Oklahoma State Cowboys football The Oklahoma State Cowboys football program represents Oklahoma State University – Stillwater in college football . The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level . The Cowboys are led by Mike Gundy , who is in his seventh year as head coach . Oklahoma State plays their home games at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater , Oklahoma . Facilities . Oklahoma state plays in Boone Pickens Stadium on Lewis Field in Stillwater , Oklahoma . Lewis Field was built in 1913 but had no permanent seating until 1920 . At that time the field was repositioned from north - south to an east - west configuration to avoid the strong prevailing winds of northern Oklahoma . To this day Boone Pickens Stadium is one of a very few major college football stadiums with an east - west configuration . The first addition came in 1924 with the concrete and steel portion of the stadium and by 1930 the capacity had risen to 13 , 000 . By 1947 with addition of rows on the south side the capacity grew to over 30 , 000 . In 1971 with a donation of over 2 . 5 million from T . Boone Pickens the stadium again was expanded and at that time held 50 , 440 . Starting in 2003 Boone Pickens donated over 200 million dollars to the university to renovate the stadium yet again . History . The Oklahoma A & M Aggies ( also referred to as the Tigers ) joined their first conference for the start of the 1915 season , the Southwest Conference . In 1925 , the Oklahoma A & M program joined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association . In 1928 , the MVIAA split into the Big Six Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference . A & M was the only large school that joined the smaller MVC . In 1956 , A & M announced it was joining ( or rejoining , depending on one ' s view ) what had become the Big Seven for the 1958 – 59 academic year . As part of a transition period , the Cowboys went independent for two years . On May 15 , 1957 , Oklahoma A & M changed its name to Oklahoma State University . They officially became a part of the renamed Big Eight Conference in 1958 . In 1996 , OSU joined with the other Big Eight schools and four schools from the old Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference . The current head coach is Mike Gundy ( 37 – 27 and 2 – 2 in bowl appearances ) . During Gundy ' s playing career , the Cowboys enjoyed their greatest success , including two of the only three 10 - win seasons in school history . Also during this era , in 1988 , in what has been called the greatest season in college football history , Barry Sanders led the nation by averaging 7 . 6 yards per carry and over 200 yards per game , including rushing for over 300 yards in four games . He set college football season records with 2 , 628 yards rushing , 3 , 249 total yards , 234 points , 39 touchdowns , of which 37 were rushing ( also a record ) , five consecutive 200 yard games , scored at least two touchdowns in eleven consecutive games , and 9 times he scored at least three touchdowns . Sanders won the Heisman Trophy as the season ' s best player . This success came at a price , however . Only days after the end of the school ' s second straight 10 - win season , OSU and the NCAA released the results of an unusual joint investigation . The report detailed a staggering litany of misconduct dating to before the Johnson era , principally involvement in a " bidding war " for high school phenom Hart Lee Dykes . The Cowboys were slapped with four years ' probation , a three - year bowl ban and a two - year ban from live television . However , the most serious long - term sanction was a limit of 20 scholarships from 1989 to 1992 . As a result of the sanctions , the Cowboys only had one winning season from 1989 to 2001 . The OSU football program is in the process of establishing itself as a major college football contender , participating in 18 bowl games overall and five in the last six years . There have been 32 All - Americans to play for the Cowboys , with many coming from ranks of running backs . The Cowboys have won nine conference championships and the team has had one Heisman Trophy winner and two members go onto the NFL Hall of Fame . Les Miles era ( 2001 – 2004 ) . In 2001 , the Oklahoma State job became vacant when Bob Simmons resigned and a search produced Les Miles and Mike Gundy as the finalists . Miles was hired as head coach and Gundy was brought aboard as offensive coordinator . In his first year , Miles would achieve a 4 – 7 record . In the regular season finale , his underdog Cowboys would defeat the reigning National Champion Oklahoma Sooners in Norman 16 – 13 . In 2002 , Miles would post a 7 – 5 regular season record . The Cowboys would again defeat the Oklahoma Sooners . The team would go on to three straight bowl games in Miles ' s last three years as head coach and when Miles left in 2004 to take the LSU job . Mike Gundy era ( 2005 – present ) . Mike Gundy was named immediately as Miles ' successor and the 22nd head coach at Oklahoma State . His first season saw the expulsion of eleven players from the team and the Cowboys struggled to a 4 – 7 record winning only one Big 12 conference game . In his second season , the Cowboy offense began to click and the Cowboys would finish 7 – 6 including a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Independence Bowl . In 2007 , the Cowboys again posted a 6 – 6 regular season record and a bowl win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the Insight Bowl . After their second straight bowl appearance , Gundy was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2013 season . After posting a 9 – 3 regular season record in 2008 , Coach Gundy received a new seven - year contract worth $ 15 . 