It’s hard to believe anything could overshadow Saturday’s SEC showdown between Texas A & M and Alabama in College Station, but Sports Illustrated’ upcoming five-part series on corruption in the Oklahoma State football program could be one of the most explosive blockbusters of the season.
Prepare yourself. The shock value of the allegations that will break this week is high and alleges academic fraud, coaches and Oklahoma State boosters paying players for jobs they didn’t perform and big plays on the field, a drug culture within the team, sex between recruits on visits and the hostesses showing them around campus. Most of the infractions reported occured between 2001 and 2007, the heart of the Les Miles era.
Sports Illustrated told Cowboy officials Aug. 28 that it talked to 60 former players and 30 former coaches/staff personnel.The current players were informed of the series last weekend.
After LSU beat UAB Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La., Miles, who is now the head coach of the SEC Tigers, said the magazine also contacted him about the coming story. “I don’t know of any improprieties while I was the coach there,” Miles said. “I can tell you this: We have always done things right. I really enjoyed my time at Oklahoma State. I felt like I met a lot of wonderful people and we made our football team better. We worked hard. It has never been a place where you needed to cheat to have success.
Oklahoma State senior officials were clearly troubled by the claims.
“We will investigate the accuracy of the allegations and take all appropriate action,” OSU President Burns Hargis said in the statement. “We do not condone or tolerate improper conduct in our athletic programs. OSU requires everyone affiliated with the university to follow the rules and adhere to the highest ethical standards.”
“This goes well beyond the NCAA rules and any consequences,” OSU vice president of athletics Mike Holder said. “You’ve got to take a hard look at yourself in the mirror. . . There’s been a breakdown there. We need to do a better job. If nothing else, if none of it’s true, and yet there are really, really hard feelings, you gotta feel bad about yourself. That’s the way I feel about it.”
The NCAA statute of limitations has long run out of the alleged OSU violations, and according to SI, Mike Gundy and his staff have cleaned up the mess. No current OSU players are involved. But the school is still destined to receive a black eye for a culture that treated its players like commodities.
SI reportedly is set to allege Joe DeForest, a former OSU assistant from 2001 through 2010 under Miles and Gundy and the current special teams coordinator at West Virginia, was directly involved in the scandal, running the bonus program and paying players for big plays as recently as 2001.
“West Virginia University is aware of an upcoming investigative reporting series in Sports Illustrated which — while focused on another institution — includes allegations against one of our current assistant football coaches regarding his time of employment at his previous Institution,” AD Oliver Luck said. “Upon learning of the pending investigative report, WVU launched an internal review to ensure the coach’s full compliance to NCAA rules while at West Virginia. The NCAA has also been contacted. While our assistant football coach has denied the allegations, it is the right thing to do to look into the matter and review practices here.”
