The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Even if I wasn't a OU Football fan. The SI write up so far seems to me to have quite a bit of merit. But then again the players talking seem to still be on the take, just a different payroll.

Any OSU grads here on TNF have anything to add or say about the goings on with all this?

SI better hope the allegations have merit. Lawsuits may be looming.

As far back as the 1970's I remember watching football players on construction sites here in Tulsa driving new cars and performing "featherbedding" jobs. Big deal. It was just a select few not the whole team.

But the ag's should have known better than to hire that Miles type rif raf. Now they have to face what all successful programs do. Innuendo, half truths, insiders, investigations and ambitious career journalists.

I wish them well, and am glad to see its not Penn St. type stuff.

My thoughts?  I only wish they'd had "hostesses" for those of us in the general population at OSU.

Really no different than any other Division I program.  Boosters will always place winning above all else and will bend and break rules to try and attract the best players and keep them motivated.

I went to graduate school at OSU-Tulsa and just about everyone else in my family went to Stillwater.  I am not so naive to think that OSU is squeaky clean.  However, I don't think any other school is either.  As a graduate of OSU and football season ticket holder, I find the allegations very serious and hope that they are not true.  On the other hand, Thayer Evans is a known OU fan (he has tweeted about wearing crimson to bedlam and has called OSU "Chokie State" in another tweet) and seems to have an axe to grind with OSU. So far former players are coming out of the woodwork to say none of this ever happened (including those named in the article).  Two or three players have said that they were misquoted in the article.  Aso Pogi said he didn't even know that he was being recorded: http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/post.aspx/22190.  Not one player that wasn't "interviewed" has come out and said, "yup, that's is what was going on."  The authors of the article went after former players that would possibly hold a grudge against OSU:

Calvin Mickens (CB in 2005; dismissed from team): Says he was given cash from boosters after games and witnessed teammates also receive money; says he was paid for stadium work he didn't do
Javius Townsend (OL in 2010; transferred): Says he did not receive payments but knew others who did
Thomas Wright (DB in 2002-04; dismissed from team): Says players earned bonus money based on performance; says players were paid for work they didn't do
Brad Girtman (DT in 2003-04; dismissed from team): Says ex-assistant Joe DeForest explained rates paid for specific plays; says he received a $5,000 debit card from DeForest
Rodrick Johnson (LB-DE in 2004-07): Says DeForest set rewards of $100-$500 for big plays; says he was paid for stadium work he didn't do
Chris Wright (CB-WR in 2001-03): Says he saw DeForest hand stacks of bills to certain players based on performance; says players were paid for work they didn't do
Seymore Shaw (RB in 2002-04; suspended and transferred): Says teammate Tatum Bell bragged about getting bonus money; says DeForest paid players for work they didn't do
Fath' Carter (S in 2000-03): Says some players received up to $500 in the locker room after the 2001 Bedlam win; says he was paid for work he didn't do
Doug Bond (OL in 2002-04; dismissed from team): Says certain players were given money by boosters but denies receiving payments
Ricky Coxeff (CB in 2003-04; dismissed from team): Says he knew of two teammates who visited DeForest at home and returned with money
Aso Pogi (QB in 1999-02; transferred): Says he and a teammate lived at an FCA director's home for a summer rent-free
William Bell (DE in 2004; dismissed from team): Says he was paid $200 by a booster to fish in a pond and got to keep the fish  

Of the above, Pogi and Johnson have both said that they were misquoted.  

I find it disgusting that that they are dragging three people's names through the mud that can no longer defend themselves.  

As I stated above, I doubt that OSU is completely innocent, but no school is.  Do I think that the violations were as widespread as the article implies?  No, and I really hope I am not wrong about that.  If it comes out that this is a fabrication on Thayer Evans part, I hope OSU goes after him and SI with everything they have.  

So...just my two cents.  I hope it makes some sense.  I am pretty upset about all of this, at the moment.

Edit: BTW, the Tulsa World is doing a pretty good job of getting both sides of the story.  I have to hand it to them for doing that.
Edit2: Here is an example of Evans' "reporting" on OSU.  It reads like a college newspaper story instead of something that belongs on a sports network's website.  Maybe I am giving sports networks too much credit, though. http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Oklahoma-State-Cowboys-beat-Texas-Longhorns-sloppy-play-bodes-poorly-for-Mike-Gundy-101511

Don't know if you saw this on the "Schustercue" topic:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/post.aspx/Jason_Whitlock_slams_SI_writer_Thayer_Evans/11-22173

A pretty damning op/ed/article on Thayer Evans

I did see that.  I thought Whitlock went a little far with it, but he definitely got his point across. Apparently he went on Colin Cowerd's show today and ripped him again.  He even brought the whole Pogi situation up, too.

So far, the hard facts backing up the allegations have fallen short of the  hype.  Nonetheless, everyone needs to take down the blinders.  Of course happy and contented current and former players and coaches are denying the allegations.  They have just as much (if not more) incentive to cover up any wrong doing as those disgruntled former players who SI relied on for the story have to make up this stuff.  When KOTV Sports Director John Holcomb - who is also employed by OSU - goes on TV to raise concerns of “bias” with the SI story authors, it is laughable.

OSU boosters make a real mistake if they turn this into an “attack the messenger” by going after the SI writers and try to minimize the seriousness of these allegations.  Yes, $100 booster handshakes and bogus summer jobs do happen everywhere and are impossible for a school to stop.  But money in envelopes and socks distributed in the locker room implies outright facilitation if not execution by coaches and staff.

Sadly, the lesson learned the past few years is that the NCAA is a toothless old hound guarding the chicken coop.  If those accused lie or refuse to cooperate, there isn’t much of anything the NCAA can do about it.  Here, given the age of many of the allegations, it is even more so.  In the end, the real harm to OSU will be a public relations black eye, but it is unlikely to result in more than a slap on the wrist (unless someone steps forward with better evidence than we’ve seen so far).

Why don't they do an article on the current state of the program?

...and now, the attention is most likely going to go somewhere else.  Apparently Yahoo! has actual evidence in their story:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--documents--texts-reveal-impermissible-benefits-to-five-sec-players-202513237.html

2011 was just two years ago. Current players and coaches (some who were at OSU then) aren't about to end their careers or playing time by discussing the state of the current program.

In fact, most of those interviewed, after seeing the hailstorm launched at the story, are unlikely to even confirm their remarks. There are tape recordings for some of the interviews.

For what it is worth, ESPN is starting to poke (no pun intended) holes in this thing:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9665724/documents-undermine-some-oklahoma-state-cowboys-accusers

Full disclosure, the author is an OSU grad.  Facts are facts, though.

With a player that was extremely discontent in Sims.