"Special Report on Oklahoma State Football: The Overview"

From Sports Illustrated

Analysis by Graham Sharples in SRM 334 (section 1)

On Tuesday, September 10 2013, Sports Illustrated began the release of a five part series of their findings after a 10-month investigation on the Oklahoma State football program. Their special report examined violations that occurred within the OSU football program from 2000-2011. After receipt of information of possible corruption at the university, SI senior writers George Dohrmann and Thayer Evans sought to speak with more than a hundred individuals, which included 64 former Cowboys. All of these players spoke on the record and shed light on the extreme measures OSU took to build a winning program. The 5 part series that SI released detailed individually all the accounts of corruption through money, academics, drugs, and even sex.

Though the investigation covered a decade of NCAA violations committed by OSU, only recently were these transgressions revealed. The media, