I didn't get the pick in my weekly Big XII preview correct this week. Luckily, my job (and my cash) don't depend on that. However, four jobs were affected in a big way by the fallout from the game this weekend.
In case you missed it, Texas Tech decided not to play defense against Oklahoma State. The week before, Oklahoma State had trouble scoring against Troy. They had no such problem on Saturday, winning 49-45.
However, after the game, OSU coach Mike Gundy chose to go off on Daily Oklahoman reporter Jenni Carlson, instead of using his time to discuss the game. He ranted and raved... oh heck, you can just watch for yourself.
What was probably the most important victory of the season so far for Oklahoma State was lost in that. And now caught up in it are four jobs.
The one you probably didn't hear about, probably because it was much more quiet compared to the ruckus above, was Texas Tech defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich stepping down for personal reasons. Nothing specific, just personal reasons. I know why my reason would be after the performance of his squad on Saturday. Yes, Oklahoma State billed themselves as the most explosive offense in the country, but if Troy was able to take them down, then Texas Tech certainly should have been able to do the same. Setencich was replaced by assistant head coach Ruffin McNeill.
More concerning from the mess is what is going to happen to Carlson, Gundy, and the embattled quarterback Reid.
Reid has most certainly lost his job as Cowboys quarterback after this. He will likely have to take a side role as a wide receiver, or a trick play target. Reid is now taking the back seat, one that Carlson called potentially the right move in her very controversial article.
I read her article. I didn't see anything necessarily wrong with it. Did she say that Reid maybe didn't play hurt when he could have? Yes. Did she call him out for laughing on the sideline when he his team was getting blasted by Troy? Yes. Truth be told, Carlson didn't say anything that any fan watching on television wouldn't have said in a blog or on campus the next day. However, she got blasted for it.
She got blasted for incorrect facts, but no editor I know would have let the article go to print if the facts hadn't been checked. Chances are, Carlson's facts are right. And Gundy is the one in the wrong for criticizing her without specifying where the errors were.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Ben, the really puzzling part of Carlson's article was mentioning that Reid was eating chicken that his mother made. Yeah, so? He's 21. All 21-year-olds eat their mother's cooking.
Then Carlson wrote: "Which brings us to the quarterback switch-a-roo at Oklahoma State. Don't see the connection?" I really don't. Is she saying he's a chicken quarterback? That he's a mommy's boy?
Normally when a coach goes batshit, we assume he's just pissed about something else, but in this case, Gundy seems like his anger was properly focused. Warranted? I don't know.
2 - Ben Miraski
Not sure on how chicken really played in. Maybe it was a reference to him being soft, a momma's boy. Maybe it was an indication that he is eating his mother's cooking instead of being with the team and eating the same crappy meal plan food. I can't be sure
Was it a brilliantly written article? Probably not. There was a lot of what she wrote that you really had to infer. And I don't think she meant the tone to be as harsh as she had it.
She did feel sorry for Reid on Saturday and said how he handled the switch at QB would say a lot about him.
I think Gundy just needed to handle this better. He can be mad about the topic, but he needs to think about how he addresses it.
3 - james smith
A couple of things - it wasn't that he was eating chicken, it was that his mother was feeding it to him while he talked on the phone. Was that really necessary for the article? I don't know. It would have struck me a little odd had I seen it.
As for where Jenni was today, she attended Gundy's weekly press conference in Stillwater. While there, she asked him to tell her which of the (in his words) 75% of her article was inaccurate. He refused, saying that he didn't have to. Why didn't he just say, "I'm rubber and you're glue..."
After the press conference she was on a local AM radio show, where she recounted his refusal to substantiate his claims that her article was false.
Personally, I don't think Gundy cared all that much about what she wrote. I think he's using it was some sort of catalyst (hopefully, anyway) to get his team fired up. Pretty lame, if you ask me, but as bad as they've played so far this season I guess you can't blame him for trying just about anything.
4 - nestle
The article was insulting to the player and his mother. It's ridiculous.
5 - reagan
The passionate and honest way Gundy stook up for his players shows just how much he cares for them and treats them as hiw own. Heck, who wouldn't want to play for a guy like that??
6 - charlie
i read the article... it was baseless and stated "rumored" fact. which as we all know isn't fact at all. she doesn't have a single fact, didn't talk to a single coach, and not a single player. she wrote this story because she saw the kid eating chicken after a game... she is terrible and awful. he is not a professional athlete, but just merely a kid playing football and going to school. terrible piece of filth this reporter must be to go after a student.
