Day one of Big 12 Media Days certainly did not come without any drama or headlines. Despite WVU not taking the podium until the second day, there was still quite some controversy and talking points around the league.
The first big news came from the Big 12 Commissioner, Brett Yormark, while talking about the new expansion on the Big 12. After adding Cincinnati, BYU, UCF and Houston last season, the conference is expanding once again and absorbing four more Pac 12 teams.
Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah are all this season’s newcomers into the conference. It puts the league up to 20 total teams. But that might not be enough to satisfy the commissioner.
In Yormark’s availability, he said that “now is not the time to to press pause” when asked about continuing to grow the Big 12. With the ACC’s uncertainty moving forward, Yormark said he “will not stop until we are the number one conference in America.”
The other national story from Tuesday’s media day in Las Vegas was the controversy around Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon’s DUI arrest. Many people were surprised to see the Big 12 preseason offensive player of the year continue with the selection to speak to the media.
However, Cowboys Head Coach Mike Gundy said that he felt Gordon should have to speak to the media and own up to what he did. Seems like a pretty normal and acceptable response, right? Well one could say that stops there.
Gundy would follow up by saying Gordon will not be punished from the team and if there was a punishment it would be to make him carry the ball 50 times in week one of the season. Gundy’s reasoning for why there is no punishment is what the national media is talking about.
According to the iconic head coach, when breaking down how many beers it would take to blow the illegal limit that Gordon did while driving a car, Gundy came to the conclusion that he himself had “probably done that a thousand times in his life.”
While discussing it, Gundy does state he is “not justifying what Ollie did” but instead is just explaining the decision to not reprimand Gordon within the team.
Day one was filled with quite the controversy around the league and some quotes that will be questioned maybe all season long.
West Virginia is set to have their time at the podium on Day two, Wednesday, July 10. Neal Brown, Garrett Greene, Sean Martin, and Wyatt Milum will all represent WVU at the event.
