Mike Gundy says he plans to coach 10+ more years: 'I'm in heaven'

In case you can't tell, Mike Gundy is feeling good these days. In fact, you could say he doesn't feel a day over 40.

In reality, Gundy, 55, probably feels better today than he did at 40. The Oklahoma State head coach said Thursday he sees himself coaching at least another decade. 

"I feel better now than I have in years and years. I'm thinking way down the line. I thought at one time at 65 I'd be checking in and I don't see that happening now, if I feel good," he said.

The best quarterback in Oklahoma State history until a number of his players surpassed his on-field exploits, Gundy has been a Cowboy all but five years of his adult life. After a year at Baylor and four at Maryland, he returned to Stillwater in 2001 as Les Miles's assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. Miles and Gundy inherited a 3-8 team and, bit by bit, Gundy has built the program into one of the most consistent winners in college football.

The Cowboys haven't had a losing season since Gundy's 2005 head coaching debut, and they've won 10 games or more seven times since 2010. 

That winning Gundy said, came when Oklahoma State invested in retaining its staff by becoming one of the first programs in the country to offer multi-year contracts to assistant coaches. Offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn has been with the program since 2011; Cowboy backs coach Jason McEndoo since 2015. On defense, coordinator Derek Mason is new but the rest of the staff is not. Strength coach Rob Glass has been with Gundy for the entirety of his tenure. 

Gundy said eight people with director title report to him, and all have been in Stillwater for a long time. He's never been one to grind for the sake of grinding, and he'll be an empty nester after the youngest of his three sons, Gage, graduates from Stillwater High School next spring. The healthy salary doesn't hurt, either.

"We have a big staff now," he said. "I don't really do anything anymore. Honestly, I don't. Gage, my 17-year-old, he comes in at my desk and he sees me thinking and he says, 'You don't do anything. What do you do? You just sit there.' And I said, 'Well, believe it or not, they pay me to think. And so I'm thinking.'

"I could not have a staff meeting for a week and the thing would flow like normal. It wasn't that way for 10 years."

Gundy spent years doing and building, which contributed to the high-strung version of himself going off on that mega-viral rant referenced above. Today, Gundy has eased into a true CEO role. 

"I'm worried about way down the line," he said. We're all tugging one direction now to try to build this to where, at some point, somebody's going to take it over and it's going to be a hell of a job. That's my goal right now."

The questions arose as Gundy sits on the brink of a milestone: win No. 150. It just so happens that win No. 150 will likely come against the team that improperly denied him of getting to win No. 150 with January's Fiesta Bowl victory over Notre Dame to close a 12-2 2021 season. 

Next Thursday, the 12th-ranked Cowboys face none other than Central Michigan (7 p.m. ET, FS1).

Gundy is happier, healthier, more mellow than he's ever been. But he's not quite over that one.