Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables released a second statement in less than 24 hours, clarifying that the resignation of longtime assistant Cale Gundy was the “right thing to do.”
Gundy, who had been with the program as an assistant since 1999, announced his resignation in a social media post on Sunday after he read a racial slur aloud from a player’s iPad during a film session.
However, Venables revealed in his second statement that Gundy read the “racially charged word” aloud multiple times, an action which the Sooners head coach said was “not unacceptable.”
“As painful as it has been dealing with Coach Gundy resigning from the program, it doesn’t touch the experience of pain felt by a room full of young men I am charged to protect, lead and love … Coach Gundy resigned from the program because he knows what he did was wrong. He chose to read aloud to his players, not once but multiple times, a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone, and does not reflect the attitude and values of our university of our football program,” Venables said. “This is not acceptable. Period.
“Coach Gundy did the right thing in resigning. He knows our goals for excellence and that coaches have special responsibilities to set an example. He also knows that, while he will always be a part of the OU family, that his words affected many of us and did not represent the principles of our university. Again, his resignation was the right thing to do, and we will move forward positively.”
Venables said in his previous statement that L’Damian Washington, who had been on staff as an offensive analyst, will coach the team’s receivers on an interim basis.
