There’s always a story or two that seems to steal the headlines at Big 12 media days. This year, everyone seemed to be focused on the new schools coming and, of course, conference realignment, which seems to be the hot topic every year.
But if there was one coach to make a splash at media days (outside of Deion Sanders), it was Mike Gundy. I have spent countless hours listening to coach Gundy in previous years and you are pretty much guaranteed to get a couple of great quotes along with a few laughs along the way.
One thing I appreciate about Mike is his honesty. It’s rare that he sugarcoats things, and he isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Maybe it’s because he is the most successful coach in Oklahoma State history or the fact that he has spent nearly 30 years in Stillwater. Either way, it is refreshing because, most of the time, all you get is coachspeak at this kind of event.
This year, the big story for Oklahoma State was not about the team coming back this year or the fact that they are a serious contender for a Big 12 title. It was all about All-American running back and Big 12 Player of the Year, Ollie Gordon III. About a week before Big 12 media days, Ollie was arrested for driving under the influence.
Despite that, Oklahoma State still decided to bring Gordon to media days to answer questions. While some would argue not to bring him, I was in favor of it. If Oklahoma State had waited until fall camp to make him available to the media, then you already know what every question would be about. So, it was probably best to jump out in front of it and just get it over with in Las Vegas.
To his credit, Ollie was completely apologetic for his actions. He knew he had done wrong and owned up to his mistake. However, the headlines didn’t come from Ollie; they came from his head coach, Mike Gundy.
In an interview at Big 12 media days, Mike had this to say about Ollie’s arrest. “So I looked it up on my phone. What would be the legal limit? Like in Oklahoma, it is .08, and Ollie was .1, and it was, based on body weight, not to get into the legal side of it, and I thought, really, two or three beers, or four, I’m not justifying what Ollie did, I’m telling you what decision I made, and I thought, I’ve probably done that 1,000 times in my life. And it was just fine. I got lucky. People get lucky. Ollie made a decision he wished he could have done better. But when I talked to Ollie, I told him you got out light because you make a lot of money to play football.”
After hearing that, I certainly scratched my head a few times. I understand what Mike is trying to say, which is that we all make mistakes, but this was a very odd way to say that. Later that day, Mike tweeted about his comment.
Why would Mike Gundy say something like that? There is no other head coach in the Big 12 that would say something like that outside of maybe Deion. Well, I think I may finally understand why. Mike took a grenade for Ollie. He knew that that focus was going to be on his star running back and he brought the attention on himself to take some of the heat off of Ollie. Maybe I am overthinking this, but Mike Gundy certainly knows his way around the media. He is more than capable of playing chess instead of checkers.
Another thing people found shocking was that Ollie was not going to miss any time at all during the season. “He’s going to play,” Gundy said. “I’m going to do what we think is best for Oklahoma State football. And I think it’s best for Ollie to play. If there’s any punishment, it’s making him carry the ball 50 times in the first game.” Gundy also added that he told Gordon that things are different in college football than five years ago, with athletes “essentially employees” now.
I found that last line very interesting. Whether you agree with it or not, Mike is right. These football players aren’t truly amateur athletes anymore. This isn’t your grandfather’s college football. It’s 2024 and instead of boosters having to hide briefcases full of cash under the table, you now can basically do it in broad daylight. Hell, there are some people out there that even brag about how much they can pay players and even certain coaches use that as a recruiting tool.
When people write checks to pay the players, do you think they want to see star players suspended and sit on the sidelines? Absolutely not. They are paying for wins, and it’s much harder to win games when your best players are sitting out.
I am not saying that Ollie not missing time is right or wrong, I am just saying that this is the world we now live in. When money gets involved, things change. As the money increases, the level of amateurism is quickly vanishing. What you see with Ollie Gordon III is just the beginning of that. And if you aren’t comfortable with that then you better buckle up because it is going to happen more and more as time goes on. Welcome to the new age of college football and it’s just steps away from the NFL.
