Many college football coaches, namely Dabo Swinney and Jimbo Fisher, ban their players from posting on social media during the season, but Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Mike Gundy is not one of them. Appearing on The Jim Rome Show, as was reported by Kyle Fredrickson of The Oklahoman, Gundy called more for social media education and how to conduct oneself on it rather than ban it outright.
“You know, we have 132 players on our team,” Gundy said on The Jim Rome Show this week. “To try and regulate or put a stop to that for us here, we just don’t have the manpower to handle that type of situation.”
“It’s a way of life for them,” Gundy said. “They revolve around their phones. So, we educate them and try to get them to make good decisions in those areas.”
Gundy is 100 percent right, as banning players from social media is counterproductive to developing student athletes both as players and, more importantly, as individuals. Coaches will go on and on about how they turn players from boys into men, but then ground them from using social media as if they’re still in high school.
Yes, some may view it as getting rid of a distraction, but think of all the good football players could do with social media, like promoting upcoming games or charity events involving the team.By banning them from it, coaches immediately lose prime opportunities for positive publicities.
Thus, as Gundy said, education on social media is a much better alternative to banning it completely. Hopefully, his words are taken to heart and set the tone for changes going forward.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