7 - mike lagrone
You've commented that Mike Gundy wasn't specific about which facts Ms. Carlson's article. In fact he mentioned a couple of items very specifically and yelled "that's not true!"
How much more specific and emphatic can a human being be?
It was a passionate and determined defense of one of his players for whom he has great respect.
The editor and the reporter reply with the classic "so tell me what was inaccurate" to keep the drum beating and give themselves time to white wash their position while Coach Gundy is obviously done with his recitation regarding where and how she was inaccurate and the harm done through a callous indifference to the subject of an article which will be read by those closest to that subject.
There was no sense to that article unless it is viewed as a petty and trivial criticism of a kid in a tough circumstance. And that's all it was.
What Ms. Carlson had to say is, frankly, insignificant and will soon be forgotten.
Coach Gundy's defense of a player and a fine young adult is an example for others which will shine for many years.
8 - nicolas
there are a few problems with her article, ben.
"How you handle the nerves is important, though, and Reid hasn't always managed them well. He has gotten off to some extremely slow starts, putting the Cowboys in some holes. Some, they dug out of, with Reid often wielding the biggest shovel"
So...he gets nervous, like everybody, and sometimes that gets the team behind. Sometimes they get out of that hole, and usually he is the catalyst for it.
So? Good for him?
Second, you can't say stuff like "insiders say"...what insiders? People inside the locker room? People inside the "hand-feeding their children" business?
She basically wrote an article that reads a whole hell of a lot like a blog. Yes, she may be a fan just like the rest of us (and like the rest of her fellow journalists) but it is her job as a professional journalist to keep her thoughts OUT of it! She is a beat writer, NOT an op-ed columnist.
"Insiders say"..."if you believe all the rumors"...
what insiders? what if i DONT believe all the rumors because I don't know what they are?
Was Gundy justified in his anger? Yes. In his tirade? Probably not.
9 - Ben Miraski
Ok, based on the comments above, I went back and read the article again, and then a 4th time now.
I can't speak for her, but she might be trying to fire up the quarterback. Remember, she felt bad for him on her blog during the game.
She supposedly thought that Reid would be starting against TT, but that didn't happen despite the statements from Gundy earlier.
She wants to see the fire out of Reid that Gundy showed in his press conference.
And before you go running off to sign up at OSU to play for Gundy with all of his fire, remember that they are 13-15 since he got there, including the 2-2 start this year. Plus if you look at his first two seasons, they won exactly 2 games in the Big XII South, and one of those was against Baylor, which shouldn't even count. Show that fire on the sidelines Gundy and maybe Oklahoma State wouldn't be an also ran every year in the conference.
10 - Ben Miraski
Nicolas -
Would you have such an issue with her article if she had posted her thoughts on her blog on the Oklahoman's website instead of as an opinion article in the paper?
11 - Caleb Camp
How come when it comes to the press, the gripe is that she has the "right to write the article" because of her freedom of speech. However coaches have to keep their mouths shut!
Sounds like a double standard to me.
I guess if Gundy would have written his rant in the Daily Ocrappy newspaper, it would have been his right.
Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, even when somebody is complaining about press bias.
12 - Caleb Camp
And all this crap about being 13-15! He brought in a completely new offense and it will pay off!
13 - MJokstate
Something that we have to remember is that this columist was an OPINION writer. Basically, her article does not have to site sources for her "facts". She just has to simply present her story as fact and we are expected to take it at face value. This is an article that should have never been taken seriously. Now, don't get me wrong I am not standing up for the author I'm merely stating that her previous work has been this same breed of malicious fiction. Why would we expect better now?
14 - rwcornejo
Ben, You are finally starting to catch on here. Carlson put this piece in a newspaper...not a blog or some random fan spouting off. There are suppose to be certain standards that a professional journalist writing a piece to be published must meet and this article did not do so. I believe that to be the first important point you need to learn if you are "training to be a real journalist."
15 - Lynn Patt
Sports writers today are quick to comment about all atheletes or coaches and in most cases isn't anymore significate than a staement made by me. Even though most are big strong your men, at the end of the day they are 19-20 year old kids. As adults and fans we shouldn't forget that, epecially sports writers.
16 - Ben Miraski
Mike Gundy deserves his freedom of speech just as much as Carlson did. However the way he delivered his "freedom" can be called into question, and I don't believe that a post game press conference was the right place.
And on top of that, his tone was not appropriate either. Look, when Jay Mariotti criticizes you for the way you handled things, you know you have issues. And Mariotti is not just sticking up for the journalist in this case.
