Cale Gundy’s daughter accuses Sooners coach Brent Venables of silencing players in racism row

Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables told his players to ‘keep their mouths shut about what really happened’ to cause long-time Sooners assistant Cale Gundy to resign on Sunday, according to a since-deleted tweet by the outgoing coach’s daughter.

‘The truth with always come to fruition’ Cale’s daughter Cat wrote in response to Venables on Monday, ‘it’s only a matter of time.’

Cat was responding to a statement from Venables, accusing her father of repeatedly using a ‘racially charged’ word during a film session with players.

A day earlier, Cale announced his resignation in a social media post, saying just that he used ‘shameful’ language with players, but cautioning that the offending word ‘was not malicious; it wasn’t it even intentional.’

The incident took place during a recent film session when the assistant coach found one Sooners player distracted and looking at his iPad, Cale said in his statement. He then picked up the device and read a word off the screen that he now acknowledges he ‘should never – under any circumstance – have uttered.’

Cale claimed he was ‘horrified’ upon realizing what he’d said unintentionally, but Venables gave a differing account, explaining that the assistant repeated the word.

‘Coach Gundy resigned from the program because he knows what he did was wrong,’ Venables said in his second statement on Gundy’s exit. ‘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 or our football program.

‘This is not acceptable. Period. Coach Gundy did the right thing in resigning.’

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (right) told his players to ‘keep their mouths shut about what really happened’ to cause long-time Sooners assistant Cale Gundy (far left) to resign on Sunday, according to a since-deleted tweet by the outgoing coach’s daughter, Cat (near left)

In the since-deleted tweet (pictured) Cat was responding to a statement from Venables, accusing Cale of repeatedly using a ‘racially charged’ word during a film session with players

Venables made his clarification on Monday after Gundy, a longtime Sooners assistant, announced his resignation after admittedly using ‘shameful’ language with his players

While Cat Gundy’s has tweeted a response, only to delete it, her father has not commented on Venables’s claim that he used the word ‘multiple times.’

He did, however, apologize for his actions in his statement on Sunday.

‘The unfortunate reality is that someone in my position can cause harm without ever meaning to do so. In that circumstance, a man of character accepts accountability,’ Cale Gundy said. ‘I take responsibility for my mistake. I apologize.’

L’Damian Washington has been tapped to replace Gundy as Sooners wide receivers coach on an interim basis.

Cale, the brother of Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, did get support from several prominent former Sooners.

‘[I] know him to be a man of character and a person that loves and cares for his players as well as OU,’ tweeted former head coach Bob Stoops, who hired Cale Gundy 23 years earlier. ‘Thank you Cale for all the hard work you poured into our program, it will be remembered!’

‘I know and respect the man that you are,’ tweeted former Sooners running back and Heisman candidate Adrian Peterson.

‘He’s not just my former coach, but a great friend of mine that will always remain that and more,’ added another former Sooners running back DeMarco Murray.

Joe Mixon, a former OU running back now with the Cincinnati Bengals, wrote that Cal Gundy is ‘not a racist in any way.’

Gundy was the Sooners’ quarterback from 1990 until 1993, finishing with more than 6,000 passing yards and 35 touchdowns. He’s also worked as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He stepped down as an assistant coach in a statement on Sunday (right)

Bengals running back and former Oklahoma star Joe Mixon defended Gundy in a statement

Mixon defended Gundy in a statement, saying his former coach is not a racist 

L’Damian Washington (pictured) has been tapped to replace Gundy as Sooners wide receivers coach on an interim basis

The Gundy family is accustomed to controversy.

Mike, who was the quarterback at rival Oklahoma State before becoming the Cowboys coach in 2005, was accused of directing the n-word at an African-American Colorado player in 1989.

Alfred Williams, a former star linebacker at Colorado and NFL player, retold the story to The Oklahoman in 2020, adding that he would like an apology and hopes to see ‘some growth’ from Mike Gundy.

‘I remember that it was the first time that the University of Colorado beat Oklahoma State while I was there,’ Williams told The Oklahoman on Wednesday night. ‘It was a big win. It really was a big win.

‘And I remember Mike Gundy called me the N-word. That’s what I remember.’

Offensive coordinator Cale Gundy of the Oklahoma Sooners greets his brother, head coach Mike Gundy of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, before their game at Boone Pickens Stadium on November 27, 2021 in Stillwater, Oklahoma

As the accusations against Gundy resurfaced, so too did his denial from after the 41-17 loss 

Alfred Williams, a former star linebacker at Colorado and NFL player, retold the story to The Oklahoman, adding that he would like an apology and hopes to see ‘some growth’ from Gundy, whom he does not want to be fired

An Oklahoma State athletic department spokesman told the Daily Mail that Gundy would not comment on the accusation.

Williams’s allegations were corroborated by several teammates and himself following Colorado’s 41-17 win over the Cowboys in Stillwater, Oklahoma on November 12, 1989.

‘He said it to me and a couple of other guys on the field,’ linebacker Kanavis McGhee told The Oklahoman at the time. ‘It got me real upset.

‘Here’s a guy in the spotlight all the time, to say something like that is not cool at all. All it did was fire us up.’

Williams, Bruce Young and Okland Salavea also reported the allegation to the media at the time.

Picture of then-OSU quarterback Mike Gundy (right) and teammate Hart Lee Dykes in 1988

Gundy denied it to reporters after the game.

‘I didn’t say it,’ Gundy said. ‘It’s just not true. I’ve been here four years, and well over half of my friends are black.

‘I just did not say that; I wouldn’t say something like that.’

According to a St. Louis Dispatch article from the game, Gundy denied the accusations and told reporters that the Buffaloes players initiated the trash talking. He went on to tell the media to read a Sports Illustrated article about Colorado’s disciplinary problems within the football program.

Speaking with the Oklahoman in 2020, Williams said he had not seen Gundy’s denial until this week.

‘If he denies that he said (that), I have at least 20 people who will vouch for what happened that day.

‘I’m a little upset, because after 31 years I finally saw the story published in your papers out in Oklahoma,’ Williams continued, referring to The Oklahoman’s game story from 1989. ‘That was the first time I saw some of the responses to what I said.

‘In the St. Louis Dispatch he said, ”Look at the University of Colorado and its players. They got rapists.”’

Williams, who played nine NFL seasons, is not mentioned in the SI article and was not accused of any crime at Colorado.

Gundy became Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator in 2001 and was promoted to the head coaching job at his alma mater in 2005. He has one Big 12 title and was named conference Coach of the Year in 2010.

According to a St. Louis Dispatch article from the game (left), Gundy denied the accusations and told reporters that the Buffaloes players initiated the trash talking. He went on to tell the media to read a Sports Illustrated article about Colorado’s disciplinary problems within the football program. Buffaloes teammates Alfred Williams, Kanavis McGhee Bruce Young and Okland Salavea reported the allegation to the media at the time, as seen in this 1989 article from The Oklahoman (right)