Ollie Gordon Adds More Evidence to the Changing Times in College Football

A difference in latitudes did not change the attitudes. When or where exactly it all changed is unclear. Of all the changes in college football, the lack of discipline for offseason transgressions is jarring.

A DUI used to end college careers. Kentucky enacted a zero-tolerance policy in the late 90s following the tragic death of Artie Steinmetz. Desmond Allison was kicked off the Kentucky basketball team in 2000 after blowing .013 over the legal limit. Just like that, his career was over.

Even though the Wildcats may have been extreme hardliners at the time, that was the norm around college athletics.

Offseason legal trouble was met with a swift reaction by the school. It was the expectation. If it was not met, there was a public outcry for harsher discipline from the fanbase.

Big Blue Nation remembers Matt Roark as the unlikely hero who stepped in to play quarterback and snapped the 26-game losing streak to Tennessee. That almost didn’t happen. A year before he made history, he was charged with a DUI for driving twice over the legal limit. Joker Phillips suspended the wide receiver for one game, a punishment many thought did not fit the crime because it was not harsh enough.

Fast forward to today’s events in Las Vegas, the site where Henry Ruggs killed a woman while driving drunk at 156 mph, and you’ll find a much different approach to offseason discipline.

Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon represented Oklahoma State at Big 12 Media Days. The preseason All-American attended the speaking event a day after issuing a formal apology following his arrest for suspicion of DUI.

“He’s going to play,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy told ESPN on Tuesday. “I’m going to do what we think is best for Oklahoma State football. And I think it’s best for Ollie to play. If there’s any punishment, it’s making him carry the ball 50 times in the first game.”

What?!?!

"I looked it up on my phone- what would be the legal limit?… 2 or 3 beers, or 4. I'm not justifying what Ollie did; I'm telling you what decision I made. Well, I thought, I've probably done that a thousand times in my life." – Mike Gundy pic.twitter.com/MfHrkNPIm8

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 9, 2024

We were taught that he who has not sinned should cast the first stone, but really? Oklahoma State is not only letting it slide, but they’re propping up Gordon as an esteemed representative of the university and nobody’s batting an eye.

College athletes make mistakes. It happens. They should have a chance for redemption. That forgiveness must be earned. Gordon is receiving that redemption by exerting less energy than it takes to order an Uber.

The dramatic changes in college football are completely reshaping college athletics. This fall 16 SEC teams are vying for a spot in the 12-team CFB Playoff a year before universities will directly compensate athletes for their time. All of these changes have forced us to change the way we think about college athletes. Eliminating draconian responses to off-the-field transgressions is a good thing, but the pendulum has clearly swung way too far in the wrong direction.