Former NCAA investigater weighs in on OSU

[cherokeebrewer]

my view is, while the drug issues are not good, doubt they become a factor in the eyes of ivestigaters and the sex is a non-starter. The phony jobs and academic shannigans would likely be the focus and frankly those could end up being serious. I'm not glad this is happening to poke state. I would much prefer it happen to the horns. As to the expose' so far, too much fat and not enough lean meat on the bones, but programs have been sanctioned for a lot less. The academic fraud bothers me the most...


http://www.news9.com/story/23408915/former-ncaa-investigator-weighs-in-on-whats-next-for-osu

[8timechamps]

my view is, while the drug issues are not good, doubt they become a factor in the eyes of ivestigaters and the sex is a non-starter. The phony jobs and academic shannigans would likely be the focus and frankly those could end up being serious. I'm not glad this is happening to poke state. I would much prefer it happen to the horns. As to the expose' so far, too much fat and not enough lean meat on the bones, but programs have been sanctioned for a lot less. The academic fraud bothers me the most...


http://www.news9.com/story/23408915/former-ncaa-investigator-weighs-in-on-whats-next-for-osu

Today's piece was very weak (in the overall scheme of things). And like you said, the sex (from what we've heard) is a non-starter for the NCAA. However, if only a portion of the first two reports are true, there are very serious violations there.

The academic portion is what the NCAA will come down the hardest on, especially given the current issues about whether to pay players or not to pay them. If the NCAA can find a quick way to corroborate the money stories, that could just add on to the academic issues, but I don't think they'll devote what little resources they have to following every lead.

[CincySooner]

Heh... and now the discrepancies between the sources and the univeristy are starting to come out. The sources are looking less credible as each day passes.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9665724/documents-undermine-some-oklahoma-state-cowboys-accusers

As far as I know, the NCAA doesn't have a substance abuse policy regarding eligibility and positive tests. They've got nothing there. Do they even have a PED policy, or is that left to the institutions as well? EDSBS put it best when they said that 30 players in trouble with drugs over 10 years only proves that okie state is NORMAL to anyone who can do math.

The sex thing is going to be one big eye-roll.

It's official: SI has become worse than yard-barker and bleacher report.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Today's piece was very weak (in the overall scheme of things). And like you said, the sex (from what we've heard) is a non-starter for the NCAA. However, if only a portion of the first two reports are true, there are very serious violations there.

The academic portion is what the NCAA will come down the hardest on, especially given the current issues about whether to pay players or not to pay them. If the NCAA can find a quick way to corroborate the money stories, that could just add on to the academic issues, but I don't think they'll devote what little resources they have to following every lead.

Lord, the NCAA couldn't come up with anything on Manziel for one measly autograph session. How do you think they're going to go back a decade and find a money trail?

The NCAA became a joke long ago. What went down at USC and Miami in the 00s made SMU in the 80s look like child's play - and, those guys got off pretty light.

The reason the NCAA doesn't have power anymore is that the member institutions don't want them to have that much power anymore.

The whole thing is a charade. Everybody who follows college football by now knows that the thing is run by the three or four biggest conferences. Okay?

And, in fact, those conferences are about to pull the plug on their football programs being part of the NCAA anyway - or, change it extremely.

This is no longer a "student athlete"-driven thing at schools like ours, Texas, Bama...it just isn't. I hate that it isn't, but who do you think is going to step up and put the genie back in the bottle? Boren? Powers? Whomever the presidents are at Notre Dame, Alabama, and the like?

No way. It's now a business. And, a big business at that. A little weed here, a little sex there...it's just an HR-type issue to be "handled internally with the team." Or, "waiting until the justice system runs it's course" (translation: wait until we can get one of our alumni attorneys to go down to the court house and get things squared away, so the kid can have a "second chance").

I hate that it's this way. But, really, these days, you have to have a Penn State-type scandal to get anyone off square one at the NCAA...or among the universities.

[cherokeebrewer]

FYI: SI released this statement, I assume in regards to the backlash.


"The facts of the matter are that a team of award-winning reporters conducted a 10-month investigation that included on-the-record recorded interviews with 60-plus individual players from the Oklahoma State program. Any attempt to discredit an individual reporter is an attempt to deflect the matter at hand.''

[Curly Bill]

All OSU has to do is deny deny deny. And oh yeah: tell the NCAA to go screw themselves.

What's the NCAA gonna do, suspend OSU from the first half of its first game next season?

[KantoSooner]

good post TDTW.

It does lead one to ask why it's like this today. Here's my take:

1. The money. Why is this not treated more seriously? Because there're lakes of it in the sport now with mega teevee contracts. And it seems a bit nasty to not let the players get a taste. That's it in a nutshell.

2. The Academics. We seem to have no standards, really. Kids buy papers pretty openly and submit them, they use cell phones to cheat on tests, they even hack admin files and change their grades and does the sky fall? It does not. Why pull the fire alarm if a FB player going after a physiotherapy degree gets a grade he didn't earn. We've commoditized education. It's not just athletes.

3. The Drugs. In short, the nation's changing and changed. We, as a people, don't really agree with our drug laws anymore and many are violating them daily in their personal lives. Why penalize some kid for something you can see in virtually any parking lot on a given Friday night?

4. Sex. Not even worth the comment. 1/10 of all kids don't have the daddies their mommies told them they do. Of these, around 1/3 have bio-dads who are their uncles or grandpa's. What's the percentage of out of wedlock births? Pre-marital sex? Extra-marital sex? I suppose that if there's coercion or money involved, I could manage a mild protest, but if some young patriotic fan walks into a recruit's presence and tells him exactly what she'll do if he solemnly promises to sign wtih her school, well, she's not doing anything that recruit hasn't seen a hundred times before.

