Three Problems With Mike Gundy’s Whirlwind Tirade Against Social Media

After going on a mini-rant Saturday after beating Texas 38-35 in which he both bedowngraded folks on social media by saying they’re “drawing unemployment checks” and then joked with one media member who brought up OSU’s lack of second half production that he was probably being negative because he’s on Twitter, Mike Gundy doubled down on Monday in his Big 12 media call.

Gundy compared sports talk radio and social media to him joining a radio show that's about engineering: "It's sad in society today that people get a platform to talk about things they don't know about." #okstate

— Nathan Ruiz (@NathanSRuiz) October 29, 2018

Here was his original quote from Saturday.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about Twitter,” said Gundy as he stuck his tongue out and made a fart noise. “It’s a platform for people that are sitting home drawing unemployment checks sitting in front of a keyboard.”

“I just kind of feel like social media and Twitter is kind of what’s destroying this country anyway,” he continued. “That’s how I feel about it. It gives people a platform to bitch, and then other people are needling it and they’re sitting at home and they’re late on a payment.”

I know this is all fun and games and “yay Oklahoma State might not be the doormat of the Big 12 anymore,” but Gundy going down this strange path and then diving deeper into it is problematic for three reasons.

1. Alienation of Most Passionate (and Richest!) Fans

Get your facts straight, Mike. According to Pew Research, more people who have a lot of money that they, you know, might spend on things like season tickets are on social media than those “drawing unemployment checks.”

Also people who are on social media are far more interested in your product (and have a lot more money to spend on it, see above) than those who are not!

The same folks you’re asking to fill out BPS on Saturdays are the ones on Twitter on Mondays looking to read about what you said or why your offensive coordinator ran a play out of the I-formation on Mondays. You don’t get to have it both ways, and asking for more support an hour after denigrating the folks you’re asking for it from is not a very good look.

Gundy says he'll see fans in town and tell them, "In order to make this a big program, you have to do your part." #okstate

— Nathan Ruiz (@NathanSRuiz) October 29, 2018

2. Alienation of Recruits (!)

I did not think of this, but it’s a terrific point. While social media has its pitfalls (we’ll get to those in a minute), you don’t see guys like Lincoln Riley roasting platforms like that? Why? Well because everyone who represents the future of his organization is on those platforms!

One coach has embraced Twitter and is excelling in recruiting … the other not so much. It's an interesting play.

— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) October 29, 2018

3. It’s Part of the Show

Mike Gundy goes to work in a hoodie and makes $14,000 a day. None of this is real. It’s a fantasy-land for all of us who are paid real American dollars to be a part of the traveling circus of sports in this great land. There’s a way to rail against social media without lighting on fire the very people who pay money which allows you to go to work in a hoodie and make $14,000 a day.

The highest paid state employee mocking unemployment is a weird flex but ok.

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) October 29, 2018

And in possibly the greatest irony of all, it was the person who makes more money than everybody else in that room combined and also has more Twitter followers than everyone else who railed on it. He was taking a blowtorch to one of the many vehicles upon which he’s built a brand that the market has determined is worth $14,000 a day. What are you doing, Mike?!

Look, I’m not here to stan for social media. I think its effects on mental and emotional health are not fully known, and what is known is not really that great. But there’s a way to go about discussing this in a nuanced way that doesn’t categorically rope in the very people your product is trying to reach.

On a personal level, I wrestle with the idea of social media so much. It can be toxic. It can be time-consuming. There are good reasons to not be on it. But I also literally have my job(s) because of social media. That is an indisputable fact. I’m not totally sure what to do with that reality.

It’s the same struggle I have with comments on our posts. Some of it is garbage, people trying to define themselves by attacking the personal self-worth of those of us typing words onto a screen. Foolishness. But a lot of it is good and thoughtful and helpful. If I’ve gotten one idea for a good post from the comments section, I’ve gotten 200.

So in some ways I understand where Gundy is coming from and what he’s saying. But the presentation was that of somebody who’s fearful of the future and hasn’t embraced the reality of it all. Gundy doesn’t make many missteps from a PR standpoint, but this was (and continues to be!) one of them.