A contractor claims he lost more than $30,000 when Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy fired him because the man wore a University of Oklahoma T-shirt to work at the Gundys’ home, according to a report in the Stillwater News-Press on Friday.
Gundy, reached by ESPN.com, says he's known about the lawsuit for two or three weeks, but is not allowed to comment.
"It’s a personal issue," he said. "We’ll get to the bottom of all this and people will kind of see exactly what happened, but as of now, I’m not allowed to comment on it."
Oklahoma State denied the allegations in a statement from spokesman Carrie Hulsey-Greene.
"On behalf of Coach Gundy, while I cannot discuss the specifics of pending litigation, I deny the allegations being made and welcome the opportunity to fully resolve the matter," the statement read, according to the report.
[Brent] Loveland’s lawsuit says when he showed up for work last spring wearing an OU baseball shirt, the Cowboys’ coach responded with profanity and kicked him off the job. ...
“Mike asked, ‘How dare you come into my house and offend my wife,’” the suit states.
When Loveland asked what he was taking about, “’Mike responded, ‘That [expletive] shirt you have on,’” the suit says.
"Mike called plaintiff a 'stupid idiot' for wearing the shirt on 'OSU soil,'" the suit says.
Gundy told him to pack his things and leave, the suit claims.
Loveland apologized and offered to turn the shirt inside out, but Gundy refused and insisted Loveland “‘pack his [expletive]’” and leave, the suit says.
“During the confrontation, Mike let loose a string of cursing that would make a sailor blush,” according to the lawsuit.
Loveland’s lawsuit contends he “dressed in the dark” at 4 a.m. to go to the Stillwater job and didn’t realize he had grabbed a shirt promoting OSU’s Bedlam rival.
“As it turns out, his random choice in the dark that morning of what shirt to wear was unfortunate,” Loveland’s lawsuit said.
The report states that Gundy had agreed for Loveland to work on the main floor of the house for 13 weeks in a job totaling more than $80,000 of work. Turning down other jobs cost him $30,000, Loveland says.
"I’m an OSU guy, so this is not a vendetta. This is simply a gentleman who’s a small business owner, he depends on his work for his livelihood and he didn’t get paid for a job where we think he was unreasonably terminated,” White told the paper.