7 million . The contract , which extends through the 2015 season , was taken into effect on January 1 , 2009 . Gundy ' s tenure as head coach of the Cowboys has seen the rise and expansion of not only his football program , but the football facilities as well . The Cowboys began the 2009 season ranked # 9 in the country in the AP Top 25 , but the dreams of a miracle season were crushed when the Pokes lost 45 - 35 to the unranked Houston Cougars at home the following week , and later finding out that star wide receiver Dez Bryant was ruled ineligible for the remainder of the season , for lying to the NCAA about having contact with 8 - time pro bowler Deion Sanders , which wasn ' t an NCAA violation in the first place . The following year , Oklahoma State hired Offensive Coordinator Dana Holgorsen from the University of Houston . In 2010 coach Gundy recorded the first ever 11 - win season in Oklahoma State history . What was supposed to be a rebuilding year turned into the best in school history . Under Gundy there have been a series of NFL quality wide receivers to come through Boone Pickens Stadium . These include Adarius Bowman , Dez Bryant , and Justin Blackmon . On December 3 , 2011 , the Cowboys won their first Big - 12 Championship in school history with a 44 - 10 victory over rival Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series . The nationally third - ranked Cowboys eventually went on to win the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl by beating fourth - ranked Stanford in overtime , 41 - 38 , on January 2 , 2012 . Logos and uniforms . The Cowboys had four main uniform combinations that they wore throughout the football season for the past few seasons . For the 2011 football season , it was revealed that Nike had created new uniforms for the Cowboys . They now have three different helmet options in either gray , black , or white . Their jerseys and pants consists of black , orange , grey and white , with a different combination being able to be worn every week of the season . The Cowboys debuted their new gray uniforms for the first game of the season . 2011 Season . Many combinations of the all new Nike uniforms have been worn this season . Kicking things off against Louisiana the Cowboys showed up in white - grey - white . While hosting Arizona we saw white - black - black , only to see white - white - black at Tulsa . At Texas A & M they donned grey - white - grey ; against Kansas , black - black - orange ; at Texas , black - white - black ; and against Missouri , white - white - white . In years past , homecoming signaled an all orange occasion , but this season the Cowboys faced Baylor in grey - orange - grey . They concluded their regular season finale with an inspiring black - orange - black combination . Rivalries . Oklahoma . The first Bedlam game was held at Island Park in Guthrie , Oklahoma . It was a cold , and very windy day with the temperatures well below the freezing mark . At one moment in the game when the Oklahoma A & M Aggies were punting , the wind carried the ball backwards behind the kicker . If the Oklahoma A & M squad recovered the ball it would be a touchback and if the University of Oklahoma squad recovered it , it would be a touchdown . The ball kept going backwards and rolled down a hill into the half - frozen creek . Since a touchdown was at stake , members of both teams dove into the icy waters to recover the ball . A member of the OU team came out with the ball and downed it for a touchdown , eventually winning the game 75 – 0 . [ 2 ] Thus was the beginning of Bedlam . Author Steve Budin , whose father was a New York bookie , has recently publicized the claim that the 1954 " Bedlam " game against rival OU was fixed by mobsters in his book " Bets , Drugs , and Rock & Roll " ( ISBN 1 - 60239 - 099 - 1 ) . Allegedly , the mobsters threatened and paid off a cook to slip laxatives into a soup eaten by many OU Sooner starting players , causing them to fall violently ill in the days leading up to the game . OU was victorious in the end , but their 14 – 0 win did not cover the 20 - point spread they had in their favor . However , many people involved in the 1954 contest do not recall any incident like the one purported by Budin to have occurred . The University of Oklahoma leads the Bedlam Series in football 82 – 17 – 7 . Tulsa . All time series , Oklahoma State leading 40 – 27 - 5 , winning the most recent match up in 2011 , 59 - 33 . Since 1990 Tulsa is 3 - 9 versus Oklahoma State with the Cowboys scoring at least 36 points in each of the last four contests . The Cowboys have a twenty game home winning streak against Tulsa . The last time Tulsa won in Stillwater was 1951 . 523 – 522 – 40 TOTAL