Hot Seat Watch: 10 college football coaches feeling the heat in 2019

4. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State

After three straight 10-win seasons, the Cowboys went 7-6 last year with plenty of ups (wins over Boise State, Texas, West Virginia and Missouri, a narrow loss to Oklahoma) and downs (losses to Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor and TCU). Breaking in a new quarterback and replacing a lot of other talent offers an explanation for that inconsistency, but Gundy will surely have to foster some sort of rebound next season.

Oklahoma State also went 7-6 in 2014, before starting that streak of 10-win seasons. Gundy and noted booster T. Boone Pickens have long had a rocky relationship, which has at times made the head coach a candidate to jump ship for another job despite his deep ties to the school going back to his days as a Cowboys’ quarterback. Things have seemingly cooled between the two recently, but just last summer Pickens (however casually) laid national title expectations at Gundy’s feet via a statement on his website.

"I’m in this to win a national championship,” he wrote. “Turning 90 as I did last May only fuels that fire. Time for me is winding down, but I remain an optimist that Mike Gundy can and will deliver on a national championship. The sooner the better. At 90, I don’t buy green bananas."

It’s probably not playoff or bust (or even Big 12 title or bust) for Gundy and Oklahoma State next season, and there’s still some chance he’ll decide to leave on his own at some point. But another down campaign stands to bring speculation on his status, with the deep pockets of Pickens to pay whatever buyout would be required on the five-year, $22.5 million extension (with automatic annual rollovers Oklahoma State controls and an increase in what Gundy would owe the school if he left on his own) the two sides agreed to in June of 2017.

Firing Gundy would come with the follow-up question of who Oklahoma State would get to replace him, which there’s no easy answer to given his status as the winningest and longest-tenured coach in school history (121-59 over 14 seasons). But stranger things have happened, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the tension with Pickens ramp up again at some point during next season.