The NCAA is about to get very busy in Stillwater. Sports Illustrated essentially did the work for them, outlining a pay-for-play scheme by coaches at Oklahoma State. The 10-month investigation project of the Cowboy's football program has officially begun to be rolled out. It highlights numerous NCAA violations committed by the program from 2001 to 2011.
The report published the first installment of the project, titled "The Money" on Tuesday. According to SI, the university funneled money to players by bonus systems managed by the coaches, direct payments by boosters and no-show jobs by coaches and boosters. In interviews from eight former Oklahoma State players, pay-for-play schemes were revealed, bringing down everyone from head coach Mike Gundy, former head coach Les Miles and assistant coaches now with West Virginia and Texas.
Gundy has released a statement in regards to the published report. On Monday, the head coach released a video with his brief thoughts in SI and the entire investigation.
"I'm very proud of what we've accomplished here, both on and off the field," Gundy said. "Our goal has always been to take young people from where their parents have gotten them and to make them better over a four or five year period. We're very proud of that in many ways. So, until further time -- and obviously the university will make that decision -- there's not any comment that we would have on the Sports Illustrated article."
Miles, now the head coach at LSU, was brought up in the report. The head coach only briefly spoke on the allegations after the team's win over UAB on Saturday. Miles told reporters, "I don't know of any improprieties while I was coaching there. We always did things right."
Joe DeForest, an assistant under Miles was directly accused of paying players. The Cowboys had three straight losing seasons before both came into the program and brought them a lot of success. He also insists they ran a clean program.
SI will continue to publish details of their investigation piece by piece. Reports of tolerated academic misconduct and drug use will also be discussed in later reports, set to be published throughout the week.
