Oklahoma State Coach's Shirt Stirs Player Backlash

Chuba Hubbard, last year’s college football rushing leader, tweeted on Monday that he would “not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE,” after a photograph of his coach wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with an OAN logo surfaced on social media.

OAN stands for One America News, a far-right news outlet which Cowboys coach Mike Gundy has cited in the past. 

The photo was posted to Facebook and then to Twitter by CBS Sports reporter Kyle Boone, who reports that Hubbard and several other football players threatened to boycott the program in response.

The t-shirt photo was retweeted by Hubbard, who wrote “This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it’s unacceptable.”

I will not stand for this.. This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it’s unacceptable. I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE. https://t.co/psxPn4Khoq

— Chuba Hubbard (@Hubbard_RMN) June 15, 2020

Hubbard’s stance was quickly supported by several Oklahoma State players, including All-Big 12 linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, offensive lineman Teven Jenkins, and former OSU student-athletes Justice Hill and AJ Green, who are playing professionally with the Ravens and Browns respectively. 

Gundy previously cited the network in April at a press conference discussing the coronavirus. Gundy said at the time that he’d grown tired of the “mainstream media,” and said he watched the network because “they just report the news,” adding that “the so-called medical people that are saying the herd of healthy people that have the antibodies may be built up that can fight this, we all need to go back to work.” Gundy later apologized for his comments in a prepared statement. 

Hours after Hubbard’s original tweet, he shared a video featuring both himself and Gundy. The two express a willingness to make change, and shake hands at the video’s end.

Change is coming I promise you that. pic.twitter.com/wTGHtByh3N

— Chuba Hubbard (@Hubbard_RMN) June 15, 2020

University president Burns Hargis tweeted a response to the situation Monday afternoon.

I hear and respect the concerns expressed by our Black student-athletes. This is a time for unity of purpose to confront racial inequities and injustice. We will not tolerate insensitive behavior by anyone at Oklahoma State.

— Burns Hargis (@burnshargis) June 15, 2020

The Oklahoman reports that athletic director Mike Holder issued a short statement of his own shortly after Hargis' tweet.

“This afternoon has been very disturbing,” he wrote. “The tweets from the current and former players are of grave concern.”