STILLWATER - Oklahoma State officials are bracing for damaging claims about the university's football program in a Sports Illustrated investigative report that makes its debut Tuesday morning online.

"I don't know a lot of specifics," athletic director Mike Holder said Monday. "I know a little bit. I know enough to be very concerned."

The allegations will include academic fraud, improper payments to players, a selectively enforced drug policy and a hostess program that included members who had sex with recruits. Holder said OSU has notified the NCAA about potential rule infractions and that the NCAA will assign an investigator to the case. The university will assist with that investigation, he said.

Sports Illustrated sent "two very capable people in here to talk to us last week," Holder said. "They believe that what they're about to write is true. As the athletic director at Oklahoma State and an alumnus of the university, I don't want to believe that it's true. ...

"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."

The report, titled "The Dirty Game," will be the cover story of this week's issue of the magazine on stands Wednesday, and the five-part series will be presented across Sports Illustrated's online platforms, starting with Part I at 8 a.m. Tuesday on SI.com and continuing over the next week.

According to a media release from Sports Illustrated, the report examines "the transformation of a struggling college football program into a national powerhouse" and is the result of a 10-month investigation that included interviews with more than 60 ex-players from 2001 through 2010, as well as current and former staff members.

Executive editor Jon Wertheim, assistant managing editor Hank Hersch and executive editor B.J. Schecter oversaw the report, which was written and reported by senior writers George Dohrmann and Thayer Evans.

"We wanted to take a comprehensive look at a big-time program, particularly one that made a rapid ascent," Wertheim said in the publication's release. "There's obviously a steady drumbeat of scandal in college sports - improper benefits here; a recruiting violation there - and plenty of rumor and hearsay about the unseemly underbelly.

"For this piece, we were more about venturing inside the factory and seeing how the sausage is made."

Findings alleged in the report, according to Sports Illustrated:

Players were paid for performance, up to $500 a game, by an assistant coach (whom sources identify as former assistant Joe DeForest).

Players were paid for work they didn't do, up to $10,000 a year.

Tutors completed coursework for players, who were also given unearned passing grades.

Drug use was tolerated and a drug policy was selectively enforced.

Members of the program's hostess organization, Orange Pride, had sex with recruits.

Players "no longer useful to the program were cast aside."

On Saturday, a statement from the university said the majority of the allegations occurred in 2001-07 and don't involve current players or coaches. Monday's Sports Illustrated media release indicated the transgressions began under former coach Les Miles and continued under current head coach Mike Gundy, who succeeded Miles after the 2004 season.

"I will say that we - our staff, myself - are focused on our team, doing the right things," Gundy said during his weekly news conference Monday. "I'm very proud of what we've accomplished here both on and off the field."

Holder said OSU's goal is to "separate fact from fiction and then we can start dealing with it. We've already notified the NCAA and they're going to assign an investigator to this. We'll reach out and get someone to stand with that investigator to go through the facts.

"At the end of the day, we'll come to some conclusions and we'll deal with those, prop ourselves back up, polish up that OSU brand and move on down the road."

Holder said he has apologized to each athletic director in the Big 12 and reached out to notable supporters of the program.

"My message was, 'You're not going to like what you hear; it's going to be a rough few days, but our hope is you might not be proud of what's being said about you but we hope to make you proud about how we dealt with it and how we stood up, didn't make any excuses.'

"We're not going to try to cover anything up. I'm the guy in charge and ultimately the buck stops at my door. I'm willing to accept responsibility for whatever is being said."

The university plans to conduct a news conference to respond to the series but has not determined when.

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Series schedule

Here's a look at the schedule of stories and topics in a Sports Illustrated series titled "The Dirty Game."

Part 1: Money (on SI.com on Tuesday and in this week's issue). According to Sports Illustrated, an assistant coach orchestrated a bonus system that paid players for performances, with some collecting $500 a game. Also alleged is money funneled to players by boosters and at least two assistant coaches for "no-show and sham jobs," with some players collecting $10,000 a year.

Part 2: Academics (on SI.com on Wednesday). SI alleges academic misconduct that included tutors completing coursework and professors giving passing grades for little or no work to keep top players eligible.

