Oklahoma State’s Gundy Apologizes for Wearing Shirt of Right-Wing Channel

Although Gundy has achieved remarkable successes on the field — his 2011 team, for instance, finished ranked No. 3 — his status became suddenly fragile after a fishing trip, apparently on Lake Texoma at the Texas-Oklahoma border this month, in which he donned a T-shirt promoting O.A.N. The network, which President Trump has often openly favored, has amplified conspiracy theories and been strident in its support of the administration.

Gundy’s choice, memorialized in a photograph that appeared on Facebook, drew a swift backlash from within Oklahoma State’s locker room.

“I will not stand for this,” Hubbard, the nation’s top rusher last season, wrote on Twitter. “This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it’s unacceptable. I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE.”

Teven Jenkins, an offensive lineman, said soon afterward that his unit supported Hubbard. And Justice Hill, who played at Oklahoma State before the Baltimore Ravens drafted him last year, said the university and its athletic department “need major change.”

Oklahoma State administrators swiftly signaled their concerns, and within hours, Gundy and Hubbard appeared together in a video that appeared to signal an easing of tensions. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, Gundy spoke again, this time by himself to offer an unambiguous public apology after a meeting with his team.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/sports/ncaafootball/mike-gundy-apologizes-oklahoma-state.html