While a 3-4 start might not be the state Oklahoma State fans had hoped for ahead of the season, it’s the cards Mike Gundy was delt in 2024.
With a struggling team comes questions about the transfer portal and player retention, which Mike Gundy responded to on Wednesday in his typical, unique fashion.
“Player retention is based on money,” Gundy said. “I’ll give you an example. If you’re playing on our team and we go 3-9 and right now you’re making $12,000, and we say, ‘Hey, if you come back, we’ll pay you $250,000.’ What are you gonna do? Player retention is probably 90 percent built on money now. Not other things. It’s changed.”
After advancing to the start of Big 12 Conference play with a perfect 3-0 record, the Cowboys season took a turn for the worse. Gundy’s squad dropped four straight games to conference opponents of Utah, No. 16 Kansas State, West Virginia, and No. 11 BYU.
Largely in part due to the regression of key players like Ollie Gordon, Brennan Presley, and Alan Bowman, paired with an underwhelming offensive line, Oklahoma State football has been a brutal product to watch in 2024.
While Mike Gundy is no stranger to openly discussing the role of NIL money in present-day college athletics, Oklahoma State’s NIL Collective is going to have an uphill battle to retain starters after this season.
Still, Mike Gundy has the opportunity to pull things together and rally to a bowl game. With five games remaining, the Cowboys would need to go 3-2 down the stretch to make it happen.
Oklahoma State heads to Waco in Week 9 on Saturday, October 26th, at 2:30 p.m. CT.
