Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy recently made some grossly misinformed comments about the interplay between the coronavirus and college football. Four days later, he apologized for them.
Sort of.
It wasn’t an “I was wrong” or “I don’t know what I’m talking about” or “I had my mullet-covered head up my butt” or anything recognizing that the things he said conflict with anything that anyone with any sense regarding the medical realities of the pandemic would say about the situation. Gundy instead trotted out the standard non-apology apology directed to anyone who may have been offended by his remarks.
“I have been made aware that comments from my press conference have offended some,” Gundy said in a statement issued on Saturday. “It was never my intention to offend anyone and I apologize. My first priority is and will always be the student-athletes and doing what is best for the program and the university.”
Gundy’s mess can’t be cleaned up this easily. His comments reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the dangers of the current public-health crisis, and a troubling attitude that players should be subjected to those dangers in order to keep the flow of cash coming from the college football cow. And they were allowed to sink in for four days before he issued his statement, presumably under significant pressure to do so.
To its credit, Oklahoma State seems to understand that Gundy was in the wrong.
“We will adhere to the advice of public health experts who are making informed decisions in the best interest of the citizens of our nation and state based on sound scientific data,” the school previously said in a statement. “We will also abide by the federal and state mandates as well as Big 12 guidelines. We will not compromise the health and well-being of our campus community. This virus is deadly and we will do our part at Oklahoma State to help blunt the spread.”
Gundy had lobbied for players to return to campus by May 1, reasoning that young, strong football players won’t be affected by the virus. Setting aside the reality that the virus is indeed affecting the young and strong (like Florida State offensive lineman Andrew Boselli), gathering football players for the purposes of football workouts and practices will quickly spread the virus among them, if only one of them is unknowingly carrying the bug.
So even though Gundy has apologized to anyone who was offended, he hasn’t even begun to undo the potential damage potentially caused by a dangerous message of defiance and nonchalance regarding a disease that has killed more than 20,000 Americans, and counting.