The Fellowship of Christian Athletes(FCA, www.fca.org) is honored to announce Oklahoma State University (OSU) head football coach Mike Gundy as the recipient of the 2021 Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award.
Named after Grant Teaff, former Baylor University coach, AFCA executive director and Trustee Emeritus of the FCA Board of Trustees, the Coach of the Year Award presented by FCA recognizes a football coach who exemplifies Christian principles and who is involved in FCA. The award is also based on the success and performance of the coach’s team that season.
“Fellowship of Christian Athletes has honored an outstanding coach who has impacted countless players over his successful career,” said FCA President and CEO Shane Williamson. “We congratulate Mike Gundy for not only his accomplishments but for the way he has touched the lives of countless players for God’s Kingdom.”
Previous winners include Tom Allen (2020), Blake Andersen (2019), Matt Campbell (2018), Scott Frost (2017), John Stiegelmeier (2016), Larry Fedora (2015), Dabo Swinney (2014), Tommy Bowden, Tommy Tuberville and Jerry Kill.
Gundy has spent more than half of his life either quarterbacking or coaching at Oklahoma State and is the head coach presiding over the era of greatest sustained success in the history of the program. Gundy first arrived on the Oklahoma State campus in 1986 after a heavily decorated prep career. He was a four-year starter at OSU from 1986-89 and led the Oklahoma State Cowboys to a pair of bowl wins—the 1987 Sun Bowl over West Virginia and the 1988 Holiday Bowl over Wyoming. More than 20 years after his playing career, his name is still featured throughout the OSU record books.
Since his first year as head coach in 2005, the Cowboys have made 15 bowl appearances in 16 years, only missing one his first year.
Oklahoma State is one of only seven teams to post a winning season every year from 2010-20, and one of only three teams with winning seasons each of the past 15 years, averaging around 9.2 wins per year since 2010.
Gundy’s athletes often tend to carry his legacy with them. 27 Gundy-era Cowboys have been drafted into the NFL, with six chosen in the first round.
OSU has also excelled in the classroom during Gundy’s tenure as head coach. In 2018, Oklahoma State was one of only five FBS programs to earn the AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award. Cowboys football posted a perfect score of 1,000 on the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) that same year.
Gundy and his wife Kristen have three children, Gavin, Gunnar and Gage.
FCA’s theme for 2022 is Every, based on Ephesians 1:3: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” FCA reminds Christian coaches and athletes that they already have everything they need in Christ and encourages them to seek Him both on and off the field.
After extensive growth, FCA has reached millions of people with the Gospel. View a timeline of FCA’s 68-year history here, including videos, quotes, articles, leader profiles, Camp themes, photos and more.
Read more about Fellowship of Christian Athletes here, visit FCA’s website at www.fca.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheFCATeam or its Twitter feed https://twitter.com/TheFCATeam.