Reid: Gundy's rant "basically ended my life"
By Tom Friend
ESPN The Magazine
(Archive)
Updated: April 11, 2008
The lethal combination of testosterone, Red Bull and YouTube got us to this awkward place. It's a place where a coach is a cult figure for hollering: "I'm a man! I'm 40!" And it's a place where a quarterback is a vagabond -- for not hollering back.
Seven months later, the tirade of the century still has legs, and those legs are leaning against a rusted goalpost in Houston. The quarterback's name is Bobby Reid, and if his pulse is quick and his tongue is acid, it's because he's still stewing over the 3-minute, 20-second rant that "basically ended my life."
The problem is, nobody realizes it. He was at a party last fall with a teammate, receiver Adarius Bowman, when two co-eds found out he and Bowman were football players at Oklahoma State.
Co-ed: "Oh! Your coach is such a great guy, the way he stood up for his quarterback!"
Bowman: "This is the boy you're talking about right here. This is Bobby Reid. This is the quarterback."
Co-ed: "Well, your coach is such a magnificent man. He's a hero in my book."
Reid: "Sweetheart, pump your brakes. It's not what you think it is. Let me tell you the story."
So he told her a story ...
They built this quarterback in Southern Texas. They dubbed him the next Vince Young, they charted his long passes with a tape measure, and, when he led his Houston high school to the 2003 Class 5A State title, they figured someday he'd be playing on Sundays.
Reid had it all: arm, legs, smarts, manners and an unlisted phone number. Then Oklahoma State coach Les Miles, offered him his first scholarship and a mesmerized Reid accepted. Ohio State recruited him anyway, and Reid even let Jim Tressel into his home. But Reid's word was oak, and Miles considered it the biggest recruiting coup at the school since Thurman Thomas.
The kid was 6-foot-4, 235 pounds and so quick he'd never taken a direct hit. Better yet, he'd graduated from high school early, which meant he could attend spring practice before his freshman season.
It had a certain Oklahoma State quarterback coach frothing at the mouth.
A quarterback coach named Mike Gundy.