Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has serious questions to answer after his team’s collapse down the stretch. A tense exchange after his team’s bowl loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night shows those are questions the longtime head coach isn’t ready to confront.
Gundy got upset when reporter Marshall Scott asked for his thoughts on potential staff changes following a season in which the team finished 7-6 after starting 6-1.
Scott issued a statement on Wednesday expressing regret over the incident, although people were quick to note Scott has no need to apologize.
He asked a legitimate question. What was out of line was Gundy’s childish retort, which drew a strong reaction online.
In March, Gundy received a $1 million pay raise, increasing his salary to $7.5 million annually. That’s more than a cool million per win. In addition to coaching, he’s the public face of a program at a public university. Threatening to pull a reporter’s access is BS.
We’ve seen Gundy’s tired act before. In 2007, he stood at a podium and shouted about being a 40-year-old man as he angrily responded to an article that suggested Gundy benched QB Bobby Reid for Zac Robinson because he and others on staff believed Reid was too soft.
Per an ESPN article from April 2008, during a 2006 game against Texas A&M, “Reid suffered a mild concussion … and there was sideline chatter that it was a minor nick, that he wasn’t showing much grit.”
Words uttered by Reid’s mother Rajika Reid in that 2008 ESPN article echo to this day: “I read a Chinese proverb one time in a restaurant, and it said, ‘A fool at 40 is a fool always,'” she said.
Gundy looked ridiculous then and does now.
It’s time for him to grow up — and maybe field a better football team, too.
