By JIMMIE TRAMEL Sports Writer on Sep 11, 2013, at 11:07 PM Updated on 9/11 at 11:07 PM
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Former Oklahoma State receiver Artrell Woods is down and out. He suffered a spinal injury (and temporary paralysis) due to ...
Former receiver Artrell Woods was a focal point in the final chapter of Sports Illustrated's five-part investigative series ...
On Friday, Sports Illustrated’s five-part investigative look (“The Dirty Game”) at the Oklahoma State football program focused ...
Oklahoma State University created an Internet site to respond to Sports Illustrated’s five-part investigative series on the Cowboy football program. On Wednesday, the site was updated with an audio Q-and-A with university president Burns Hargis. A transcript:
What can you tell us about Sports Illustrated’s allegations?
Hargis: I can tell you that we’re going to take this very seriously and we’re going to investigate it thoroughly. We’re going to bring in an outside investigator to attend to every charge and we’re going to take the appropriate action. We have very strict standards on this kind of stuff. We don’t tolerate or condone any kind of misconduct in our programs.
We want to play by the rules on and off the field. And to the extent that didn’t happen, we are going to correct it and we are going to take the appropriate action going forward. We have been in contact with the NCAA. They will certainly look into this. So that’s really the bottom line.
I’m not permitted really to talk about any of the details of the charges or the people who made them so I can’t get into any of that. I did note at least in the beginning that from our conversations with Sports Illustrated that it does not involve any current players or coaches that were engaged in the accused payments. But still that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to know about it and understand it and do what we should about it. Coach (Mike) Gundy was there for this entire period either as an assistant or as head coach. He has made his statements. He has made it clear he didn’t know anything about any of this. At least in his case, he doesn’t think there is anything to it. But whether there is or there isn’t, we are going to find out.
Tell us what you can about the process of investigating the allegations made in this series?
We have a very strong compliance department at the university which reports directly to me. Obviously it will be very engaged in investigations, but, as I said, we will bring in an independent investigator who is skilled in this area... Whether they focus on the entire period or not is up to them of course. But we are going to look at everything.
What message would you like to share with fans and alumni and everyone associated with the OSU program?
That we have a strong and abiding commitment to playing by the rules and we do everything we can to be sure that happens. But if for some reason it doesn’t, then we have to take swift and sure action and that’s what we are going to do. But I have a lot of confidence in our current players and really many of our former players and our coaches at OSU. They understand what the standard is it is to do the best you can playing by the rules. We want to win, but we don’t want to win the wrong way.
How do you see the football program in its immediate task, mainly the game Saturday, and for the remainder of the season?
I think this team will stay focused on the task at hand. Like I said, it doesn’t appear at least in this initial article and our conversations that it involves any of these players. I think we’ll see the team come out on Saturday against Lamar and play a good solid game. I’m just confident we can stay focused on the job at hand.
