"That is absolutely not something to resign over" - College football fans left divided over long-time Sooners coach Cale Gundy's resignation following alleged racist comment

Longtime Oklahoma Sooners Coach Cale Gundy resigned from his position as wide receivers coach after saying a racially insensitive word aloud. He volunatirily did so, recognizing that there are some words of an insensitive nature that cannot be said out loud by certain people.

Based on his recollection of events, and which have remained unchallenged thus far, he saw a player who was distracted with his iPad instead of following coaching instructions. To teach the player a lesson, he took his device and started reading out what he had written. Among the words the player had written, which Cale Gundy then read out alound, was a racially charged word. He has since chosen to take responsibility for it and resign.

However, a significant portion of Twitter fans have argued, not without merit, that the word was read aloud as part of quoting someone else's, hence both context and lack of intent should mean that he should not resign. Even NFL players like Joe Mixon, who has played under Cale Gundy, got involved.

Cale Gundy, a Sooner through and through

The resignation of Cale Gundy has evoked such strong reactions because of his long association with the Oklahoma program. He played as a quarterback for Oklahoma during his college years from 1990-1993.

He joined the coaching staff in Oklahoma the following year but left to coach UAB until 1998. He primarily coached quarterbacks and running backs. But his heart always remained a Sooner and he returned to Oklahoma in 1999 as a running backs coach. He has remained in the program since then in various capacities, looking after coaching the offensive charges. Most recently, beginning this year, he became in-charge of the entire wide receiver corps as a unit. He won the Big 12 Championship 14 times with the program, making him much loved within the wider Oklahoma football community.

Many fans and former players, as highlighted above, were, therefore, disappointed to see him leave. In fact, rumors say that the players did not have any issues with him, but it was the administration that had a problem; but this has not been independently verified yet.

However, new coach Brent Venables said that the racially disparaging word was used multiple times. So, clarity on what happened remains elusive.

He leaves a big role to fill for new coach Brent Venables, who joined this year from Clemson. He lost, in Gundy, not only a coach but a repository of institutional knowledge who brought continuity. The cloud he leaves under can only serve to darken the gloom.