Like breaking news, like happening as we speak. But it's been out there for looks like about an hour now. Maybe it happened right as the show started, which you know, usually I try to keep up. I try to balance it. I try to keep my eyes on what's going on with social media news. You know a lot of times within a three hour window, you have news that breaks during the show, and you want to be able to
share that news with folks that are listening. But I didn't see this right at the beginning of the hour. There's a standoff between Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy. Pete Thamil of ESPN is reporting that the Oklahoma State Administration, I guess his bosses they wanted to take a restructured contract that would include a pay cut. They have discussed firing him for cause if he doesn't agree to the new contract. And the update here since that came out
about an hour ago. This is from on three Sports, that they offered him a reduced contract that would come with assurances he would that he would go all in on nil. The dollars saved on his contract would be put towards nil and revenue sharing. If Gundy does not agree, Oklahoma State will terminate his existing deal and launch a head coaching search. This is probably not the last time you're going to see something like this happen. Now his
situation is a little bit different. He he's he's got to be one of the longest tenured coaches in power football. In fact, see if you can check on that for me, Austin, as far as who has been at their position the longest. I mean, it's crazy to say this, and it makes me feel really really old, between who Gandhi and who anybody? Okay college football, Yeah, I mean the longest tenured coaches. I mean, he's the I'm a man, I'm forty. That was like eighteen years ago.
I mean that's and I remember that literally in middle school and I had it.
I had it up ready to play.
If you ever went that was that was whenever I was. I remember it was right around the time that I had just become like obsessed with sports talk radio, and I remember it became such a thing on the Jim Rome Show, and I just thought it was so funny. And I feel like that was not that long ago. But yeah, it was a long long time ago. So he's got a contract that was extended not that long ago. Uh and he last year, if you remember, it looked like they were going to be terrible and he would
maybe not be able to salvage it. And then they ended up breaking through and having a really good finish, and then they ran it back this year and they were one of the most disappointing teams in college football, and you could, you know, I'm sure they probably wish they did not extend him whenever they did. I'm not sure exactly when that happened. But he's you know, he's a pretty pretty stubborn. What you see is what you get, guy.
And look, I shouldn't even say stubborn. If somebody's asking you to, you know, do them a favor by not wanting what they agreed to give you in a contract, like and you decide no, I'm not doing that, Like you're you're not stubborn, You're you're I wouldn't even call it standing your ground. You were doing what like you are entitled to do. And there's nothing wrong with doing that.
That's like with Mark Stoops. Like even if Mark Stoops wanted to leave Kentucky like Kentucky fans want him to, he'd be foolish to walk away from that money, and only a fool would do that, So don't be mad at him for like, I can't believe he won't just walk away. He's gonna let this end nasty, and he's gonna it's gonna be well, okay, well you know who would walk away from that contract? What are we gonna say?
I said, how could we forget? Iowa legend?
Kirk Farrens he's right ahead of Mike Gundy, so it's him, and then it's Mike Gundy number two, and then right after that is uh uh Kyle Whittingham of uteh.
Okay Stews is probably not far off from that now that I think about it, but yeah, I don't know.
He's number seventh behind Dave Dorn and Dabo Sweeney.
Makes sense. So when it comes to when I said, this won't be the first time or this won't be the last time this happens, you know, gundy situation is a little bit different because he he's been there a long time and they probably have had two different scenarios in his tenure to where they thought about, Okay, we're gonna have to do it and move on, and they didn't and now you know, they realize they're they're up
against it when it comes to his contract. Now, what I'm curious about is what would they fire him for? Calls for like what we don't I mean that, that's that's what I would want to know. It's yeah, I mean, I think you'll see schools either threaten that to get a reduced buyout or I mean, the last the last school I can think of that just tried to say, all right, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna claim we
have cause was Yukon basketball. If you remember when they fired Kevin Ali, they had no reason to fire him other than he stunk, but that's not included in the contracts. These guys get guys like you could be a terrible coach, and if you don't break rules and you are just going to work and doing the job. Even if the job performance is terrible and you lose every game, that is not cause to fire you without you being given
in every dime that is in the contract. So Kevin Ali, if you remember, he ended up suing and fighting and he won, they had to pay him every bit. So you know, maybe Oklahoma State realizes they do have something in Gundhy. To be fair, he's the kind of coach that, like nobody would really be shocked of anything that comes out of whatever they use as the cause to get rid of him and terminate his employment and claim he
didn't he's not owed any money. But yeah, I don't, uh, I mean, he's made more than seventy million dollars as as their coach. And I know some people will say, well, with that, then he should just agree to take less money, Like no, I mean if he did, then you know, that would really be him doing doing the school of favor. And I know some will say, well, how much money does he need? Like you know that that was the
whole thing with Stoops. That's the reason I broughtoops Ups is because I just thought it was hilarious that as things were really spiraling out of control for Kentucky this past season, there was just like this collective feeling from Kentucky fans that yeah, I just I don't know, I don't. I don't think he's gonna be back. Where would he go? Like, what do you mean he's not gonna be back? Like you think he just wants to leave and not coach anymore.
