Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy has never been shy in front of a microphone.
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has never been afraid to say what’s on his mind.
When you pit the two of those coaches against each other in a non-conference matchup, sparks are sure to fly.
That’s what happened on Monday, with Gundy kicking things off earlier in the day by repeatedly discussing the budget Oregon has and their willingness to spend on their roster. In several interviews, Gundy mentioned that the Ducks spent $40 million on their roster in 2024 and implied that they are doing something similar this season. At one point, he went so far as to suggest that “some coaches” in college football believe that teams like Oregon should schedule non-conference games against opponents with similar budgets.
Yes, the head coach of a team that just played UT Martin in Week 1 of the season is the one who made that statement.
Mike Gundy on radio: “Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team. From a nonconference standpoint there’s coaches saying they should” play teams with similar budgets.
— James Crepea (@JamesCrepea) September 1, 2025
On Monday night, it was Lanning’s turn to respond. When asked about the comments from Gundy and given a chance to say his piece, Lanning didn’t hold back.
“I got a ton of respect for Coach Gundy,” Lanning said. “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? Ultimately, he’s a great coach, and they’ve done an unbelievable job, but I want to be a team that’s competing at the highest level, and we’re really fortunate to be in that situation. So I can’t speak on their situation. I have no idea, you know, what they’ve got in their pockets over there. I’m sure UT Martin maybe didn’t have as much as them last week, and they played. So we’ll let it play out.”
That may be coach speak for “the gloves are coming off on Saturday.”
Right now, the Ducks are listed as 28.5-point favorites in a game with Oklahoma State will be starting a backup quarterback and could potentially be without one of their best defensive players in Wendell Gregory. Whether it is a close game or a blowout, it’s pretty clear that the excuses are already starting to be identified for Oklahoma State in case things get ugly.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dan Lanning responds to Mike Gundy’s comments on Oregon Ducks spending