Mike Gundy, often wrong, may have made the right call on Ollie Gordon
THE HOME OFFICE, Okla. — Mike Gundy has been on the wrong side of things in enough moments to entirely doubt his motivation to not suspend running back Ollie Gordon.
The Oklahoma State football coach addressed a smattering of state media prior to his Tuesday afternoon press conference at Big 12 Football Media Days in Las Vegas on Tuesday and broke the news.
Gordon, who is not yet 21 years old, but who’s already earned All-American honors and was just named the conference’s preseason offensive player of the year, was formally charged in Cleveland County on Monday on two misdemeanor counts: driving under the influence and transporting an open container of alcohol.
The event occurred on Interstate 35 in Moore, where Gordon was reportedly clocked going 82 miles per hour, 17 over the 65 limit, along with open bottles of both lemonade vodka and tequila early Sunday morning, June 30.
Gordon kept his silence until going on social media Monday, one day before facing the music in Vegas.
“I am committed to learning and growing from this mistake and I will work to earn back the trust of those who I have disappointed,” Gordon wrote.
Some apologies read like the subject’s only sorry to have been caught. Others read heartfelt. Gordon’s read like standard fare: good enough, provided he stays out of further trouble.
As for Gundy?
“Because of collectives, these guys that are playing college football are employees, whether you like it or not,” he said. “There’s large sums of money involved. That’s the way it’s gonna be going forward.”
It’s a terrible quote.
It’s a terrible quote because what it appears to say is too much money has been invested in collegiate athletes to perform, or perhaps even gambled upon collegiate athletes to perform, a coach just can’t take them off the field as long as both their health and the criminal justice system do not bar them from it.
On the other hand, what I confidently believe Gundy to have meant is the days of seeing such athletes as “kids” to be aggressively guided is over in an age of name, image and likeness — NIL — contracts and earnings that demand they be treated as adults who must spin the plates of their lives themselves.
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