Fair enough, but he's not gonna walk away from that money. And with Mike Gundhy, same situation, Like I'm sure Oklahoma State fans are like, oh, he's gonna do this to us after he's been here this long and he's made this much money and he knows that things aren't going well and they need money for nil. Okay, Well, then blame the person who gave him the contract, Like that's what it all comes down to. So we'll see what shakes out here. But geting ugly and still water.
Come after me, I'm a man, I'm forty.
There are so many layers to that rant that are i mean legendary, like the come after me, I'm a man, I'm forty is what ninety nine point nine percent of people take from that long rant. But man, there's so many gems within the the whole madness of it, like, uh, the you know, it's even in our intro. I don't even know people know this or not. Did you know that the intro of this show has clips from that rant?
Yes, it's literally right before he says.
That who's the uh, who's the kid here?
Yeah, who's the kid here?
Here? You kidding me? And the best part and then he talks about.
The Jonas brothers at some point there too. I remember, yeah, because he said that at all. Yeah, well, I mean he uses them as like a reference because like they were talking about like kids, you.
Know, Oh okay, well he I just remember it was a I think it was a woman who was a reporter and she and what's crazy is that like she didn't looking back, she didn't do anything that isn't done
every day in college sports. But at that point we were super like these are kids, you know, And and they still are technically actually they're not if they're eighteen, they're not a kid by definition, but you know what I mean, Like it used to be like, well, these guys are out here playing, uh, working their ass off like you shouldn't. Like there used to be a very very clear line of like, all right, well these guys aren't pros. Well, now here we in twenty twenty four,
about to be twenty twenty five. It is absolutely pro sports now, and it's right in front of our face. But he was real bothered by a column that was written that didn't it wasn't personal, it was just kind of acknowledging that one of their players. I guess it was their quarterback like had struggled or something like that, and Gundy he said, who I got to read this garbage and the editor who let it in there is garbage.
And then he went on to say, whoever wrote this could not be a mother of children, and I will never forget it. Jan Rome said, no, it was a mother of bears, that's who wrote it. Like, what do you talk like it was? It's up there. I've at times wanted to find a rant that is better, but that's the best of all time because there's so much
within it that makes it great. But he's kind of you know, there's a lot of people who probably follow college football pretty closely that I guess are aware that, like he had that epic rant many many years ago. But I used to think there's no scenario that Mike Gundy will come to mind and not be what you think about. But I kind of feel like that's not the case anymore. He had a pretty hit, a pretty ugly stretch there during the pandemic, if you remember, like it.
Was oh yeah, the the on network or the oh yeah yeah right wing.
And I can I can respect and that's okay, I can respect, you know, somebody who's just is going to tell you, tell you what they think and be honest with you. But you also have to understand that in your position, you can't be surprised if that backfires on you. And maybe you say, well, you don't care. And if that's the case, then you know, good on you for not carmel people think. But it could also impact your livelihood.
I mean, he's the guy that the Big twelve media days earlier this year, if you remember, I mean his his again, this is a perfect example of Gundhy, My Gundhy at the S at the Big twelve media day. See if you can find the CLIPBOFS then I don't even know how you'd reference it. But Gundhy Big twelve like d Ui because he was talking at the media days and Ali Gordon, their star running back who came back.
