On Cale Gundy’s resignation: Is there a better way?
Was University of Oklahoma coach Cale Gundy’s situation handled in the best way? Will his resignation help us move into a better tomorrow as an ethnically diverse society?
Based on the information given to us, I say “no.” We may be missing a greater opportunity to model something that our world so desperately needs to see, which are examples of people making relationships work.
Did the young man (whose iPad had the offending language that Gundy said he inadvertently read aloud) have an opportunity to look Coach Gundy in the eye and explain how those words impacted him as a player and a person?
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Did Coach Gundy have an opportunity to listen to the young man and commit to his best future?
Did Coach Gundy get a chance to be real with the player about how he didn’t appreciate him being distracted during his meeting?
Did the young man apologize for disrespecting Coach Gundy?
As a pastor in Norman and a fan of the home team, I would have preferred to pick up the newspaper at the end of OU’s season and it say, “Sooners win it all … and Here’s Why.” The article would feature Cale Gundy sharing a story about how he made a mistake with one of the players before the start of the season. (The details shared would be completely up to the two people involved. On a team or in a family, issues are no one else’s business unless both parties agree to share it to help others.)
The story would tell of how it took hours, weeks or even months for player and coach to rebuild trust, but that they figured it out. In fact, I could hear the players telling of how the situation helped them all to share more of their own stories and experiences and become stronger as a unit.
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Perhaps I’m dreaming, but dreams give us a picture of a better tomorrow. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave America a dream. He painted a picture of former enemies sitting at tables together. We are closer to the dream than we were in the 1960s, but I am afraid the dream has a higher price than we, as a society, have been willing to pay. Reaching the great summit of unity and cooperation is no easy task. It is easier to dismiss someone than to work it out.
Wouldn’t it be great to see a situation like this fully reconciled and the once-fractured relationship become stronger than ever before? It is possible if that is still the dream.
To all leaders and teachers, before you send offenders far away from those they have offended, before you ignore difficult conversations and tell minorities to just get over it, before you remove someone to prove that you support minorities, consider offering both parties a classroom experience in the school of life by encouraging them to work it out and by giving them the proper tools to make their relationship work.
Our world needs tables, bridges and the stories of those that have made it past difficult situations. Our world needs hope.
Article written by Dr. Clarence Hill Jr., author of "The Dream Clock," leader of the StrongerTogether.global movement, and senior pastor of Antioch Community Church in Norman.