We are getting exactly what we desire and what we live in our daily lives. So, why blame 18 year old athletes for doing what everyone else is?

[8timechamps]

Lord, the NCAA couldn't come up with anything on Manziel for one measly autograph session. How do you think they're going to go back a decade and find a money trail?

The NCAA became a joke long ago. What went down at USC and Miami in the 00s made SMU in the 80s look like child's play - and, those guys got off pretty light.

The reason the NCAA doesn't have power anymore is that the member institutions don't want them to have that much power anymore.

The whole thing is a charade. Everybody who follows college football by now knows that the thing is run by the three or four biggest conferences. Okay?

And, in fact, those conferences are about to pull the plug on their football programs being part of the NCAA anyway - or, change it extremely.

This is no longer a "student athlete"-driven thing at schools like ours, Texas, Bama...it just isn't. I hate that it isn't, but who do you think is going to step up and put the genie back in the bottle? Boren? Powers? Whomever the presidents are at Notre Dame, Alabama, and the like?

No way. It's now a business. And, a big business at that. A little weed here, a little sex there...it's just an HR-type issue to be "handled internally with the team." Or, "waiting until the justice system runs it's course" (translation: wait until we can get one of our alumni attorneys to go down to the court house and get things squared away, so the kid can have a "second chance").

I hate that it's this way. But, really, these days, you have to have a Penn State-type scandal to get anyone off square one at the NCAA...or among the universities.

You do realize that the only way the NCAA could prove anything with the Manziel case was if one of the parties talked. None of them did. They investigated, but what are they supposed to do when nobody talks to them? Seriously?

When you have 60 former players, independently interviewed, and they corroborate each other's stories, that's more than enough for the NCAA to act on.

There is plenty there that could be proven, if the NCAA chooses to put the man-power into this. What remains to be seen is whether or not they will.

While the NCAA hasn't been a model of efficiency, if you think they'll just say "oh, it goes on everywhere, we'll pass on this one", then you're as naive as the OSU fans.

[cherokeebrewer]

I notice a lot of cynicism since the SI article was first published. I want to believe that everyone is not doing it, at least not to this degree, I want to believe Coach Bob Stoops runs one of the cleanest programs in the FBS. I listened to Gabe Ikard and Trey Millard on the replay show...very educated and well spoken. OU seems to have a very good graduation rate. I don't want to believe it's as bad as it sounds...guess I'm still old school.

[cherokeebrewer]

And I wish someone would correct my spelling...

[8timechamps]

I notice a lot of cynicism since the SI article was first published. I want to believe that everyone is not doing it, at least not to this degree, I want to believe Coach Bob Stoops runs one of the cleanest programs in the FBS. I listened to Gabe Ikard and Trey Millard on the replay show...very educated and well spoken. OU seems to have a very good graduation rate. I don't want to believe it's as bad as it sounds...guess I'm still old school.

I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought no player at OU smokes Marijuana. In fact, we know that some do (thanks to suspensions, police reports). That is something I think goes on at every school (with or without a football program).

I am not sold on the argument that the same things being alleged to have happened at OSU are going on at OU. I know for a fact that Boosters are not allowed unfettered access to the players. So, if there are boosters funneling money to the athletes, it's done very secretly, if at all.

The best thing that could have happened at OU, happened in the late 80's. Then, if anyone needed a reminder, Bomar made sure nobody would forget. The way Stoops handled that situation is proof that if he finds out anything is going on, it's stopped.

Things could be going on in Norman, but I feel comfortable that Stoops does what he can to keep the program clean. And I feel pretty comfortable that the picture being painted of Stillwater is not indicative of the way things run in Norman.

[Monster Zero]

"What's the NCAA gonna do, suspend OSU from the first half of its first game next season? "

^^^ This right here. I'm gonna make it my tagline over at another board I frequent...

[Curly Bill]

I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought no player at OU smokes Marijuana. In fact, we know that some do (thanks to suspensions, police reports). That is something I think goes on at every school (with or without a football program).

I am not sold on the argument that the same things being alleged to have happened at OSU are going on at OU. I know for a fact that Boosters are not allowed unfettered access to the players. So, if there are boosters funneling money to the athletes, it's done very secretly, if at all.

The best thing that could have happened at OU, happened in the late 80's. Then, if anyone needed a reminder, Bomar made sure nobody would forget. The way Stoops handled that situation is proof that if he finds out anything is going on, it's stopped.

Things could be going on in Norman, but I feel comfortable that Stoops does what he can to keep the program clean. And I feel pretty comfortable that the picture being painted of Stillwater is not indicative of the way things run in Norman.

Our falloff in recruiting as of late may be some indication this is true?!?!

[8timechamps]

Our falloff in recruiting as of late may be some indication this is true?!?!

LOL...well, if the alternative is Ole Miss, it would certainly stand to reason!

[Curly Bill]

LOL...well, if the alternative is Ole Miss, it would certainly stand to reason!

Yep, I'm waiting for the smoking gun on Ole Miss. I'd bet everything I have they're not doing things remotely clean down there.

[8timechamps]

Yep, I'm waiting for the smoking gun on Ole Miss. I'd bet everything I have they're not doing things remotely clean down there.

You and me both. It's just a matter of time. It'll be some kid that thought he was going to be a superstar, that ends up quitting or getting kicked off the team and dropping out of school. Given the level of talent they have suddenly attracted, I bet there's some serious money changing hands.

I would love to see one of the media outlets sink their teeth into that program.