Coming into the season, many thought that the Oklahoma State Cowboys may vie for a College Football Playoff spot as the No. 18 ranked team in the AP Preseason Top 25 rankings. However, things have not gone to plan, which has led to some unwelcome criticism toward both the program and head coach Mike Gundy.
After a 3-0 start to the season, the Cowboys have lost six straight games, all of which have come in Big 12 play. And it seems like this disastrous stretch in the season had led to some frustration from Gundy.
On Monday during his weekly Zoom press conference, Gundy took his frustration out on critics of the Oklahoma State program, throwing some low blows by likening those critical of the program to “failures” who can’t “pay their own bills” and “take care of their own family.”
“I have to have a better feel for the broad picture of the organization in general,” said Gundy in a video shared by TJ Eckert, the sports director at TKUL News in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Kind of a synopsis of all of this is that this place has had tremendous success for 18 and a half years or 19. I can’t do the math good. But unfortunately in life, most people are weak, and as soon as things start to not go as good as they thought, they fall apart and panic. And then they want to point the finger and blame other people.
“You see it happen in life every day. People do it every time. That’s why I refuse to watch the TV and watch the news, because I get tired of people complaining and b******* about this and that versus just doing something about it and trying to figure out a way to make it better. Well, that’s what happens in college athletics. And as Jenni said, she’s exactly right. It’s just on a bigger stage where people can voice their opinion.
“And in most cases, the people that are negative and voicing their opinion are the same ones who can’t pay their own bills. They’re not taking care of themselves. They’re not taking care of their own family. They’re not taking care of their own job. But they have an obligation to speak out and complain about others because it makes them feel better. But then, in the end, when they go to bed at night, they’re the same failure that they were before they said anything negative about anybody else.”
“In most cases, the people who are negative and voicing their opinions are the same ones that can’t pay their own bills. They’re not taking care of themselves, they’re not taking care of their own family.”
Mike Gundy goes on a rant about negativity around the program #OKState pic.twitter.com/GS6iy56RhY
— TJ Eckert (@TJEckertKTUL) November 4, 2024
Gundy is of course no stranger to speaking out against critics of the Oklahoma State football program. Of course, the most notable instance of this came in 2007 when Gundy went on his infamous “I’m a man” rant in defense of his former quarterback Bobby Reid after a negative newspaper column towards Reid emerged.
It’s one thing to not be happy about your team being criticized after having a pretty lengthy track record of success as the head coach of the Cowboys. But to throw personal jabs towards those critics and mention how they treat their families is certainly a choice…
Given how the season has gone for the Oklahoma State program, it seems more than fair for people to ask questions about what has gone wrong in Stillwater. But clearly, Gundy couldn’t disagree more.
