It’s not been the best of weeks for Mike Gundy. And it’s not going to get much better for the foreseeable future.
Gundy’s wearing of a t-shirt with the logo of a far-right news organization received a swift and very public Twitter rebuke from star running back Chuba Hubbard. The two subsequently put out a video in which Gundy promised unspecified change while Hubbard stated he was wrong for taking the issue public. The running back added another layer to the issue, stating Tuesday he wasn’t wrong for what he said but reiterated he was wrong for how he went about it. Tuesday, the Oklahoma State head coach issued a video apology in which he expressed disgust after learning of OAN’s stance on Black Lives Matter.
Prior to becoming the head coach at OSU, Mike Gundy was a quarterback for the Cowboys from 1986-89. Alfred Williams, meanwhile, was a linebacker for Big 8 rival Colorado around the same time. On Wednesday’s airing of the FS1 show “Undisputed,” Shannon Sharpe relayed a conversation he had with Williams in which Williams claimed Gundy directed a racial slur at him during a game in November of 1989.
.@ShannonSharpe discusses his call with Alfred Williams, who was reportedly on the receiving end of a racial comment made by Mike Gundy when they were both college players in 1989 pic.twitter.com/EFIPxVrjdi
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 17, 2020
Subsequent to that, a Twitter user, @loumoore12, posted a newspaper clipping from that game in which Colorado safety Tim James accused Gundy of calling several Buffaloes the N-word. Except that the newspaper actually used the N-word.
“I can’t count the number of times he used that word,” James said at the time. “He has no class. There’s no place for that in sports.”
Another player was quoted in the three-decades-old story as well.
“I hope not many people raise their children to be like him. He said things he had no business saying to anybody.”
The player attached to that quote? Alfred Williams.
For his part, Mike Gundy denied the allegations at the time. By playing the tried-and-true “I have Black friends” card.
“It’s not true,” Gundy stated. “They were doing the talking. Why would I say those things? I’ve been here four years, and half my friends [on the team] are Black. It makes no sense.”
Thus far, neither Gundy nor the OSU football program has commented on the resurfaced allegations.