Oklahoma State University football coach apologizes for wearing t-shirt supporting One America News

Oklahoma State University’s football coach, Mike Gundy, was pictured wearing a T-shirt in support of One America News, a conservative cable network that fervently supports President Donald Trump. When players expressed their disapproval, Gundy subsequently apologized.

Key Players

Mike Gundy has been head coach of the Oklahoma State University football team since 2005. He previously played football at the university between 1986 and 1989.

One America News Network, also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right cable news channel that launched in 2013. It first began supporting Trump in 2016.

Chuba Hubbard is a running back for Oklahoma State; he was entering his junior year at the time of the incident. After the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Hubbard actively voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. 

Further Details

On June 10, 2020, a fishing guide on Lake Texoma, Oklahoma, posted a picture of Gundy wearing an OAN T-shirt. Gundy had previously expressed his support for the network at a press conference in April 2020, when he described its coverage as refreshing and criticized the “mainstream” and “national media.” 

In addition to supporting Trump, OAN has promoted a number of conspiracy theories that the president has amplified. For example, Trump tweeted that Martin Gugino — an elderly man in Buffalo, New York, who protested against police brutality and was violently shoved to the ground by two police officers on June 4 — was an “ANTIFA provocateur.” The tweet was based on an OAN report stipulating that Gugino attempted to knock out police officers’ radios with his cell phone, according to The New York Times. More recently, an OAN host described the Black Lives Matter movement as a farce.

On June 15, 2020, Hubbard lashed out at Gundy, his coach, on social media in response to the T-shirt. Hubbard suggested that he might boycott the team. That night, Gundy and Hubbard appeared in a video together, where Gundy said he met with players who were critical of the shirt, and the two embraced. However, Gundy did not apologize and Hubbard did, leading to renewed uproar.

The incident reignited discussions about the intersection of the Black Lives Matter movement and football. In 2016, quarterback Colin Kaepernick began to kneel during the national anthem before the start of games, and he inspired hundreds of other players, including in high schools, to do the same.

Outcome

Gundy apologized and promised changes, though what those changes will be is unclear

On June 16, Gundy issued a formal apology. He committed to making changes, stating that he was disgusted when he learned how OAN had treated Black Lives Matter. In his apology video, Gundy stated that meetings with his team would have positive changes for the Oklahoma State football program, but he did not specify them. On June 15, 2020, Hubbard tweeted, “Foots [sic] still on the gas. Results are coming. It’s not over,” signaling his intention to continue to speak out about Black Lives Matter and to hold Gundy and others in power responsible for their actions. (Hubbard’s Twitter account appears to have been deleted on July 20, after he called for the resignation of Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater when protesters were arrested outside his office, Sports Illustrated reported.)

Oklahoma State shortened Gundy’s contract by a year and cut his pay by $1 million

The sharp criticism of Gundy prompted Oklahoma State to conduct an internal review of his contract, which resulted in the loss of one year on his term as coach and a $1 million annual pay cut. Mike Holder, Oklahoma State’s athletic director, noted that the adjustments to the contract were Gundy’s idea, according to KTUL, an ABC affiliate. Holder did not clarify whether the pay cut was a one-time arrangement or if it would be applied to his salary annually.