OSU’s Gundy wants to get back to work by May 1 ... with players to follow soon after
Seems like a college football coach creates a stir every few days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday was Mike Gundy’s turn.
During an hour-long news teleconference with reporters, the Oklahoma State coach said he has a goal of returning to his office at Boone Pickens Stadium by May 1. Gradually, Gundy said, players would return soon after.
“We have to have a plan, and the plan right now is for that to start on May 1,” Gundy said. “It might get backed up two weeks, I don’t know. I can’t make that call. If it does, we’ll start with the employees of this company, this building, then we’ll bring the players in, slowly but surely we’ll test them all.
“Is it 100%? No it’s not a 100%, but there could be people that work in this building that maybe are older, maybe have some kind of underlying health condition, maybe they don’t come back. But the majority of people in this building who are healthy ... and certainly the 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds that are healthy ... We all need to go back to work.”
The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported Tuesday that the number of positive COVID-19 tests in the state stands at 1,472, and the number of deaths related to COVID-19 had reached 67.
Oklahoma State issued a statement in response to Gundy on Tuesday evening:
“Everyone wants to return to some degree of normalcy as soon as possible. As for Oklahoma State University, 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. 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.”
Like most major college football programs, Oklahoma State had started spring workouts. The campus moved its classes online on March 18 and moved its spring graduation ceremonies to December.
The Big 12 has shuttered all on-campus athletic activities until May 31 and the NCAA has canceled all winter and spring sports championships.
Last week, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he expects the college football season to begin with full stadiums.
“I mean I have zero doubt that we’re going to be playing,” Sweeney said on a conference call. The stands are going to be packed and (Clemson’s Death) Valley is going to be rocking. Zero doubt. That’s the only thought I have, right there. All that rest of the stuff, I don’t think about any of that.
“So that’s just my mindset — I’ve got one plan, and that is to get the Tigers ready to play come September or late August or whatever. These guys are all training. So that’s my preference is that we have camp August and and get on and play the season. I don’t have any doubt that’s going to be t
On Monday, Mike Leach, entering his first season at Mississippi State, apologized for tweeting an image that depicted a woman knitting a noose for her husband with the caption, “After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf.”
Several Mississippi State players reacted negatively to the tweet and one said he was transferring. On Tuesday, Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen issued a statement saying there’s a plan in place to help Leach “expand his cultural awareness of Mississippi.”
The latest dust-ups stand in contrast to earlier words from LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Texas’ Tom Herman, who were among the first football coaches to deliver public service messages about the need for social distancing, hand-washing and general caution.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:24 PM with the headline "OSU’s Gundy wants to get back to work by May 1 ... with players to follow soon after."