Pete Thamel labels Big 12 coach as the next to be fired in college football

As ESPN's Rece Davis and Pete Thamel discussed the fallout of UCLA and Virginia Tech firing their coaches early into the 2025 season, Thamel named one longtime legend that could be next in line behind Brent Pry and Deshaun Foster at the exit door.

"The next person in the crosshairs is Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State," Thamel stated. "10 new coaches, whole new roster, it’s just sort of sputtering to an end at Oklahoma State."

As he'll explain, Gundy is a strange choice for Thamel, since he believes Oklahoma State has an extraordinarily tricky tightrope to walk if they do want to ouster Gundy during or following the current season.

"It’s super awkward because there is likely to be an athletic director change," Thamel added. "I say that because their athletic director is basically working on like a month-to-month contract. That’s Chad Wyberg, who’s been there a handful of seasons. He has had some health issues, so I don’t want to be too terse about his job status, but he’s basically operating a month-to-month deal."

Like John Travolta sang out in Face/Off... "whooo weeee, what a predicament!" If Oklahoma State wants to make a change at the top of their football program, they'll have to force out the greatest coach in school history and hand him $15 million (the listed buyout) all while the athletic director is recovering from some health issues and may leave soon as well. That's a tough spot to be in, administratively. Plus, per Thamel, OSU's NIL setup isn't state of the art under Gundy, either.

"This is a place that has been so defined by Mike Gundy, it’s going to be really difficult to insert an entire new identity," he explained. "They were late to NIL. They got behind. Now, look, they played the Big 12 title game two seasons ago, but from that point, it’s been a spiral and it looks as if it’s irrecoverable at this point."

You could say, given the circumstances, now is a tough time to fire Mike Gundy, and you don't usually want to fire a legend in the first place, if avoidable. But if not now, how long does Oklahoma State wait as their football program continues to sputter?

According to Pete Thamel, the patience may not last much longer.

Read more on College Football HQ