimes they are longer-term answers. And secondly, at the end of the day, the best thing people can do, as I tell our players, is participate 100% and buy in. You have to be on someone’s team. You can’t go through life alone.

“And those are long answers and a broad picture of how we hold ourselves accountable. And so I’ll go into a meeting at 1:30 and have a similar conversation with the team, but it’ll only last about two minutes, because they’ve heard this to me a thousand times throughout their career, and they understand it. And so what tells them is that we as a staff, me as head coach, have worked over the last two days and put a lot of time and effort into giving you a plan. Now we ask you to join us and execute this plan, and then come play on Saturday and let it go, have some fun and compete. And that’s the message I want to give them, and what I’m looking for is guys who are willing to do that. That’s called being a team. That’s called being part of an organization, and for us it really is that simple.”

Mike Gundy held his weekly press conference via Zoom today due to the weather. He was asked how his time as an assistant coach prepared him to deal with the ups and downs of being a head coach. #OKState pic.twitter.com/kHG1QhcKL8

— Scott Pfeil (@scottpfeil) November 4, 2024