Mike Gundy was fired by Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Sept. 23, marking an unceremonious end to one of the longest and most improbably successful coaching tenures in college football this century.

Over 21 seasons at his alma mater, Gundy went 170-90. A Cowboys program that had been to only four bowl games in the 16 seasons before he was hired went to bowls 18 seasons in a row under Gundy’s watch, from 2006-23. Of the 11 teams in Oklahoma State history that have won at least 10 games in a season, eight of those were Gundy’s, including a 2011 squad that won a program-record 12 games and narrowly (and controversially) missed out on a spot in the BCS national championship game.

The state of the program has soured in recent years, though, particularly as the effects of NIL deals and the transfer portal have profoundly shaped the sport and made things more challenging for more under-resourced programs in the major conferences.

Since the start of the 2024 season, the Cowboys are 4-11, including a 1-2 mark this season. Gundy’s dismissal came just four days after his team lost at home to Tulsa, snapping a streak of 23 consecutive losses for the Golden Hurricane in Stillwater.

For all he achieved on the sideline, though, Gundy’s still remembered by many primarily for something that occurred away from the field nearly 20 years ago. It was on that day that every college football fan across the country learned that, yes, Mike Gundy is a man and, in case you didn’t already know, he was 40 years old.

Here’s a look back at Gundy’s famous rant:

Mike Gundy ‘I’m a man, I’m 40’ rant, revisited

In 2007, Gundy was a relative upstart in the college football world, a fresh-faced former Oklahoma State quarterback who was in his third season as the Cowboys’ head coach after being promoted into the role following Les Miles’ departure to LSU after the 2004 season.

If people weren’t all that familiar with Gundy, they certainly were by that 2007 season.

After a thrilling 49-45 victory against Mike Leach and Texas Tech on Sept. 22, 2007, Gundy walked into his post-game news conference. Instead of immediately discussing the victory, the coach had something he wanted to get off his chest.

In the days leading up to the game against the Red Raiders, Jenni Carlson, a writer for The Oklahoman, wrote a column explaining why the Cowboys had benched quarterback Bobby Reid in favor of Zac Robinson. In the piece, she reported that Reid had previously considered transferring from the program, detailed how he often handled poorly nerves heading into games, and questioned his attitude and toughness.

“Reid is the most talented quarterback in Payne County, but he hasn't proven that he's the toughest,” Carlson wrote. “If you listen to the rumblings and the rumors, Cowboy coaches simply grew weary of it. Who knows? There might come a day when they grow tired of something Robinson does, but for now, they appear willing to sacrifice a bit of talent for a lot of grit.”

Gundy viewed the piece not as a glimpse into why a change was made at the sport’s highest-profile position, but a personal attack on one of his players. From that, a legendary, three-minute, 20-second rant was born.

Gundy held up a physical copy of The Oklahoman’s sports section including Carlson’s column. He took aim at the column’s accuracy, saying “three fourths of this is inaccurate, it’s fiction.” Without mentioning Carlson by name, he said the story “had to have been written by a person that doesn't have a child” before defending Reid.

“Here's all that kid did: He goes to class, he's respectful to the media, he's respectful to the public, and he's a good kid,” Gundy said. “And he's not a professional athlete, and he doesn't deserve to be kicked when he's down. If you have a child someday, you'll understand how it feels. But you obviously don't have a child.”

That critique of writing negatively about amateur athletes continued, leading into the monologue’s most famous excerpt.

“Attacking an amateur athlete for doing everything right. And then you want to write articles about guys that don't do things right and downgrade them — the ones who do make plays. Are you kidding me?” Gundy said. “Where are we at in society today? Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I'm not a kid. Write something about me, or our coaches.

"Don't write about a kid that does everything right that's heart's broken, and then said that the coaches said he was scared. That ain't true!”

Robinson went on to have a stellar career for the Cowboys, throwing for 8,317 yards, 66 touchdowns and 31 interceptions in his time in Stillwater while leading Oklahoma State to 9-4 marks in the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

In April 2008, about seven months after Gundy’s comments, Reid told ESPN that the rant "basically ended my life."

Carlson wrote in a 2017 column, on the 10-year anniversary of the rant, that she and Gundy had moved on and had a "solid working rapport." She also touched on Gundy's comments about someone not understanding a young person's pain until they had children of their own.

"Parents don't have a monopoly on empathy, of course, but it's one of the many traits that we can teach our children by word and by deed," she wrote. "Like that unexpected driveway conversation about newspapers, I suspect my daughter will one day ask about The Rant. Clips of it sure don't seem to be going away, after all.

"Even though it might not be easy explaining The Rant and its aftermath, I hope my daughter will be able to learn that she can be tenacious, that she can persevere, that she can keep her head up while not letting her standards be dragged down. I know I have."

Mike Gundy age

Nearly two decades have passed since Gundy loudly proclaimed he was 40. Gundy is 58 years old, which leaves open the possibility he could return to college football either as a head coach or a high-level assistant.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Gundy rant: Oklahoma State coach's 'I'm a man, I'm 40' tirade, revisited

Reporting by Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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