Sure, she picked a bad way to do this, and maybe it wasn't the best choice in forums for her article too, but there is no way that Gundy should get a free pass while everyone just rips the paper and Carlson.
One thing that a coach should be teaching his players is maturity, especially since they are only 19-20. And what I saw on the video was not a mature way to handle this, especially for a 40-year old man.
17 - Mike
After watching Grundy I have read the article (i was curious what the fuss is about). She went after Reid with writing style and tactics similar to that of a small town high school newspaper. It was somewhat painful to read. However...the dude is 21, not 15. Is he really still a kid???? What is the age when a person should be treated as an adult and not as a kid?
18 - Dennis Green
What he should have said..."CARLSON IS WHO WE THOUGHT SHE IS"
19 - Robert
Mike, I am 40 years old too, just like Gundy. I have a 19 year old son, and let me assure you, while they may be able to vote, and are legally adults, they are absolutely still "kids." Someday you WILL realize that.
20 - Mike
Robert, I know how you feel, I am sure I will feel the same way about my son when he will be 19 and when he will be 27. Are you going the feel the same way about your son when he is 27??
When media gangs up on Michael Vick, who is 27, btw, do you feel bad that they are gaining up on the kid?
21 - Matthew T. Sussman
Oof. After reading Carlson's response column ... err ... can't they BOTH be wrong?
22 - yagoff
Leave it to a blogger to write something totally worthless. This almost made sense...
23 - Ben Miraski
I should probably make this another post, but instead I am going to do it here in the comments.
The last few days have shown us that people can be, well, ... mean.
Was Carlson's article the best piece of journalism out there? No. Did she probably make it too personal and use too much innuendo to make her point? Yes.
However, does that make it right for her to be dressed down in front of her colleagues by another professional, someone who counts on the press and media to cover and make himself known? No.
As I said in the post, Gundy makes a solid point about the media maybe being too harsh on some athletes in the college ranks. By some, I mean the ones that are not in trouble off the field, the ones that follow the rules, and presumably, the ones that go to class. As Gundy said, you can write bad things about the ones that get in trouble, because, even being kids, they brought that on themselves.
However, I still don't agree with the tone of Gundy's message. Choosing the forum that he did may inspire confidence from his team and it may make him a hero in some of the fans eyes, but it was not the mature adult thing to do. That is especially true when it is a role model, a coach to "kids", showing the immaturity to do it when he did.
Still more disconcerting though is not Carlson, not Gundy, but the reaction of many of the fans to this incident. My own comment box on my site was filled with very hate filled venom. Personal attacks, the same thing that got Carlson in trouble in the first place, have been hurled at myself and at Carlson. Gundy has gotten it to a lesser extent too, but still, I have not had one comment that I would let go to print come across.
If someone wanted to start a discussion about the issue that Gundy brings up, that would be fine. Instead, everyone wants to follow a bad lead and attack the writer. And then everyone wants to attack me for writing about the incident, and appearing to stand up for Carlson.
If I couldn't take criticism, I wouldn't be out on the web. Safe to say, I have gotten worse for my computer rankings and computer based tournament projections that this issue.
However, as I said in the last line of this column, it is time for everyone to take a deep breath and let it go. Continuing the personal attacks on Carlson, Gundy, and any other writers (ok, you can still rip on Dennis Dodd, because anything I write won't stop that), is just furthering the hatred and not addressing the true issue.
24 - Timbo
I have noticed that a lot of national journalists have flocked to the aid of Jenni Carlson. I live in OKC, I can tell you they are backing the wrong pony on this one. Jenni Carlson is a hack, this is not the first time she was written something that got her in trouble. It's just the first time it's gone national. She is the token female sports writer at a horrible newspaper (The Oklahoman).
The suprising thing about Coach Gundy is that he reacted at all. Everyone in this state knows that Jenni doesn't know anything about sports, that's old news.
25 - Brad
The point is now mute on whether she is a beat writer or an op-ed columnist. She has said "I stand by my facts" on TV and in print. She IS claiming these things are facts. FACT - she was not even at the Troy game to observe the "chicken feeding" incident. Where does that leave her credibility? Pretty much where is started - zero. By the way, Reid's mother has spoken publicly (to a Houston ABC affiliate) and said the 'chicken feeding' incident DID NOT HAPPEN. Oklahoma State University has CONFIRMED that Jenni did not make the trip to Troy. Those are FACTS.