NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 10: Head Coach Mike Gundy of the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the field before the football game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 10, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Oklahoma State 48-47. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)Chuba Hubbard made serious waves Monday, taking a stance against head coach Mike Gundy after a photo showed him in an OAN shirt, the controversial far-right television network. “I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things change,” the superstar running back tweeted.
Hubbard and Gundy would record a video together later in the day. Hubbard, a 2,000 yard rusher in 2019, made clear that things weren’t over. A number of major current and former Oklahoma State players backed him on on Monday.
“I am a young black man that wants change,” Hubbard tweeted in a long statement today. “I want change that will bring a better experience for my black brothers and sisters at Oklahoma State. It’s that simple.”
Today, former Oklahoma State basketball player and FS1 personality Doug Gottlieb revealed what he was told some of those changes are. Gundy reportedly agreed to ease a team policy against wearing earrings, du-rags, and certain hairstyles, and the ability to play certain music in the locker room. While he said that he was not joking, it seemed unlikely at the time that the full extent of what Chuba Hubbard and other want changes are things like that. In response to Gottlieb, team captain Amen Ogbongbemiga rejected the idea that this was the extent of the changes that Cowboys players seek.
Be careful what you say and who you listen to. The entirety of this isn’t true and depicts a bad image on us. I haven’t heard anywhere within the program that someone wants to play music that is disrespectful towards women. This isn’t the sincere objective we’re trying to achieve https://t.co/C0k3T4kDzK
— Amen Ogbongbemiga (@closedprayer) June 16, 2020
Hopefully we’ll get a larger picture of what Hubbard and his teammates seek to achieve soon. The list that Gottlieb tweeted does seem like things that were specifically geared towards taking things away from Black players, but it doesn’t look like a list that reflects the stance that Hubbard appeared to be taking.
Chuba Hubbard rushed for 2,094 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2019, and is one of the best players in the country. Ogbongbemiga is a three-time Big 12 All-Academic selection, a second-time All-Big 12 player, and was voted a team captain by his peers. They’re both highly respected by their peers, and should be taken seriously here.
Update: Another player, Brock Martin, has backed up Ogbongbemiga’s message.
I’m not sure where you got this information but it is not even close to what was demanded of US players (yes white players too) that is changed within OUR program. You are trying to paint my black brothers in a bad light and I’m not gonna sit here in silence and let you do that https://t.co/4SfHBAdxZD
— Brock Martin (@btmartin40) June 16, 2020
It is clear that the Oklahoma State football players are looking for far more than what Gottlieb originally reported.
