Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy posted an apology on social media late Tuesday night for comments he made during his Monday press conference about Oklahoma State fans being critical of the way the season has unfolded.
“I apologize to those who offended my comments during Monday’s media call,” the longtime Oklahoma State coach said. “It was not my intention to offend our fans who have supported us and this program over the years.”
Oklahoma State is 3-6 and 0-6 in the Big 12 a season after reaching the Big 12 championship game. After starting the season with three straight non-conference wins, the Cowboys are on a downward spiral. Four of the six losses were by double digits.
The team’s performance amid their losing streak was a prominent theme at Monday’s press conference. And after being asked about fan criticism earlier in the availability, the topic came up again. Gundy said that “most people are weak” when things don’t go well and those people find someone to point the finger at.
He continued from there.
“This place has had tremendous success for 18.5 years, or 19 years, I can’t really do the math right,” Gundy said. “And so, 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.
“And that’s what happens in college athletics and all that [a reporter who asked a question earlier in the news conference] 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 when they finally go to bed at night, they’re the same failure they were before they said something negative about someone else.”
The former Oklahoma State quarterback has been the Cowboys’ head coach since 2005 and the team’s 18-year bowl streak will be snapped if Oklahoma State does not win all of its final three games of the season.
That seems like a very difficult task. Oklahoma State plays at TCU on Saturday before playing games against Texas Tech and No. 20 Colorado to close out the season. If Oklahoma State loses at least one more game, it will be the first time the school doesn’t win at least seven games in a season since the Cowboys went 4-7 in Gundy’s first season.
Two major reasons for the team’s struggles are the lack of a run game and a porous defense. Ollie Gordon was a 2023 All-American with 1,732 yards and finished seventh in the Heisman voting. This season he has 146 carries for 593 yards and the team is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. The defense, meanwhile, is allowing 6.9 yards per play and the 31.2 points per game OSU is allowing ranks 109th out of 134 teams at the top level of college football.
