Mike Gundy contract details, salary, buyout information

Mike Gundy contract details and buyout information for the Oklahoma State football coach.

Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy is the winningest coach in program history but put himself at the center of controversy.

Heisman candidate running back Chuba Hubbard and later linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga threatened to boycott playing for him after he was photographed wearing an OAN t-shirt while fishing at Lake Texoma over the weekend.

Both Oklahoma State University president Burns Hargis and Oklahoma State Athletic Director Mike Holder have expressed their concerns.

“I hear and respect the concerns expressed by our Black student-athletes,” tweeted Hargis on Monday afternoon. “This is a time for unity of purpose to confront racial inequities and injustice. We will not tolerate insensitive behavior by anyone at Oklahoma State.”

Stadium’s college football insider and Oklahoma State alum Brett McMurphy relayed Holder’s message: “This afternoon has been very disturbing. The tweets from the current & former players are of grave concern.”

Hours after Hubbard’s tweet, he sent another with a video of he and Gundy pledging to work together to bring about change. Gundy said he met with some players about the sensitive issues and made him aware of how he can be better. Then, Hubbard apologized for the way he went about voicing his displeasure with Gundy’s shirt and the message it sent.

There were a few hours where Gundy’s buyout and his future at Oklahoma State were the trending topics on college football Twitter. He won’t be fired for this, but it raised questions about his job security and his buyout should either party want to move on in the future.

Mike Gundy buyout information, salary, contract details

According to USA Today, Gundy has the 13th-highest salary of any college football coach in the country at $5.125 million for the 2019 NCAA season. His buyout was at $16,632,813 last season. Gundy initially signed a five-year contract with Oklahoma State back in 2017 that had him earn $4.2 million for that season with a $125,000 escalator for each subsequent year of that deal.

The contract initially had a rollover component, which made it an on-going five-year deal in perpetuity. With incentives, he could have made up to $5.1 million in salary back in 2017. If Oklahoma State were to terminate him, Gundy would be paid 75 percent of the contract annually for each remaining year. If he were to resign, he’d have to pay $3 million in “liquidated damages.”

His buyout would “be reduced by $1 million if the contract is not automatically extended, but will increase back to $3 million if the term is later extended back to five years.” There is also a “conduct unbecoming of the university” clause, which would only pay him $500,000 annually for each remaining deal on the contract.

With Gundy getting an extension in 2019 that runs through the 2023 NCAA season, here is what a buyout could look like for him if he’s terminated by the university or feels like he has to resign from his post.

As of December 2019, $16,632,813 was the buyout. With the $125,000 annual escalator, Gundy would make $5.25 million in 2020, $5.375 million in 2021, $5.5 million in 2022 and $5.625 million in 2023. That adds up to $21.75 million over the next four years with the annual $125,000 baked in.

If Oklahoma State terminates Gundy, that would cost the university $16.3125 million as the buyout at 75 percent of what he’s slated to make. If Gundy resigns, he would have to pay between $2 and $3 million annually for the next four years, totaling somewhere in the vicinity of $8 to $12 million, depending on “if the contract is not automatically extended.”

Should Oklahoma State terminate Gundy with the “conduct unbecoming of the university” clause, the university would only be out $2 million, as it would be $500,000 annually for the four years remaining years on his Oklahoma State contract.

It’s a lot of math, but those are your three scenarios here and how much they’d cost each party.

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