He’s known for his dance moves.

And the most publicized 40th birthday in college football history.

But Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy’s knack for winning games has yet to go viral. In fact, even at No. 4 in the debut BCS Standings—the highest ranking in Pokes history—he continues to battle a reputation for choking away the contests that count the most.

Gundy has to be the least-appreciated coach in college football.

Since 2008, Oklahoma State is 35-10. That’s a school record in a three-year span and ranks ninth in the FBS in wins during that time frame.

Ninth!

Even more impressive? During Gundy’s seven-year head coaching tenure at his alma mater, he’s juggled three different offensive coordinators and three different defensive coordinators.

Recent assistants like Dana Holgorsen, Larry Fedora and Tim Beckman have gone on to lead programs of their own, and while they’re only loosely considered from the “Gundy Coaching Tree,” they happen to have a combined record of 14-5 at the midway point of this season (15-4 if the missed extra point had been called correctly).

Yet there isn’t a single power ranking anywhere—including on this site—that lists Mike Gundy as a top-10 coach. I’d suspect most would leave him out of the top 25 at first blush, as well.

In some ways, that omission is justified. After all, Gundy’s been at it for more than six years and has yet to get over the hump in the Big 12. Before Saturday’s win in Austin, he owned a combined record of 1-11 against conference powers Texas and Oklahoma.

However, with that second consecutive triumph over the Longhorns—“sloppy” though it may have been—the Pokes joined LSU as the only teams with two road wins over ranked teams this season.

No wonder the emotionless, history-blind computers value Gundy’s program so highly. 

But to captivate the breathing, pulse-driven segment of our sport, shouldn’t the Cowboys have to earn some hardware to back up his winning percentage? Of course.

To be considered among the upper-echelon of his profession, doesn’t Gundy need to get the Bob Stoops monkey off his back? Absolutely.

Yet, it’s a shame that particular losing streak and a YouTube rant are all he’s known for outside of Stillwater.

Now about those dance moves…

 

Gundy’s reputation is one of several topics discussed in “8 Things We Think We Know About College Football Going Into Week 8,” J.B.’s weekly video series on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JB_Long.