Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy is under the weather for his controversial statement in defense of starting running back Ollie Gordon during the Big 12 media days.
Gordon was arrested on June 30 in Tulsa on suspicion of DUI. Gundy claimed that Gordon blew a 0.10 BrAC, which is marginally above the legal limit of 0.08. After looking at this metric, Gundy claimed that Gordon would have had “two or three beers.” He also mentioned that the situation could have been much worse than it is.
Here is what he said. “One thing that I can say in Year 20 as a head coach that I probably wouldn’t say in Year 2 is, everyone needs to look in the mirror and think, have I done that and not gotten caught? Have I had two or three beers and drove a car? Because two or three beers can put you over the legal limit. People need to put some thought into that and not throw stones through glass windows. Not that it’s right, and I want him to understand the seriousness as a parent, and I think he did.”
After this statement, he faced a lot of criticism for his remarks. Some days later, he took to Twitter/X to clarify his earlier statement.
He wrote, “My intended point today at Big 12 media days was that we are all guilty of making bad decisions. It was not a reference to something specific.”
As for Gordon, Gundy said, he could face internal penalties but would not miss any game. As far as he is concerned, the matter is settled.
He said, “I’ve been with Ollie a considerable number of times and listened to him. He was remorseful and knew how serious it could have been. That allowed me to make a decision. I have to make a decision and there’s a lot of people involved in this decision, not just him. I wanted it to be over with today, other than what he has to deal with from a legal standpoint. But for our team and me, it’s over today and we try to regroup heading forward.”
