“I will not stand on the sidelines and allow someone to attack my credibility.”

Gundy also said in his news conference that “I don’t dislike Jenni. Jenni and I have had a good relationship, and her and I joke about things. Obviously I didn’t feel real comfortable with that article. I’m not mad at her, I don’t dislike her and I don’t think she’s a bad person — not that I’m somebody to judge.”

The Oklahoma City newspaper has stood behind Carlson and the content of the piece.

Bob Stoops, the coach of No. 3 Oklahoma, defended Gundy’s right to confront Carlson, but declined to delve too far into the debate.

“Everybody has a remark on everything we do, and that’s OK,” Stoops told reporters Tuesday. “As soon as a coach has an opinion on what any of you do, then you can’t do that. I don’t know why that would be. We’re entitled to our opinions as well. So that’s it. I’ve got nothing else to say about it.”

A clause in Gundy’s contract notes that the coach “shall conduct himself with due regard to public convention and morals, shall not do any act that will tend to degrade him in society or bring him into public hatred, contempt, scorn or ridicule, or that will tend to shock, or insult the community or offend public morals or decency.”

Asked about that clause, Shutt said “the administration supports coach Gundy and the job he’s doing.” He said the university’s interim president, Marlene Strathe, is not planning to comment on the incident.

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Big 12 Conference spokesman Bob Burda said the league “does not have jurisdiction when it comes to matters of treatment of media members by coaches, student-athletes or administrators” because “our membership has not empowered us with jurisdiction in that matter.”

Media groups, including the Football Writers Association of America and the Association for Women in Sports Media, have issued statements critical of Gundy.

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