Report accuses Okla. St. of violations
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oklahoma State is are about to be the focus of a substantial investigation that alleges they paid players for performance and engaged in widespread academic misconduct, among a litany of other transgressions.
Beginning Sept. 10 at 9 a.m. ET, Sports Illustrated plans to release "The Dirty Game," a five-part look into Oklahoma State's rise to national prominence in the past 12 years.
The series will be released one part at a time from Sept. 10 to Sept. 17 and covers money, academics, drugs, sex and "the fallout."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sports Illustrated claims it has "independent and on-the-record interviews with more than 60 former OSU football players who played from 2001 to '10, as well as current and former OSU football staffers."
SI says the widespread violations began under LSU head coach Les Miles, who coached Oklahoma State from 2001-04, and continued under current coach Mike Gundy, who was promoted to the head job from offensive coordinator in 2005.
Representatives of the magazine were in Stillwater, Okla., last week to notify university officials in person of the upcoming report.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Monday, Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder addressed the media regarding the alleged improprieties.
"As the athletic director at Oklahoma State and an alumnus of Oklahoma State University, I don't want to believe that it's true," Holder told reporters. "We take this personally. We're all committed to playing by the rules and doing things the right way around here, and for people to say that's not what's happening is very disturbing."