Mike Gundy blames college football leadership in Nico Iamaleava controversy

In light of the messy Nico Iamaleava saga at Tennessee, college coaches around the country are grappling with the situation. After all, it could be any one of them in this position in the not-too-distant future.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy knows it all too well. He opened up on the topic on Wednesday.

“I don’t think it should surprise any of us, right?” Gundy said. “We can talk about this forever, but we’re trying to build an NFL system in an amateur model. And we don’t have rules, we don’t have regulations and we don’t have leadership in one position that controls all of this. So you’re going to continue to see more of this.”

Without clearly established leadership, parties can be at odds in weird ways. That was underscored in the Nico Iamaleava situation, with the Tennessee starting quarterback looking to maximize his value.

Gundy opined on where the blame should fall. His take might surprise you.

“There’s two people to look at in this situation,” Gundy said. “The young man, you can’t blame him for what he’s doing. And you can’t blame Tennessee for what they’re doing. The leadership and how we got to this position is who to blame. Both of them are doing what they think’s best for themself or the university.”

Gundy is pretty adamant that new leadership in college football is needed to prevent future situations like Nico Iamaleava’s. It might not be a cure-all, but it’s definitely a start.

Of course, that may not happen until Congress finalizes its ruling in the House case. And even then, there are questions about enforcement.

Gundy left no doubt about what he thinks about the Nico Iamaleava situation. It’s simply a product of the current environment.

“Until we get the amateurism out of what we’re trying to get accomplished, we get the leadership, we’re just kind of all rolling with the punches,” Gundy said.