Spending any time on whether or not Oklahoma wide receivers coach Cale Gundy submitting his resignation was justified in my eyes is irrelevant. One, because this site doesn’t focus on Oklahoma. And, two, because my perspective on it would be wholly as an outsider.
No, this isn’t going to argue for or against the resignation – which most figure came in lieu of firing by new Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables. But it is, in fact, the thesis on which this here column is built. Oklahoma isn’t just close to Arkansas geographically anymore. The Sooners are not just fighting the Razorbacks for recruits like they have in recent years. OU is actually coming to the SEC in a few short years. When a coach for a rival school – or soon-to-be rival school – is let go, especially one with such name recognition as ‘Gundy,’ the news makes waves in Hogs Nation, regardless of the reason for the resignation.
Frankly, I’m not terribly interested in getting into the weeds of why Gundy left. Those details can be found elsewhere. I find them lurid for our purposes given our distance from the thing. However, it is worth taking a look at the analyses some are throwing out there about the why of the thing.
First, some background.
Arkansas Football in the Sooner State
Arkansas is not Oklahoma. Not when it comes to each state’s flagship school’s football culture, anyway. For a while, in the 1960s and then again in the late 1970s, the two were on something of an equal playing field. But for the most part, OU is a more prestigious program than Arkansas. They still go after many of the same players, though.
In recent years alone, the Razorbacks have poached some fine talent from the state one to the west. Defensive tackle Robert Thomas was a steadying force in the middle of the Bret Bielema-era front line and Kam Curl was a defensive back with NFL written on him in the Chad Morris tenure. Both are from Muskogee. Keon Hatcher and Alvin Bailey were from rival schools outside Tulsa in Owasso and Broken Arrow. Even now, the Oklahoma preps system has produced eight current Arkansas players. Three of them are All-SEC caliber players (Ricky Stromberg, Brady Latham, Cam Little).
FS1 analyst Emmanuel Acho recently said that Oklahoma firing Cale Gundy had more to do with that – the recruiting trail – than anything else. Like, for example, “cancel culture” (which isn’t a real thing). Acho believes the Sooners won their national championships not just with great quarterbacks, but with all-world wide receivers. So when the wide receivers coach – who just so happens to be a former quarterback at the school and has a name famous across the college-football world – does what Gundy did, the potential for damage is simply too high for Oklahoma to keep him onboard. Nip it in the bud, so to speak, even if he had been on the staff since 1999. Whether it was about preventing future losses on the recruiting trail or negative publicity otherwise, Venables did what he felt was necessary as a first-year head coach.
Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman is an Oklahoma native. Watch him in two straight press conferences and you have a 50-50 shot about hearing him speak with pride about his home state. He must be excited, perhaps a bit anxious, about playing the Sooners more often than not when the time comes. And he’s not the sort of person with whom familiarity will breed contempt.
It might be argued, even, that his familiarity with Oklahoma (combined, of course, with his gregarious personality, sure to be winsome to high-school football coaches across the state) gives him a greater edge in recruiting the state. Heck, the No. 1 player in the whole state in next year’s class chose Arkansas early in the process. Myles Slusher was the No. 3 player in the state in 2020 and Keuan Parker No. 5 in 2021. Arkansas could always swoop into the state and poach one or two, but it appears under Pittman, the Hogs are a real contender with the best the Sooner State has to offer.
Oklahoma’s Impending Move to the SEC
Make no mistake, Oklahoma is well-suited for life in the SEC, at least as much any team lacking a past in the conference can be. It’s hard to imagine a team, other than Texas (which will also join the league with the Sooners) being more worthy of joining the best football conference in the country. The kind of folks who are into gambling at real money online casinos know that smart money would be on Oklahoma winning a division or “pod” crown in the SEC within the first 5 years of their inclusion. Still, the Oklahoma faithful are kidding themselves if they think things will be as easy in the SEC as they were in the Big 12.
Right-thinking Sooners fans know this. But, let’s be honest, a good chunk of you all reading this live near the Oklahoma border and know some wrong-thinking Sooners fans. The ones who are convinced OU is bound for the SEC to run roughshod over a bulk of the league the way it has most of the Big 12 since that conference’s inception in the mid 1990s.
That isn’t to say Oklahoma will flounder in the SEC. But Arkansas – they of the worst record in the SEC West for the last 20 years or so – has begun playing on the same level as the Sooners on the recruiting trail after just two seasons with Pittman at the helm. It’s not yet back to where it was in the late 1970s in terms of roughly equal prestige overall, but it’s no longer far-fetched to imagine those days returning very soon. Expect a lot of Sooners faithful to be in for a rude awakening when they do.
Brent Venables on Cale Gundy Situation
On Wednesday, Venables addressed the media about the team in the wake of Gundy’s resignation. Here are some press conference excerpts:
“From a timing standpoint, this is certainly not ideal. So, it’s my job, our job as leaders to help our young people focus and refocus. And so I’ve always felt that’s a very easy thing for me. But jumping right in, we’re in the middle of fall camp and you have to deal with this, and I think we’ve hit it head on with our guys, open, honest, transparent, connected the whole time. And I think that we’re in not a good place; I think we’re in a great place all things considered…”
On Cale Gundy’s replacement, L’Damian Washington:
“I’ll be honest, this issue aside, Oklahoma program with Cale Gundy is stronger than one without him. But I couldn’t be more excited about L’Damian Washington and the opportunity that he has with these guys this season. He’s already had incredible relationships built with these guys and trust, a really deep understanding of who they are as young men, certainly their skill sets and their strengths and weaknesses, things like that.”
On Gundy’s resignation:
“I’ll be honest, this issue aside, Oklahoma program with Cale Gundy is stronger than one without him. But I couldn’t be more excited about L’Damian Washington and the opportunity that he has with these guys this season. He’s already had incredible relationships built with these guys and trust, a really deep understanding of who they are as young men, certainly their skill sets and their strengths and weaknesses, things like that.”
See the press conference here:
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