Like everyone else, we were quick to jump on the Mike Gundy bandwagon after his famous rant. What was not to love about it. The guy was fired up and seemed to be defending his player against media scrutiny that many people believe has no place in the world of college sports. I find this article from ESPN.com to be very interesting, because it paints a very different picture of Gundy (one that develops over a much longer time than three minutes). Now, I'm certainly not taking a complete 180 and saying that Gundy sounds like an asshole. I think he really believes that college players should not be criticized in the media the same way that pro players are, and I agree with him. However, there are two interesting things here: 1) it sounds like the article about which Gundy was ranting was based on fact and information that had come from the OSU coaching staff. 2) Bobby Reid's side of the story makes it sound like Gundy's rant was more about self-defense than defending his players. It sounds like the personal connection between coach and player that seemed to shine through this rant was absent all along.
Either way, it sounds like Reid has found a new oppurtunity and I'd love to see him succeed.
2 comments:
I think this article is kind of BS. It gets the point across that maybe Gundy wasn't as close to Reid as you might think, but it suggests that Gundy was a jerk and basically ruined Reid's life. As an observer from afar, this seems pretty off-base. It sucks to be a player and be sitting on the bench when you think you should be playing, but Gundy did what he thought was best for the team and never made any negative public comments about Reid, even though he had the opportunity to do so. The situation sucks for Reid, but I think its wrong to blame Gundy, either directly or indirectly.
In hindsight, I think I agree with you Mike. I think I fell into the trap of loving Gundy after the rant, and then after reading the article I swayed totally the other way. Your perspective is more balanced and realistic. Decisions about starting quarterbacks are often the most controversial and the least clear cut. What you say is totally true, Gundy's decision not to play Reid was simply a football decision.
I guess at the end of the day, this is nothing different than what happens on every team across the country (but was made out to be more because of the rant). Certainly, as you said, nobody's life was ruined.
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