Mike Gundy Said the Quiet Part Out Loud About the NIL Era

The Oklahoma State head coach is fully embracing the changing landscape in college athletics.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy is fully embracing everything that has come with the NIL era. / Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Oklahoma State Cowboys head football coach Mike Gundy has never been shy about expressing his opinion on the state of college athletics, and that has certainly continued in the NIL era.

With the House v. NCAA settlement now complete, college athletics is moving into the revenue sharing era, where schools can now pay athletes directly.

That should —at least momentarily—calm the NIL waters that were rife with roster tampering across the sport. The schools with the richest boosters have been funneling funds through NIL collectives to bring players into the fold.

Now, NIL deals have to go through a clearinghouse, and schools can pay players across their athletic department directly.

But Mike Gundy believes that things need to go one step further in order for there to be proper regulation in college athletics. Players need to be seen as employees.

"You've gotta restructure your systems and admit players are employees," Gundy told Andy & Ari. "Then you can build collective bargaining. We've all talked about it. But you have to admit they're employees. You can do it all. You can have a [salary cap] and you need an entry level for a high school player coming in because it's not sustainable."

“You’ve got to admit the players are employees. Then you can build collective bargaining. We’ve all talked about it. But you have to admit they’re employees.”

— Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, saying on the record what pretty much everyone is saying off the record. pic.twitter.com/AM1cMYpKOC

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) July 10, 2025

Gundy is right, and it certainly appears that things are continuing to head in the direction of student-athletes ultimately being treated like employees. But there's no clear indication of when this will formally take shape as reality.

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