Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy offered up an absolutely baffling response this week as to why he was not suspending star running back Ollie Gordon II following his recent drunk driving arrest.
Preparation for the start of the 2024 college football season is growing near and there are big hopes for the Oklahoma State Cowboys this year. However, last week star running back Ollie Gordon II cast the football program in a negative light when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
Last week, the 21-year-old who led the nation in rushing yards and touchdowns in 2023 was pulled over after an Oklahoma Highway Patrolman noticed his black Cadillac speeding and swerving in and out of the lane. After turning down a sobriety test and being arrested, Gordon II was found to have a blood alcohol level of .11, which is just above the state’s legal limit of .08.
Surprisingly, the star running back has faced no punishment from the Oklahoma State football program for his irresponsible actions. Head coach Mike Gundy was questioned about the lack of ramifications at the recent Big 12 media day in Las Vegas and he had a head-scratching response to explain his reasoning.
Mike Gundy justifies the arrest of Oklahoma State star Ollie Gordon II with strange reasoning
“I looked it up on my phone, ‘What would be the legal limit?’” Gundy started by saying (h/t Pro Football Talk. “In Oklahoma, it’s 0.08. And Ollie was 0.1. So I looked it up, and it was based on body weight. Not to get into the legal side of it, but I thought, ‘Really, two or three beers or four.’ I’m not justifying what Ollie did, I’m telling you what decision I made.
“I thought, ‘I’ve probably done that a thousand times in my life, and you know it was just fine.’ So I got lucky. People get lucky,” he continued by saying. “Ollie made a decision that he wished he could have done better, but when I talked to Ollie, I told him, ‘You’re lucky, you got out light.’”
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Legal limits on the safe amount of alcohol that can be consumed while operating a vehicle are set for a reason and 0.08 is a limit that is the standard nationally, not just in Oklahoma. Taking a stance that he made the same mistake even more in his youth is not a great look for the leader of the Oklahoma State football program.
It will be interesting to see if Gundy receives any backlash for his baffling response to Gordon II’s arrest.
