Mike Gundy introduces new staff and why December was 'the most difficult' of his career

When last season began, former Oklahoma State quarterbacks coach Tim Rattay was still one of the new kids on the block starting his fifth season in Stillwater.

Only two of Gundys position coaches were newer than him and five of them had spent a decade on Oklahoma States staff.

In 2025, only one assistant coach, Special Teams coach Sean Snyder, returned, and this is only his second season on the job.

This was the most difficult December in my career, Gundy said.

Because I dont like letting people go.

I dont like affecting peoples families, and kids and lifestyles.

I just dont like that.

But in my situation, tough decisions have to be made.

Gundy spoke with the media Thursday in his first appearance since Oklahoma State's season-finale loss to Colorado.

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Markwayne Mullin's question Gundy didnt just move on from virtually his entire coaching staff.

He also abandoned that institutional consistency that made Oklahoma State somewhat unique in a college landscape dominated by movement among both players and coaches.

When asked, Gundy said this level of turnover among his staff doesn't make him nervous about the season ahead.

If we hire a coordinator and we go out and start trying to find five other guys to come in with him, then we automatically dont have any continuity, Gundy said.

So coach (defensive coordinator Todd) Grantham had a number of guys he wanted to bring with him.

So that continuity that you guys are referring to kind of already was ready defensively.

All four position coaches on the defensive side worked with Grantham at some point in the past decade at least once if not multiple times.

Offensive coordinator Doug Meacham doesnt have the same relationships, although he has worked with or coached two of the six position coaches who will work under him.

Gundy said his priority was making a change at the coordinator level.

Once Grantham and Meacham were in place, Oklahoma States head coach deferred a lot to them when evaluating position coaches in-house and otherwise.

The coordinators wanted to hire people that understood their system and were comfortable with their language.

...

We have new systems on both sides of the ball and they speak that language, Gundy said.

They understand the terminology and it should reduce the amount of time it takes for the staff to get on the same page because I think the quicker they get on the same page, theyll be able to get the information to the players.

According to the Cowboys head coach, it wasnt hard to find coaches interested in the jobs Grantham and Meacham now have.

People were knocking the door down to come here, he said.

The most difficult thing for me was to weed through it.

...

We have NFL guys, very, very recognizable college guys, that wanted these jobs.

Once Meachams name leaked out, it made some degree of sense.

He played for the Cowboys in the 1980s and coached for them from 2005-12.

Meacham also coordinated offenses at TCU (twice), Kansas and Houston since leaving Stillwater.

He loves Oklahoma State, Gundy said.

I trust him.

I know his family.

And he has a great relationship with high school coaches in the state of Texas.

He has a very outgoing, magnetic personality that people like.

And that is also important for us in our ability to recruit.

Because were only as good as the players that are in our room.

Coaches are coaches, but good players are gonna help us become more successful coaches.

Gundy didnt know much about Grantham, including where he was coaching when his search began.

I visited with some pretty prominent coaches, Gundy said.

These guys have extensive background on the defensive side of the ball.

So I asked them in particular, who would you hire if you were looking to hire a defensive coordinator? I trust these guys, and particularly, one who said, If I was coaching, I would hire this guy to be my coordinator.

Its highly possible one of the men Gundy consulted with was Nick Saban.

The Oklahoma State head coach has spoken highly of the former Alabama coach in the past, and Granthams last college job was an analyst position at Alabama in 2022.

Prior to that, Grantham coordinated defenses at one of Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State or Louisville every season from 2010-21.

When Gundy brought Grantham in to meet for the first time, the defensive coordinator sold Gundy on his vision during a 4-plus hour interview.

He laid everything out in front of me, Gundy said.

Had a plan for this.

This is what I want to do, this is how Im gonna do it.

These are guys Id like to hire.

You want to vet them, whatever.

Im not saying its perfect, but this is what I want to do, and this is how I want to do it.

Just laid everything out.

Essentially, when I walked away from the interview, he convinced me.

What I needed was a head coach on defense.

And I was very upfront in communicating that to these guys, and then Todd, who youre asking about, and he convinced me that he could be the head coach on defense and I could let him do his job.

Which is what I want to do..

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