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Oklahoma State's Chuba Hubbard demands change, says he 'will not be doing anything' with OSU after Mike Gundy wears OAN shirt

Sam Cooper
·College football writer
Updated ·6-min read
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy runs onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Kansas in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy runs onto the field before an NCAA college football game against Kansas in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard is not happy with Mike Gundy, his head coach.

Earlier Monday, a photo circulated on Twitter showing Gundy wearing a T-shirt with a One American News logo on it. OAN is known for pushing far-right conspiracy theories and being unabashedly supportive of President Donald Trump.

Hubbard, who is coming off a 2,000-yard rushing season but opted to return to Oklahoma State instead of leaving for the NFL, voiced his displeasure with his coach on Twitter and said he would not be doing “anything with Oklahoma State until things change.”

Another Oklahoma State player, all-conference linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, said he stands with Hubbard. Justice Hill, a former Oklahoma State running back who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens, also supported Hubbard and said OSU needs “major change.” Many others followed suit.

Later Monday, Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis said in a statement that the university “will not tolerate insensitive behavior.”

The photo of Gundy was posted on June 10 on the Facebook page of Steve Barnes, a fishing guide on Lake Texoma, a reservoir on the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Voluntary on-campus workouts for Oklahoma State football players were set to resume on Monday.

Gundy previously said he was a fan of OAN

Gundy previously said he was a fan of OAN back in April during a 20-minute opening statement of a teleconference with reporters. In that teleconference, Gundy criticized the mainstream media for being negative about the coronavirus and said the coverage from OAN was “refreshing” because it was “unbiased.”

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“It was so refreshing. They just report the news. There’s no commentary. There’s no opinions. There’s no left. There’s no right,” Gundy said.

During that teleconference, Gundy said he wanted his players and coaches back on campus by May 1, seemingly in defiance of the guidelines laid out by local medical authorities. He said he wanted players to return as soon as possible because they are healthy and able to fight off the virus.

Gundy also said the players’ returning to football can help “run money through the state of Oklahoma.”

Oklahoma State, after quotes from Gundy’s teleconference made the rounds, released a statement saying it will “adhere to the advice of public health experts” and “will not compromise the health and wellbeing” of its campus community. Gundy later apologized.

College football players speaking up across the country

Hubbard is the latest college football player to speak up and call attention to issues within his program.

At Iowa, dozens of former players spoke up about racial inequalities within the program, a groundswell that led to the school parting ways with longtime strength coach Chris Doyle, who was accused of making racist remarks toward players in the past. More broadly beyond issues with Doyle, black players at Iowa said they found it hard to be themselves when inside the team’s football facility. Amani Hooker, now playing in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, said it felt “as if the way you grew up was the wrong way or wasn’t acceptable” and that “you would be judged by that and it would impact playing time.”

“For a lot of guys it was just constant anxiety and pressure to be someone they really aren’t to play a game they love, which affected school and their play,” Hooker said.

At Florida State, star defensive lineman Marvin Wilson called out new head coach Mike Norvell. Norvell told a reporter that he “went back and forth individually with every player” amid the social unrest that followed the death of George Floyd. Wilson, in response, said that “did not happen.”

Wilson said FSU players “got a generated text that was sent to everybody” and that there was “no one-on-one talk between us and coach.”

“This is a lie and me and my teammates as a whole are outraged and we will not be working out until further notice,” Wilson said in a tweet.

The next day, Florida State had a team meeting and Wilson subsequently said the team was “moving forward.” Norvell then released a statement saying he was sorry for his word choice and proud of Wilson for speaking up.

“Marvin is right, it was a mistake to use the word ‘every.’ Particularly at this time, words are important, and I’m sorry,” Norvell’s statement read in part. “Once again, I am grateful for the opportunity that I was given to speak to our team more in-depth as a result of Marvin being willing to express his feelings.”

At Texas, several athletes asked administrators to rename certain buildings across campus, add a black athletic history exhibit to the school’s athletic hall of fame and for UT to find a new song for athletes to sing in place of the “Eyes of Texas.”

In a campus letter sent out on Monday, Texas interim president Jay Hartzell said he has "begun scheduling conversations with students,” including athletes, and said the school will “create a plan this summer” to address issues of racism.

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