Mike Gundy is ready for some football.
The longtime Oklahoma State coach told reporters last week “it’s been hard to really focus on football” while having to deal with some of the newer realities of the game at the collegiate level, including the transfer portal and, apparently, agents calling on behalf of individual players looking for big bucks.
But all of that is in the rearview mirror as the Cowboys prepare for their season opener against South Dakota State on Aug. 31 in Stillwater, Okla.
“It’s what I told the players, there’s no negotiating now,” Gundy said. “Portal’s over. All the negotiations [are] history. Now we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football.”
Gundy was a star quarterback at Oklahoma State in the late 1980s and is entering his 20th season as the head coach at his alma mater. The college football landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, as NCAA rules have been relaxed regarding player transfers and earnings through their names, images and likenesses.
With practices well underway, Gundy said, players have been informed that any such talk needs to be put on hold for the next several months.
“The business side of what we do now is, we have to have those conversations with them,” Gundy said. “‘Tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money. It’s non-negotiable now, you know — start again in December.’
“So now we’re able to direct ourselves just at football, and that part is fun. ‘Cause there’s been so much other stuff going on, it’s been hard to really focus on football.”
Gundy also might be glad to put this offseason behind him for another reason. Earlier this summer, Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II was arrested in Cleveland County, Okla., and was charged with driving under the influence by a person under 21 and transporting an open container of an alcoholic beverage.
In an attempt to explain why he gave the star player the opportunity to take part in Big 12 media day a week after his arrest, Gundy told ESPNU said of driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit, “I’ve probably done that a thousand times in my life, and, you know, was just fine. So, I got lucky.”
The same day, Gundy clarified his comments on X. “My intended point today at Big 12 media days was that we are all guilty of making bad decisions,” Gundy wrote. “It was not a reference to something specific.”