Oklahoma high school invites Cale Gundy to speak following resignation

An Oklahoma City high school football coach brought in former longtime Oklahoma assistant coach Cale Gundy to speak to his program about  grace, compassion and accountability.

Darwin Franklin, the head coach at Millwood High School, brought Gundy in on the eve of the 2022-2023 school year. His speech came just weeks following his surprising departure from a program he spent over two decades after Gundy admitted to reciting a racial slur multiple times off of a Cowboys players iPad.

“If you’re trying to teach accountability, who better to come and speak to your kids about accountability than someone who is being accountable on the largest stage?” Franklin said, via Tulsa World. “Someone who just spent a week in the fire. Someone who accepted responsibility and knows what it takes to walk out of that fire.”

After playing quarterback for the program in the early 1990s, he had spent over two decades working in Norman as an assistant coach until the recent incident came to light.

Gundy released a statement on the incident, explaining exactly what happened. He said his resignation stems from a moment between him and a player during a meeting. After saying “one particular word,” Gundy was “horrified” with himself.

“If I didn’t know him, would it hurt? Absolutely,” said Franklin, who is African-American. “But if I do know him, I should be able to have a conversation about it with him. And what we have to get our kids to understand is that there’s a way that we can foster some healing through communication.”

When the incident happened, Franklin, who knew Gundy through family ties, thought to himself that he knew that wasn’t who Cale Gundy truly was. Franklin had brief college coaching stints at Kansas and Texas, and Gundy was one of the first people to call Franklin when he was hired at Millwood in 2012.

The two have a past, and Franklin wanted to show his players who accountability looks like from someone who he believes is a good person at heart.

“One of the things he said was that he didn’t mean that — in no shape, form or fashion do I think that way — but I also know I can never understand the hurt that it can cause coming from a white man,” Franklin continued. “My wife and I talk all the time that sometimes people make a mistake. Sometimes you got to extend some grace and people got to feel some love from people they know.”