It was a big deal. He did not have a great season and obviously they were very underwhelming, but he got a DUI before the season started and Gundy said he was going to discipline him but not suspend him, and then he kind of just started talking and you know, doing Gundy stuff, not realizing what he was actually saying. But he basically said what Ali Gordon did as far as you know, blowing over the legal limit, but just
a little bit. I mean, Gundy said, well, I've done that a million times or a thousand times, whatever it was like. And again I think he's being directly. I think he's been absolutely honest. And in a way you're like, Okay, well, at least he's being honest, But you're like, did you really just on live TV say that like what your player got arrested for that, you know, is like a clear crime that you do it all the time, like good play? That wasn't it?
But that was no, I guess it wasn't. It was just the first thing I clicked. Yeah, you got to do a better job at vetting that. I guess my bad.
Let me see here, and it's not really worth it now, But I swear it was just, you know, and I thought we talked about it live on the air when it had happened, because he had said it while the show was going on and we weren't covering it or anything like that. But you know, you know, oftentimes here in fact, you never hear coaches say that I just sent you the uh, I'm gonna send you the correct clip here, unless, of course you're not on Why are you not on here? Did you? Did you block me on Twitter?
Did you on Twitter?
Name?
I didn't think that you'd ever find out.
Here we go?
Uh?
I sent it to you. But it was one of those things where you realized that that was very crazy for a coach to say, but because the reaction was going to be so consensus, it probably would die down and not become a big deal. And the reaction was, well, yeah, that's my Gundy. That's not at all a surprise that he said that. And then it was kind of over, like,
what are you gonna do? Cancel him? I think if he was gonna be canceled, there were some other things that probably would have already led to him, you know, getting canceled.
I got it for you now, all right, let's see.
I shouldn't laugh. So is that it?
Yeah?
Yeah, probably done that how many times? A thousand times in my life. And here's what's crazy is that I'm not, by any means a Mike Gundhy fan or an apologist, but there isn't There's always gonna be something regardless if you're a low life human being. And I'm not saying that he is. But I think he is very directly honest and what you see is what you get. He's completely transparent. You're never gonna get any sugarcoating of an answer.
And I still think that's worth something. I mean, again, there are people who are like that that are probably awful human beings. And I'm not saying that that that's such a quality that can that can you know that can overcome somebody being a terrible, despicable human And again
not saying Gundy is that. But I think it never became like a big deal because like, yeah, it's Gundhy, what do you expect, Like nobody's surprised at all that he said he's probably driven a thousand times where if he got pulled over, he'd get a dui and a lot of people listening right now probably done the same thing and know it.
So it don't look at me.
Yeah, in a moment, it felt like, oh, this is gonna be bad, and then you're like, actually, probably not, because you know, one, it's Gundy and if anything, he's just being honest.
I guess that's a good thing to look forward to whenever you turn forty, Like that's the next milestone as you can finally play that and feel one with Mike Gundy.
I'm a man, I'm forty. That's like it's a.
Far away from it obviously there before too long.
It's not a just like a year older than me, right yeah, sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't look at day over twenty nine one. No, I'm thirty one, but yeah I'm a lot on you age very well. Oh, thank you, just brown nosing a little bit.
Really appreciate that, man, really appreciate it.
You definitely do it works, it.
Works, all right. We gotta get to a quick break. We'll come back on the other side, talk about these conference championship games this weekend, and then we will talk to doctor Eric Michaelroy of proti ephyscal Therapy who's going to join us coming up in about twenty minutes. So hang out. It's coffee and Company. We are fueled by Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
You're listening to Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee on Sports Talk seven ninety.
That's right, it's coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Thanks for hanging out with us here on a Friday after and as we get you set for the weekend, and we are now joined by the one and only doctor Eric macelroy from pro reaf physcal Therapy. How are we doing aerictificate Thanksgiving? My man?
Uh, yes, sir, I did. I had a great Thanksgiving. We had a little had to do some shifting around. We ended up hosting, but uh it turned out really well and you know ate too much.
But how about yourself?
