Oklahoma State coach Gundy blasts Oklahoman columnist

I've read the column. Jenni was out of line with the chicken remarks. There was simply no reason for her to bring those little tidbits of information into a story to try to humiliate or embarrass a 21-year-old kid. And before anyone says he's an adult, let me be the first to admit that at 21 I was nowhere near close to being an adult. Legally he may be but I doubt mentally and physically he is.

Other than the mother feeding him chicken remarks, I had no problem with the column. Gundy said it was 75 percent lies ... yet he refuses to point out the lies. When a writer says they stand by their work, then that means they are willing to lose their job over it because they know they are right. I'm willing to believe that at least 90 percent of what Jenni wrote was true. The 10 percent was the irrelevant chicken angle ... that was really quite stupid of her to be honest.

But back to Gundy. He made a jerk of himself. He took every accomplishment of every individual on his team following a huge win over Texas Tech and tossed it aside like it was garbage so he could scream at a writer. The underlying story here is, Gundy was pissed because he had his butt handed to him by Troy the week before, had been bragging about this grand offense they have under Reid, then suddenly changed QBs. The real question isn't about Reid's ability, the real question here is about Gundy's ability as a head coach. I've been told more than once he's under the gun (no pun intended) and obviously he can't handle the pressure. I wouldn't fire him today but if he doesn't have one heck of a season, I would send his butt down that Chattahoochie so fast he wouldn't need a paddle to ride the current.

Also, if I was the parent of a child he was recruiting, I'd tell my kid no way in Hell are you going to play for that psycho nutjob. If my kid had offers from the surrounding schools (Texas Tech, Kansas, K-State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Missouri and Iowa, etc) along with Oklahoma State ... you better damn well believe Oklahoma State would get marked off immediately.

Gundy is a nutjob, and he's not good for the game, for Oklahoma State or for the players he coaches. They can say whatever they want about how protective he is of his kids, but if he had any professionalism about him at all, he would have taken Jenni aside in his office and talked with her man to woman and told her of his feelings. That's how it works in the real world between adults.

I'm not saying everything Jenni wrote or did was right. She did screw some of it up and to go with so many "rumors" and "sources say" is a bit ridiculous. But, I'd believe her word over some hot-headed coaches temper tantrum rant any second, minute, hour, day, week or month of the year.

Gundy will be looking for a new line of work within a year or two. Book it Dan-O.

 

I said a suit will be filed. I don't think they'll win, but I can name a half-dozen journalism-related lawsuits over the last year that I didn't think the other side would win. Some judges and sometimes the law isn't on our side.

If a judge decides this kid isn't remotely a public figure - for which there is precedent - the case could proceed.

 

I certainly don't think a lawsuit is out of the question. Of course, there's no way he'd win. That's a pretty tough standard, and it's that way for a reason, to allow for a strong freedom of the press. And that's precisely why it's so important for the industry to do a better job policing itself.

I wonder whether the kid might prefer to move past this now. If recent trends continue, he'll probably bounce back to win the Heisman Trophy and save a family of whales. Then we'll find out he eats live kittens.

 

If I hear the phrase "21-year-old kid" one more time, I am truly going to vomit.

There is no such fucking thing.

As was so aptly stated earlier, he can take a bullet for this country. His childhood ended at that point.

 

But mentally he's only 7. Perhaps you missed the part where his mother is still feeding him, etc., etc.

 

OK, well, we have some 35-year-old kids out there then. But I think you get my point.

I'm also a little astonished that anyone is putting qualifiers on whether a Division I-A football player is a public figure. After two years of HS recruiting, that ship has long since sailed.

 

Which is why he needed his coach to act like an asshat and protect him Saturday, instead of talking to reporters himself.

 

Carlson's column wasn't that bad. If 75 percent of it was wrong, then Gundy should say what was wrong.
This whole thing about it being an amateur athlete and how that makes it wrong is simply horseshit. Olympic athletes are amateurs, should positive steroid tests be ignored?
Please, just a smokescreen. And him not being a public figure is just dumb. Yes, being in the paper and on the TV everyday certainly kept him out of the limelight.

 

Obviously, you know nothing about the law. The precedent has been set already by the thousands of articles that have already been written about Bobby Reid. There are thousands of fans who wear his jersey number to Oklahoma State games. There are thousands of fans who attend OSU games to watch him play. He is the most visible player on a major college football team. He is a public figure.

If OSU or the family tried to file a lawsuit based on that, it would be thrown out immediately. Sorry but Bobby Reid is subject to criticism whether he or his family likes it or not. He is on scholarship which is public money right? He does perform in front of crowds as big 85,000 in the Big 12 right? People know who Bobby Reid is and that's all that has to be proven to have it thrown out. Even if it weren't for some miraculous reason thrown out, it would simply be appealed to a higher court and on and on.

Oklahoma State's best recourse is to just shut up and let it go --- which is exactly what Gundy is trying to do now. He was wrong and he knows it. He's a sorry excuse for a coach. That's not the kind of leadership I would want working for me.

 

Thank you Mr. Investigative Reporter With All The Awards On Your Wall ... why don't you just go agree to disagree or whatever ...

There are several courts that have ruled college athletes are not public figures. Disprove that.

 

Wicked...

If there was no shitty column, there would have been no Gundy tirade.

You write as though Gundy acted like an asshat in a vacuum.

He didn't. He was RESPONDING to a shitty column. In public.

As an asshat? Yes. Absolutely. But stop, please, writing as though the column wasn't directly responsible for his over-the-top, asshat actions.

 

When you are 40 and you look back at 21, you realize that you really were just a kid. So, yes, he is still a kid.

Now do like Gundy and make yourself want to puke. In fact, just go puke all over yourself for being an inconsiderate bastard.