Part 2 of Sports Illustrated's continuing investigative report into Oklahoma State football details alleged academic misconduct, including former players saying they had coursework done by tutors or staffers, were provided answers to exams in advance and received passing grades that weren't earned.
The story posted on SI.com on Wednesday morning reports that 13 players who were at OSU from 2000-11 said they participated in some form of academic misconduct and 16 others were identified by teammates having schoolwork done for them also.
Former head coach Les Miles (2001-04) was said to have held up two fingers while saying "Academics first" and holding up one finger while saying "Football second." Miles told SI it was meant in humor and denies allegations in the story.
Among players implicated by teammates include some of the same ones mentioned in Tuesday's piece on paying players: Tatum Bell, Josh Fields, Vernon Grant and Darrent Williams.
Vicki Warren, who as an OSU academic tutor for athletes in 2006-08 worked with some of the football players quoted in the SI story, told the Tulsa World she was surprised by the accusations.
“I never, ever, ever picked up a pen and paper if we did any homework,” she said. “ … I didn’t even do so much as give them a pencil. If they didn’t come prepared I told them, ‘No, I’m not giving you supplies. You can borrow them from a friend.’
“That was the attitude around the center. I never saw any situation where a tutor was sitting down and doing someone’s homework.”
Warren said tutors went through training regarding NCAA rules and signed an agreement saying they would abide by them.
“At the beginning of every school year, we had a mandatory two- or three-hour training over what the NCAA rules were, what we could do, what we couldn’t do,” she said. “There was an academic coordinator that we talked to if we had questions.”
SI also calls into question the credentials of academic adviser Terry Henley, who is accused of steering players to easy classes and majors.
Ben Buie, a center who played at OSU in 2000-03, said it's unfair that the article "shed a negative light" on what Henley does.
"He played there, so he offers a perspective to the guys that is relatable," Buie said. "When we first came in, we took a (one-credit hour) class called Life Skills. ... He would go through and teach us scenarios that we were going to encounter throughout our career and how to handle it.
"He has always gone the extra mile to help kids out any way that he can. He checks classes and communicates with professors to make sure his kids are doing what they're supposed to be."
Former Cowboy receiver Dez Bryant, a second-team academic All-Big 12 selection in 2008, was named by teammates as a player who had coursework done for him and was escorted to class by a football staff member.
Players also told SI that a former professor, Ronald Keys, wrote their papers and did their homework.
"While I am surprised at the comments and allegations in today’s Sports Illustrated installment, I can tell you we have a dedicated team of qualified specialists working hard every day with student-athletes to help them pursue and earn a degree," said OSU associated athletic director for academics Marilyn Middlebrook, who is not mentioned in the story. "I am proud of the work we do with our student athletes... We would never condone what Sports Illustrated said occurred.
"What they describe is not the place where I work. And I will also say, I greatly appreciate and enthusiastically support the President’s resoluteness to conduct a thorough review to find out what is true and what is not true.”
The story also notes that despite the alleged academic misconduct, OSU had an APR score of 933 in 2003-12 that equates to a graduation rate of slightly above 50 percent.
While many of the players who reported being involved in academic misconduct played at OSU in the early 2000s, some are from the Gundy Era, including Herschel Sims (2011), LeRon Furr (2009-10), Artrell Woods (2006-08) and Marcus Richardson (2007).
Woods, who also was quoted in Tuesday’s story saying former teammate Bobby Reid was given money and later cut off when he was no longer a starter, said in Wednesday’s piece that he didn’t write a single paper at OSU but typed what tutors dictated to him. He also told SI that a professor gave him a passing grade in class because he felt bad for Woods after his serious back injury in 2007 while weightlifting.
On Wednesday, Woods posted on Facebook: “I don't give a (expletive deleted) about who got paid or from who. Don't know (expletive deleted) about who got paid what and from who. But what I do know is, I broke my (expletive deleted) spine ... (and) they wouldn't even make sure I got a degree.”
A source told the Tulsa World that Woods was on athletic scholarship after his injury and could have finished his career at OSU and graduated but decided to quit the team. He was then put on medical exemption, the source said, but later decided he wanted to play again and transferred to Central Oklahoma for his final year.
Sports Illustrated's cover story this week, "The Dirty Game," details alleged improprieties that occurred during OSU's rise from mediocrity to national prominence. The first part, titled “The Money,” was launched Tuesday morning on SI.com and included allegations of players being paid by boosters and coaches for performance and off-the-field work not performed.
The series continues Thursday (“The Drugs”), Friday (“The Sex”) and Tuesday (“The Fallout”).
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On Monday, Oklahoma State announced the hiring of Charles E. Smrt to lead an independent review of alleged misconduct in the OSU football program.
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?"
