College Football Coach Resigns Over 'Shameful' Word

Oklahoma assistant Cale Gundy says he read aloud words on a player's screen
By Mike L. Ford,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 8, 2022 3:41 PM CDT
College Football Coach Resigns Over 'Shameful' Word
Oklahoma offensive coach Cale Gundy speaks during an NCAA college football media day, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Norman, Okla.   (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Oklahoma University assistant coach Cale Gundy has resigned after saying something “shameful and hurtful” during a film session with the team. Per USA Today, Gundy has spent most of his adult life with the Sooners program, where he was a standout QB in the early 1990s. He joined the coaching staff in 1998 and has been a fixture on the sidelines ever since. Gundy, 50, announced the news and explained the circumstances in a late-night tweet on Sunday. Apparently, he was enforcing some discipline after noticing one of the players was distracted by his iPad during the film session.

“(I) picked up his iPad and read aloud the words that were written on the screen,” Gundy explained. “The words displayed had nothing to do with football. 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.” He went on to say that, although the words (never specified) were not his, “I am mature enough to know that the word I said was shameful and hurtful, no matter my intentions … in that circumstance, a man of character accepts accountability. I take responsibility for my mistake.”

In a separate statement, Sooners head coach Brent Venables said he accepted Grundy’s resignation “with sadness,” and although Gundy served the program well, “we’re all accountable for our actions and the resulting outcomes.” Per Fox News, former Sooner and current Bengals running back Joe Mixon offered an impassioned statement of support for Grundy, whom he credited for shaping his life. “Coach Gundy is not, and I repeat is not a racist in any way nor has a racist bone in his body,” Mixon wrote. “If he was admonishing a student athlete for any reason, it was because he was trying to help that athlete be a better person, player, teammate and student athlete of OU.” (More Oklahoma Sooners stories.)

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