Longtime University of Oklahoma assistant football coach Cale Gundy has resigned owing to a film-session incident when he read aloud from a player’s tablet and uttered a racial slur. Gundy announced the decision with a lengthy statement on Twitter around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
“Last week, during a film session, I instructed my players to take notes. I noticed a player was distracted and picked up his iPad and read aloud the words that were written on his screen. The words displayed had nothing to do with football,” Gundy wrote in the statement. “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
Gundy, 50, said “a man of character accepts accountability,” and he said he was “mature enough” to do so.
“I want to be very clear: The words I read aloud from that screen were not my words. What I said was not malicious; it wasn’t even intentional. Still, I am mature enough to know that the word I said was shameful and hurtful, no matter my intentions,” Gundy wrote. “The unfortunate reality is that someone in my position can cause harm without ever meaning to do so. In that circumstance, a man of character accepts accountability. I take responsibility for my mistake. I apologize.”
Gundy, a former OU starting quarterback who joined the coaching staff in 1999, had been the Big 12’s longest-tenured coach, and his sudden departure — especially under circumstances that could be politicized in ongoing public discourse — comes less than a month before the 2022 season’s kickoff and Brent Venables’ first game as OU head coach.