Herschel Sims’ Twitter transgression results in a week of StairMaster
Published: 9/13/2011 2:51 PM
Last Modified: 9/13/2011 3:45 PM
Herschel Sims in the preseason. Tulsa World file
During the entirety of seven practice sessions, Sims was on a StairMaster while clad in full pads and a helmet.
“Herschel was running his mouth, so I had to do something about it,” Gundy said on Monday.
As OSU opened the season with a Sept. 3 blowout of Louisiana-Lafayette, first-year freshman running back Desmond Roland got eight fourth-quarter carries while Sims did not play. Almost immediately after the game concluded, Sims expressed disappointment with a barbed comment on Twitter.
Complaining to a friend or a teammate is natural, Gundy said, but expressing dissatisfaction on Twitter – airing it for public consumption – is not acceptable.
Gundy said his message to Sims was this: “You set yourself up for people to think you’re a little brat, and you’re not.”
“He’ll have to learn from that,” Gundy said. “He can earn their respect back. . . . He’s not a bad kid. He’s a good kid.”
On Sept. 5, Gundy explained that Sims hadn’t played against Louisiana-Lafayette because of a sore ankle and a lack of practice time.
“Herschel and I are in good standing,” Gundy added on Monday. “Now he just has to build back his reputation with the Oklahoma State people. But he’s not a bad kid.”
Before Gundy could officially confirm it, Cowboy free safety Johnny Thomas reported on Twitter that he was ineligible for the entire 2011 season. Because of the Sims and Thomas situations, Gundy was asked whether he might consider a ban on the players’ use of Twitter and Facebook. Gundy’s response: No.
“I’m trying to stay out of social networking the best I can,” the coach said. “I think it’s a losing battle. If you try to take social networking away from your players, that’s something you’re going to have to battle every day. I don’t want to fight that battle every day. We have certain guidelines that we have to follow.”
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