Yeah, we we had a good time. You said you ended up hosting. I got the sense that maybe you weren't expecting to host, but you had to, so a little bit of a last minute shuffling up the schedule.
It sounds like, yeah, I wouldn't say we had to.
We just had some circumstances where my mother in law usually hosts.
And out of town, and.
You know, my just to make a long story short, she was having to help take care of my niece and nephew and they're really young and became more stressful.
So we just we said, look, we'll we'll do it here.
Just bring the kids to us and we'll have everybody come over to our house. And you know, because most of us have to travel to their place anyway, so uh it worked out and took some of the stress off of her.
Well good, I'm glad that it worked out because I I don't mind hosting stuff at our house. But my wife, she you know, she she doesn't mind. Well, I say she doesn't mind. She stresses out about it a lot, and I'm like, it's not that big of a deal, like we don't have to do that much. And then she tells me all the work that she puts into it, and I'm like, okay, well, I guess there is a lot of work, but it'll be fine, it'll all work out.
But where us, we rarely host. What we do, we actually do a Christmas hosting each each year from my side of the family. And every year she's always worried at something, and I'm like, what what, what would go wrong? It's gonna be family, We're gonna have fun, like it's gonna be great. So I always tell her that's it's unexpected, it's unnecessary worry and stress because it's all gonna it's all gonna work out. So glad you had to go.
And then I'm all and they're always stressed about and I'm like, these people come over all the time.
Yeah, I don't know why the house has to look any different.
Yes, we're on the same page, man, We were absolutely on the same page, all right.
So when it comes to Louisville basketball, man, it has been just a tough go when it comes to injuries. They've now lost both case and Pryor and Corain Johnson for the entire year. Kidder Trey Ore is healing and it's expected to be back at some point. And then there are two players that transferred in to play for the program this year with the expectation of not playing at all because they were coming off of injuries. I guess I'll start with with Krain Johnson. He was dealing
with a shoulder injury. It sounds like and I think last week we had heard from Pat Kelsey that he was seeking a second opinion, and then I guess he got that second opinion and it led to him deciding to go ahead and set out the rest of the season, have a procedure and take a medical red shirt. When you hear that someone is getting a second opinion, I
guess it could depend upon what the injury is. But what is in your profession, what does that usually lead you to believe if they're seeking a second opinion, I mean, what do I know? But I feel like it means they didn't like the first opinion and they're going to try to see if they get better news from somebody else.
Yeah, I'll start backwards.
I think that everybody should always get multiple pinions. I don't think it means you don't love or like what the original opinion was.
H I mean, it could be, but it doesn't always have to be that way.
It's just to make sure that you have all the information and that you know because different different providers may approach things a little differently, and you got to make sure it matches up not just what the surgery is, but does it match up what the expectations and the goals are of that individual. So, you know, for Karn Johnson, I mean, he's a high level basketball player, He's got a future.
Ahead of him. You know, how does.
This particular if he has to have surgery, obviously, like what they're going to do or how they're going to do it, how innovative it is, what's the recovery like, you know, what's that going to mean for his career? And you know, and those are things that he needs to take into account and you know, getting more opinions. You know, the nice thing is if they're matching up,
that usually is telling. If they don't match up, now you got to pick which one is the least least of you know, that has the least amount of resistance that where you know, maybe it or or the best.
Uh impact on your future uh and.
Your ability to come back in a timely manner in order to perform at the level you're accustomed to. So I think that's the way, you know, I look at opinions. You know, I encourage everybody. I encourage people if they don't like what I have to say, or maybe if they don't like it, but if they need to hear it from somebody else, they're welcome to go to get another opinion as well. So, but I think that he
was looking at where he is in the season. I know it's early for us, but for if a procedure needed to be done, and how much that could impact his future.
What I mean by that is the off season and the next season.
You know, sometimes it's better to go ahead and pull the trigger then to prolong something that's probably inevitable.
Yeah, And and I don't know how it happened in practice, that's not information that we're in you know that we get and honestly we're not We're not owed that information at all. But I I feel like the shoulder injuries have become maybe not super common in basketball, but more common than I would than I would expect.
Very physical, you know, a lot of more violent, you know, with the lack of a better term, like you know, when somebody's going up for a rebound's contested, I mean, there's a lot more force behind that than one would realize.
Yeah, I think when you consider contact that's made in basketball, it could be different. There's a lot of different ways, but I feel like that's one of the more common ways that you do, in fact make contact with with somebody. Is whenever you're going to the rim or you're guarding somebody, you're getting a rebound and and that shoulder can can can hit somebody and you know exposed. Yeah, no doubt.
I mean I have a I have a guy, I mean have athletes.
He plays in the NBA and he dislocated his shoulder.
Uh you know in the previous Well he's not he's in the G League right now.
But either way, he uh, you know, he had a dislocated shoulder and it was playing basketball and you know, going up for a rebound, contested rebound. So you know, those things happen, and there's a lot of we always think of football, but you know, very very physical sports and basketball is very physical, and you know, and so, yeah, shoulder injuries are probably more common than you realize.
Yeah, case and Pryor's injuries is an a c L. And obviously that that those are things and Pat Kelsey talked about this earlier this week. These these are injuries that years ago it used to be okay, you know, we'll see how he recovers, and maybe the timeline was a little bit longer. Obviously it's not going to play this year, but no doubt he can recover and get
back to being a really, really good basketball player. I'm just curious if you saw the injury took place or not, and if so, it sounded like everybody who did see it, you know, without having the uh, you know, the knowledge that you would have in your position, that it just kind of seemed like that's exactly what it was. And sure enough, we got the confirmation earlier this week.
It was the a c l Oh, yeah, I remember I text you.
You may have been a few more years in than you wanted to be, but uh you uh.
Yeah, text you.
Let's try to make it seem organic.
Oh sorry, you're good. Yeah.
I was watching the game and uh, you know I text Larry too, and uh immediately he was there. Uh and so yeah, it was you know, those things happen. It's it's a contact injury. There's nothing you could have done, and it's and it sucks. I will say that I would rather that be the case if it's gonna happen than a non contact injury, because usually when when you have non contact ACL injuries, there's other things going on
with that athlete that could have led to that. I'm not saying that's always the case, but that's generally things that we go ahead and start thinking about as in what we do in my what area of medicine I'm in is it's like, oh man, that means that you know he basically you know.
Decelerator on.
There could be some impairents somewhere and that those are usually some thing that would draw a little bit more concerned. This is you know, as you know, somebody rolled into his knee and it hyper extended with a lot of force, and that's unfortunate.
Yep, no doubt.
I hated for him too, because he's I mean, he's not only a big piece of the team, but he it's not just the production on the on the stat sheet, it's the energy, the enthusiasm. And I'm hopeful that despite him being you know, not able to play, he can still bring that on the sidelines and on the bench because they're they're certainly gonna need it. Now there's two players that have transferred into Louisville that we're dealing with injuries.
Kobe Rodgers suffered a knee injury last year in the last game for Charleston when they played Alabama and the NSAA tournament, so he was not expected to play at all this year. But Ali Khalifa, you know, I thought Pat Kelsey when when he was asked about, you know, could there be any chance those guys recover and can play, he was very true, And I find this to be
pretty refreshing. He is going to tell you, hey, you need to talk to the professionals, you know, to Kate the Great as he calls her, the team trainer, because he's not going to really get into the weeds and act like he has any involvement or knowledge of it,
which is the truth. But you know those guys, they weren't expected to play this year at all, and I think he kind of confirmed, Yeah, that's not even a thought in our mind that eventually we'll be able to have more depth because these guys will reverse their plan and play this year. But when it Khalifa, I found a quote from when he committed to Louisville because I don't I mean, he played last year for Mark pop at BYU and I guess he was banged up but
he still played. But after he committed, this was the quot. It said, I just had a scope in my knee to see what was going on. I'm just waiting to get there. We showed the doctors the images and everything, and they told me to do the surgery, but the recovery time is long, so I won't be able to
play next season. So it sounds like the surgery was something that like was maybe not for sure going to happen, but then he got he got guidance from from from doctors and they said you should probably go ahead and have the surgery take a year off and get better. You know, just how common is it for somebody to really not know that they need to have a surgery to get healthy, because again, he played for the majority of the season last year at BYU, but it sounds like he played hurt.
Yeah, this is most likely cartilage issues on the joint surface and so different than like a ligament tear.
Which basically his knee's gonna like you know.
With Casin, his knee's gonna be too unstable if in basketball, especially for him to come back with a torn acl right, So yeah, he's got to have that reconstructed.
Uh.
In Khalifa's situation, it tells me that the structure of the knee is probably good, like he could play, He could play through it.
He's not unstable.
He's gonna have some discomfort, but the cartilage on the surface of the bone is probably damaged and that it's like all right if you and these are really fragile surgeries because of the a lot of times they're they're trying to take carlage from somewhere else and implant in that area. So it's very fragile. If he were to try to go play, it takes a long time for that to embed, especially if it's going to be successful. So that's where I think that.
Makes total sense actually as far as him being able to play on it, but then still knowing like, hey, there's some that you're you're you're probably still dealing with some pain. You're probably not at one hundred percent because of this, So yeah, I mean it was probably. I mean also six eleven, two seventy five, I mean, is that maybe the frame when somebody for somebody that could I mean, I guess you could have that same issue
that he has regardless of your size. But you know, he's a rare player with six eleven two seventy five, a guy who plays ale perimeter despite being so big.
Well he's a big dude, and there's some red flags.
I mean, I wouldn't want, you know, I think he may end up having a great career and and and a lot of the uh innovations have changed around surgeries.
But I mean think about Greg Odin.
Yeah, you know he had different surgeries like this, and you know that's it just it was never easy.
He was a huge man. It was really difficult for him to come back from. Now that's that.
Was years ago, but you know, those are things that start to creep into your head, like you know, once you start down this path, and there's differencing opinions. Obviously, I don't know anything about his case, nor would I want to make assumptions. But you know, some surgeons may say, you know what man like it is, what's going to be? Uh, you know, this is what you're gonna deal with. You played well, you played at a high level.
I would worry about this when your career is over.
I mean there's yeah, you know, there's a lot of different you know, I deal with a lot of soccer players and they have similar things in their foot and ankle and and some surgeons will say you need to go ahead and do something for it. Some will say, you know it is gonna be what it's me if you can play at high level, he might as well just weight. You're not necessarily gonna make it worse. So I think that that's just I guess his case is different, and those are choices he's gonna have to make.
You know.
The nice thing is a lot of times there's not a ton of structural damage. What I mean by that is that the joints otherwise stable, which is a good thing.
And that's why.
He could have technically played before having the operation right, Like he probably wouldn't have been one hundred percent. He would have been paid absolutely now.
And that's different than saying, like a meniscus there, which you know people read about all the time.
The reason that can become a problem. You can play with those two. But if it if it.
Pulls up off, like the meniscus, portion of the mescus pulls off, it's like putting a putting like a rod and a spoke, right, it'll it'll impact the ability of.
The joint to move. So you got to go in and clean that out so the joint can move again. This is different.
This is the actual surface of the bone, and so you know they're just trying to maintain as normal and healthy amount of cartilage as they possibly can because you know, he's what twenty one years old, maybe I don't know how old he is, but you know he's got a long life ahead of him here, maybe a career. So they're trying to preserve as much normal, healthy tissue as they can. And so that's where some of these decisions are made.
Makes sense. Eric is always I appreciate you making time for us. Enjoy your weekend and we will talk soon.
Awesome, man, you have a good weekend too.
Take care. That's doctor Eric McElroy from pro Rea Physical Therapy. Really informative stuff there. When it comes to these injuries. It's not fun to talk about injuries, you know, when anybody getting hurt, and the Louisville Cardinals are dealing with
some big time injuries on the basketball side. But you know, I still again, we'll talk about it a lot more than the five o'clock hour, but I'm going to make it a point in this commercial break to try to get some good energy going because I don't I mean, you got do coming in a week ago. We felt really good about this program in case in prior to not being available is clearly a difference maker. But it was so fun to feel alive, and I want to
have that feeling again. I just know that Duke's really, really good, and they're going to be here on Sunday. All right, Quick Break five o'clock hours next right here on Sportsbox seven ninety