Sports Illustrated Investigative Report Involving Oklahoma State

Ha! Good point. Reggie Bush was first but he, Cam and Pretty Boy are pulling a train on 'em.

 

I sort of agree. With the amount of attention LSU has gotten from the NCAA in the past few years id imagine that if anything shady was going on it would have been uncovered by now. At least I would hope.

The opinion of most here in ok is there is no way that the entire report could be true but there is also no way it could all be false either. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

My opinion is that Deforest will take the brunt of anything that comes of it. Miles and Porter will take hits to their reputations. If by chance there is anything they need to be "worried" about at LSU they had at least a 2 day head start and I hope they took appropriate action to mmmm disguise it.

 

Les, knew. Why is his integrity being questioned?

 

It is the world we live in today. People just can't effing stand to see anyone else succeed. Look at our POTUS, I hate that SOB.

 

I've read this thread since it started watching those who've attacked the messenger more closely than any of the opinions. (Don't waste all of your bullets on part one, ya know?)

Writers having senior writers, editors having editors, lawyers having lawyers...there's your make-up of the vetting process with SI. I've seen some say, even more allude to the possibility, that SI made up all of this. That's a wish upon a star. (A Disney reference in a post about a Time Warner company...hrmm.)

If you look at the last few years there's a crumb trail leading to OSU. While I can't say this is how SI came across this story it makes sense. Evans was looking at Taylor and Luper intensely when he was covering the Cam Newton story. Before Auburn, both coached at OSU and pushed the envelope there. (Taylor has been riding the edge of recruiting bylaws for close to two decades around the SEC.) There are accusations against OSU here that the same "tatics" were used in Opelika.

 

Maybe there's something there, maybe not. If SI really had a smoking gun, they would have rushed to press with it rather than spread it out over 5 weeks and risk getting scooped by ESPN, Yahoo Sports, etc. Right now, SI says they have players who say they've been paid, other players have stepped forward now saying it's crap. Co-written by a reporter with highly suspect credibility after the Cam situation. You think if I were so inclined that I couldn't convince some of Nick's former players who left on less-than-perfect terms to do likewise? Could I then conclude that there's a "crumb trail" leading to Tuscaloosa?

Sorry, but SI is going to need more proof than the say-so of dead/unnamed players and innuendo to make their case to me. The most likely scenario IMO is that there were shady dealings going on both at OSU and by SI trying to build this huge expose around it. In the end I suspect they will be very light on actual evidence.

 

Absolutely not, they don't have grounds to do anything. They would have to do their own investigation if they wanted to discipline OSU and any involved. If they do end up doing an investigation, it is chicken sh!t that it takes some reporter to get them to act and it takes the media to dictate where the NCAA should investigate. If the NCAA wanted to squash this type of behavior by schools and boosters they could. They could catch this type of stuff if they wanted to.

They don't want to. They don't want the seedy part of college programs exposed and blemish the sport and all the money it makes for them and the schools. That is why they follow the media's lead on stuff like this. They have to appear to do something when the media comes out with stories like this or Manziel. They have to appear to be on top of this stuff and send down penalties. But notice it is typically the media that starts it all. The NCAA would just rather everybody believe that all programs are clean and don't do any of this sort of stuff. Now most schools probably aren't this blazen if this story has some truth to it. I think the typical type of stuff is overpaying players for easy jobs.

 

Let me clarify....IF the interviews in the article are truthful and if cash was being handed out in the locker room, you would think Miles knew it was going on. If the part is true where he directed players to boosters for help, then he knew about the cash handouts.

Now, I have always thought Miles as a standup guy and didn't put up with much. I would be very disappointed if this story has some validity to it. If the story from SI is true, this kind of stuff would've put Miles in a very difficult position. Very difficult. This is your first job as a collegiate head coach and there is big pressure to build up the program and lots of money to help that happen. Do you ruin your career by going to the NCAA? Do you talk with the AD and tell him you don't want this? Well the AD is then in the same difficult position and my just fire you since you're not playing ball.

Man....CLM was in a very tight spot if this article is correct. If it it correct then I'm sure he probably tried to distance and protect himself as much as possible so he could have "plausible deniability".

So I'm a "Known Miles Basher?"
Yes I've criticized him for decisions I didn't agree with or mishandling of games or playcalling. That doesn't make me a Miles Basher. I'm just not a sunshine pumper that thinks he can do no wrong. The guy makes mistakes, there is nothing wrong with talking about that. But in the end I think he is a very good coach and am glad he is here. He is a great recruiter and leader and a players coach. I think he really loves those kids and is willing to give them 2nd and 3rd chances. Sometimes I don't agree with it but he's the coach.
So yes I criticize Miles, but that doesn't mean I'm a "Basher".

 

After sleeping on it, I'm a little "iffy" on some of what was said. I don't know what some of these guys would gain by saying they saw money given or they took money. SI is probably dragging this thing out to increase traffic and readership. They don't bring it to the presses till football season starts to maximize benefits.

The only way to know the complete truth is to investigate completely. Which I don't think will happen. It will be a half hearted investigation (ala Manziel) and some scholarships might be taken away and that's about it. Hopefully Miles will not be tarnished in any of this and it would be even great if the NCAA found he knew absolutely nothing about supposed cash payouts.