Oklahoma State Mike Gundy Clarifies Oregon NIL Comments After Dan Lanning’s Response

The drama continues leading up to the No. 6 nationally ranked Oregon Ducks’ upcoming home game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys as Cowboys’ coach Mike Gundy clarified his comments about the Ducks on Thursday.

Gundy, who previously discussed the Ducks’ NIL spending and his thoughts on playing teams with wide arrays of booster funding, stated he was being “complimentary” to the Oregon program on SiriusXM College Sports Radio.

“A little bit of that was was taken out of context,” Gundy said. “The truth of the matter is, I was being very complimentary of Oregon and their commitment. The other things that had been said that day were that they made a huge commitment to facilities, as we know. They’ve made a huge commitment to their staff, they’ve made a huge commitment to their surrounding staff and then, they’ve made a huge NIL commitment.”

During his original remarks, Gundy declared that the Ducks were spending $40 million annually on their football team, compared to the Cowboys’ $7 million annual NIL budget, and that teams should potentially play against opponents based on spending. Oregon coach Dan Lanning responded to Gundy’s comments during his weekly pregame press conference.

“I got a ton of respect for coach Gundy. You know, ultimately, how blessed are we to be in a place that’s invested in winning? If you want to be a top 10 team in college football, you’d better be invested in winning. And we spend to win. Some people save to have an excuse for why they don’t, right?” Lanning said.

In this recent radio appearance, Gundy agreed with Lanning’s statements, while also hitting on a touchpoint of “donor fatigue,” as Gundy claims the Cowboys are doing “everything they can” to raise NIL money to compete with programs possessing deeper pockets.

“Continuing to ask for more money is extremely difficult,” Gundy said. “But the truth of the matter is this – and what Dan said is exactly right. Everything he said is true in the fact that it’s a different time and it’s a tremendous strain on universities and donors.”

“And it’s not easy. It’s difficult. Can you imagine being an athletic director and trying to spread out $21 million that you didn’t have last year and make it equal to the other sports, and then also pump enough money in football so those teams can stay alive and have some success?” Gundy added.

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Though Gundy’s recent comments seem to put a bow on this pregame feud, online discourse surrounding Gundy and Lanning’s statements make for some interesting ammunition going into game two for the Ducks.

Below are some responses we’ve collected addressing Gundy and Lanning’s comments: