Oklahoma State University’s head football coach, Mike Gundy, told ESPN that he was a “dumb*ss” for wearing a One America News (OAN) t-shirt during a fishing trip with his sons. In the same interview, star running back Chuba Hubbard discussed how he and his coach had moved forward after he sent an angry tweet of a picture of Gundy in the T-shirt earlier this week.
“I didn’t know some of the stances they had taken. I didn’t know that. But then you look at it, and say ‘okay, I was a dumb*ss.’ I put the shirt on not knowing enough about the shirt. I understood exactly why the players got frustrated.”
The coach went on to explain that after he became aware of OAN’s stances on things like Black Lives Matter, he confirmed it for himself with some research. Then, Gundy, who doesn’t pull any punches, reiterated that he believed he made a “dumb*ss” move wearing the T-shirt. The coach took full responsibility.
“That was my fault. The way the players feel about me and I upset them and broke their hearts, that bothered me more than losing games,” he said.
There was a lesson to be learned from the whole thing, though, as Gundy pointed out. He noted that human beings make mistakes and that the best way to deal with them is to admit to it and be humble enough to make things better and move forward.
Change is coming I promise you that. pic.twitter.com/wTGHtByh3N
— Chuba Hubbard (@Hubbard_RMN) June 15, 2020
As for Hubbard, he said he wanted to stand up for what is right, and the player relayed that he and Gundy talked for two hours. During their long conversation, the Heisman finalist realized that sometimes behaviors are driven by a lack of education about the seriousness of what goes on for black people in America. His ultimate goal is to do his best to make OSU a better place for all student-athletes.
— Mike Gundy (@CoachGundy) June 16, 2020
After the dustup on Twitter earlier this week when Hubbard called out his coach, the university released a video that featured both Gundy and Hubbard standing in front of a wall with the words “Cowboy Culture” written on it. In the clip, the player said that he should have taken his concerns straight to his coach instead of using social media to make the point. Both men also said that change would come for the program. Notably, in that video, Gundy did not explicitly apologize. However, later the coach released his own video apologizing for his choice to wear a shirt supporting OAN.