In the final chapter of "The Dirty Game," Sports Illustrated said so many players have been jettisoned from the Oklahoma State football program and wound up in bad situations that this question should be asked: "How much did the program really care?"
Former player Jeremy Nethon was dismissed from the program for a violation of team rules in 2005, shortly after Mike Gundy became head coach.
In Nethon's case, he suggests the Cowboys cared. He saw evidence when former assistant coach Joe DeForest "teared up and cried about it" when informing Nethon about the dismissal.
"Even when they kicked me off, they were saying we can help you find other schools, we can help you get your release form out to these other universities," Nethon said during a Monday telephone interview.
"So they were doing everything possible to make sure I wasn't ... just floating around and not being able to do anything."
Nethon, who said he was dismissed for academics, was off the team for about a month and was getting calls to check out other campuses. He always wanted to be a Cowboy, so he decided to "be a man about it" and ask Gundy for another chance.
Gundy agreed to let Nethon back onto the team as a non-scholarship player.
"I went from scholarship to a walk-on and I was (on the) practice squad," Nethon said. "I worked at Payless Shoes and I went to school. At the time I just had a kid too, so it was really growing up, really quick."
Nethon eventually earned his scholarship back. He's a second-chance guy who made the most of the chance and he said reading the final chapter of SI's investigative series "drives me absolutely insane because that's completely the opposite" of the OSU he knows.
"They want you to succeed," he said. "They want to take care of you. I looked at Oklahoma State, and I still do, as my family. And, of course, whenever you do things wrong within your family, you are going to get in trouble for it. But they are not just going to overlook you. They want you to do good. They want you to succeed."
Also speaking out to defend the program Monday was former defensive back Andrew McGee, now a graduate assistant coach at West Virginia.
SI alleged that players who had physical (or other) issues and were unable to perform at a high level were spit out of the program.
McGee broke his neck in a 2009 game against Oklahoma. He returned to play as a senior in 2010. He said he and current fullback Kye Staley are examples of players who sustained severe injuries and were treated the right way.
"When I had my injury, I gained so much respect for everybody at that time back then because I was never exiled," McGee said. "I was never neglected. They wanted me in meetings. They wanted me around."
The SI story mentioned former players who, after leaving the program, wound up in poverty or in prison. Is OSU to blame?
McGee said his opinion is the culture of athletics - and the world - is such that many people play the "victim" role when not successful.
"It's such a blessing to get a scholarship," he said.
McGee said OSU set forth a standard for players and paid attention to detail.
"All you had to do was right," he said. "If you did right, you were successful. I guarantee you that the guys who did right are the ones who are successful and the guys who did wrong are the ones who ended up not making it."
Original Print Headline: Nethon says OSU cared enough to let him return
OSU
In the final chapter of "The Dirty Game," Sports Illustrated said so many players have been jettisoned from the Oklahoma State football program and wound up in bad situations that this question should be asked: "How much did the program really care?"
Citing a strong appetite for its "Dirty Game" series on Oklahoma State football, Sports Illustrated released the fifth and final chapter a day earlier than originally announced.
