Brent Venables releases second statement on Cale Gundy resignation

In the hours after the shocking resignation of longtime assistant coach Cale Gundy, rumors percolated the Internet that the decision to remove Gundy from the program came from above the athletics department, and thereby against the will of head coach Brent Venables.

On Monday afternoon, Venables released a statement -- his second on the matter -- clarifying that's not true.

The most clarifying detail of Venables's second statement is that Gundy used the word "not once, but multiple times." 

Gundy's statement late Sunday night left readers with the impression he uttered the offending word just once, although it does not explicitly say so one way or the other. "One particular word that I should never -- under any circumstance -- was displayed on the screen," Gundy said. "In the moment, I did not even realize what I was reading, and when I did, I was horrified. I want to be very clear: the words that I read aloud were not words. What I said wasn’t malicious; it wasn’t even intentional. Still, I am mature enough to know the word that I said was shameful and hurtful, no matter my intentions.”

Many inside and outside the program argued in the hours following the news that a single slip-up did not warrant an immediate resignation, particularly for a beloved employee such as Gundy. 

Another detail Venables cleared up: Gundy's departure came with Venables' approval. "His resignation was the right thing to do," Venables said.

In a transient business, Gundy had the closest thing to tenure an assistant coach will ever have. The former Sooner quarterback began his career as an OU GA, spent four seasons at UAB, then returned to Norman as an original member of Bob Stoops's Oklahoma staff in 1999. He remained on through the entire Stoops era, the Lincoln Riley era and to the Venables era, coaching wide receivers and running backs, but will not coach a game under Venables.