NORMAN, Okla. ― The wail on an airhorn despatched Sooners gamers scattering throughout the apply fields.
Once all the pieces settled Monday morning, crimson-clad receivers had gathered in a far, empty nook of the apply fields. They lined up for drills and seemed to their place coach ― and for the primary time in a really very long time, it wasn’t Cale Gundy.
Not because the 1998 Sooners had been getting ready for his or her season finale in opposition to Texas Tech has Oklahoma held a football apply with out Gundy being a part of this system.
The longtime Sooner assistant abruptly and shockingly resigned late Sunday night. After 23 consecutive seasons on the Oklahoma teaching workers, Gundy introduced by way of Twitter he was leaving his job instantly as a result of he mentioned a phrase he referred to as “shameful and hurtful” throughout a movie session with gamers.
“I noticed a player was distracted and picked up his iPad and read aloud the words that were written on his screen,” Gundy defined in his assertion. “One particular word that I should never ― under any circumstance ― have uttered was displayed on that screen.
“In the moment, I did not even realize what I was reading, and as soon as I did, I was horrified.”
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Gundy provided an in-depth rationalization of why he was resigning, however we had been nonetheless left with questions.
How did this finish with Gundy resigning?
Why did it go this fashion?
In a world that now questions just about all the pieces, a number of us questioned whether or not there was extra to the story. Did one thing else occur? Were there different transgressions? Those of us within the media world have lengthy been within the behavior of questioning all the pieces, so we’ll hold poking round. We’ll finally get to ask questions of Oklahoma coaches and gamers, too; none had been made obtainable for interviews after Monday’s apply.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say what Gundy wrote was everything of the scenario. A participant in a movie session wasn’t paying consideration, Gundy turned enraged about it, and when he began studying what was on the display screen as a method to make an instance of the participant, Gundy ended up utilizing a phrase he shouldn’t have used.
We don’t know what the phrase was.
But Monday afternoon when Sooner coach Brent Venables launched a second assertion concerning Gundy’s resignation, we discovered it was “a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone.” Venables additionally mentioned in his assertion Gundy mentioned the phrase “not once but multiple times.”
Still, how did Gundy go from studying a racial slur off a participant’s iPad to resigning?
First of all, his departure wasn’t a knee-jerk response. The incident occurred final week, per Gundy’s assertion. That means at the least a few days handed earlier than he resigned, and there’s each purpose to imagine a number of inside discussions had been had throughout that point.
Players with gamers.
Players with coaches.
Coaches with coaches.
Gundy little doubt had an opportunity to listen to from a number of folks with a number of views. In the tip, he determined it did not matter that he’d been offended. Or that he’d learn another person’s phrases. Or that he by no means supposed to say such a factor.
“The unfortunate reality is that someone in my position can cause harm without ever meaning to do so,” Gundy wrote. “In that circumstance, a man of character accepts accountability. I take responsibility for my mistake. I apologize.”
But in fact, he did greater than that.
He resigned.
Why make that leap?
Gundy and others throughout the program would possibly ask a special query: how might he not?
Ever since Venables took over Oklahoma football, he has been insistent on doing issues the appropriate approach. He preaches character. He emphasizes particulars. He even launched S.O.U.L. Mission, a complete program targeted on the holistic growth of gamers past football.
In the staff’s foremost assembly room, Venables went as far as to have one in all his core beliefs plastered throughout the wall.
“Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. Right is right, even if nobody is doing it.”
After the spring sport, Venables mentioned, “I’m just trying to tell that to our guys in a very practical way ― just do what’s right.
“If we’re going to be a championship program, that matters to keep the insidious behavior out of our locker room and our program.”
That is the usual.
“Everything matters in this program, both internally and externally,” Venables mentioned earlier this yr.
Players comprehend it. Coaches comprehend it.
Cale Gundy knew it.
When confronted final week with the choice about what to do, he needed to be conscious of the expectations which have been established. He needed to be fascinated by how he would lead gamers who had been anticipated to do proper after he had carried out mistaken. He needed to acknowledge nobody was above the principles.
That’s why he did the subsequent proper factor and resigned.
“I recognize this is a critical moment for Oklahoma football,” Gundy wrote. “This team ― its coaches, players, administration and fans ― do not deserve to be distracted by off-the-field matters while working to continue the tradition of excellence that makes me so proud to be a Sooner.
“I won’t do the program I love the disservice of distracting from this mission.”
This choice couldn’t have been straightforward, not for Gundy, not for Venables, not for any Sooner. But in case your program is constructed on doing issues the appropriate approach on a regular basis, there’s little wiggle room. That normal doesn’t get thrown out when the scenario includes an assistant. It doesn’t stop to exist in a behind-closed-doors movie session.
“Coach Gundy did the right thing in resigning,” Venables mentioned in his assertion Monday. “He knows our goals for excellence and that coaches have special responsibilities to set an example.”
Cale Gundy understood that. Resigning, then, wasn’t a leap. It was a mandatory subsequent step.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link