Part 3: Drugs (on SI.com on Thursday). OSU is accused of tolerating - and at times enabling - recreational drug use, "primarily through a specious counseling program that allowed some players to continue to use drugs while avoiding penalties. The school's drug policy was selectively enforced, with some stars going unpunished despite repeated positive tests."

Part 4: Sex (On SI.com on Friday): OSU's hostess program, Orange Pride, more than tripled in membership under former coach Les Miles, according to SI, which says both Miles and Mike Gundy personally interviewed candidates. SI reports former players and Orange Pride members said a small subset of the group had sex with recruits, a violation of NCAA rules.

Part 5: The Fallout (on SI.com on Sept. 17 and in the Sept. 23 issue): According to SI, players no longer useful to OSU's football program were cast aside and "some have been incarcerated, others live on the streets, many have battled drug abuse and a few have attempted suicide."

Additional coverage can be found on SI Now, SI.com's live talk show at noon each day. SI.com will feature videos of former Cowboys talking about their experiences in Stillwater.

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Mike Holder's comments

Oklahoma State's Mike Holder spoke to the media Monday. Here are his comments:

"Welcome to Stillwater, everybody. Normally, I don't get to speak at these. I don't really have any desire to speak at these. This should be about football, and indirectly, what I'm going to talk about is going to be about football. Not the football game coming up. That's what everybody wants to hear about and talk about.

"Unfortunately, we've got something out there on the horizon that we're going to have to deal with. I don't know a lot of specifics. I know enough to be very concerned.

"Sports Illustrated sent two very capable people in here to talk to us last week. George Dohrmann, who is a writer on the story, he did win a Pulitzer Prize. The investigative editor, I had never met one of those before, his name was B.J. Schecter. He was an impressive young man. They believe that what they're about to write is true. As the athletic director at Oklahoma State and an alumnus of the university, I don't want to believe that it's true.

"We pride ourselves on doing things the right way around here. It's kind of unique, because the president of the university, Burns Hargis, the athletic director, Mike Holder, the head football coach, Mike Gundy, and then I could go down the list of a lot more coaches and head coaches that all went to this school. This is more than a job, and I consider it a calling.

"I was talking to my wife on Saturday at the game and said 'How lucky are we? We get to do something we love, and they call it a job.' If I were retired, I'd want to be doing what I'm doing today, and a lot of people say - Boone Pickens among them - that I've had my feet on the handle bar too long and I need to get to work, and maybe he's right. But the whole point of that was to say that we take this personally.

"We're all committed to playing by the rules and doing things the right way, and for people to say that is not what's happening is very disturbing. Our goal is to separate fact from fiction, and then we can start dealing with it.

"We've already notified the NCAA, and they're going to assign an investigator to this. We'll reach out and get someone to stand with that investigator and go through the facts. And at the end of the day, we'll come to some conclusions, and we'll deal with those. We'll prop ourselves back up, polish up that OSU brand and move on down the road.

"I apologize to all of the athletic directors in the conference for what's about to happen, what's about to be said about a member institution. That reflects on everyone, all of our brothers and peers.

"I've reached out, but couldn't call all of our supporters. I'd like to call every single season-ticket holder we've got. We're about to sell a record number of season tickets. We have a responsibility to those people. They're going to suffer from this as well.

"My message was 'You're not going to like what you hear. It's going to be a rough few days, but our hope is that you may not be proud about what's being said about you, but we hope to make you proud of the way that we deal with it and how we stood up, didn't make any excuses and didn't try to cover anything up.

"I'm the guy in charge. Ultimately, the buck stops at my door, and I'm ready to accept responsibility for whatever is being said. It doesn't matter how long it's been since I've been athletic director. I've been here since 1966 since I was a student or employee, so I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly in the past.

"I really feel like that at 65 years of age, everything that I've done until now has prepared me for this moment in time, so I just hope to make everybody proud at the end of this process.

"This is your institution, and if you're a student and thinking about going someplace in the future, I hope you think 'That might be a place that I want to go. I like the way that these people talk and what they stand for.'

"I don't think that it's really appropriate for me to answer any questions. I'm not really afraid of them. I just wouldn't have any answers. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to read these stories, however many days that it takes, catch my breath and then we'll start working through the process. Everybody out there, time to Cowboy up, and let's ride for the brand."

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Kelly Hines 918-581-8452
kelly.hines@tulsaworld.com