Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The Oklahoma State Cowboys‘ football program is under some serious heat lately with allegations that it has been ‘playing dirty’. What I mean by this is the football program is accused by a recent Sports Illustrated report titled ‘Dirty Game’ of breaking multiple NCAA rules and committing numerous violations — including moral violations.
Head coach Mike Gundy might be under the most heat if these violations are true. It would be terrible for college football to suffer through another huge scandal following the Penn State and Ohio State scandals, but we will see if these allegations hold true.
The report broke the scandal down into five parts, and here they are.
First, the allegations begin with an football ‘bonus system’ in which players were paid for their performance on the field — sometimes getting paid in upwards of $500 to $1,000. Some former players claim they made over 10,000 in a single season. Star players were likely to make more, obviously.
Second, widespread academic misconduct throughout the program. Some tutors and other personnel were completing the football players’ work for them and some players were given passing grades for doing very little to no work at all.
Third, Oklahoma State tolerated and sometimes allowed the use of recreational drugs. Even if players gave a failing drug test, a select group of star players were allowed to walk away without punishment.
Fourth, Oklahoma State’s hostess program, Orange Pride, is being accused of providing sex to recruits to try and lure them into the program. In a somewhat weird way, coach Gundy interviewed members of Orange Pride personally to make sure they fit the mold for the hostess program. The group tripled in size recently and former members of the football team and hostess program backed these accusations up with witness testimony.
Lastly, Sports Illustrated found that players that were no longer beneficial to the program were sent packing. They were put back into their old lives that they were trying to escape and many ended up battling drug problems and just an overall decrease in safety.
If all of these allegations are true, we could see one of the biggest scandals in sports history. Don’t be surprised if this program receives the heftiest of punishments and Gundy could be sent packing like his ‘useless’ athletes that he did the same to.
This is a disgrace of college athletics and I personally hope that justice is served for these disgusting acts.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. You can also reach him at .
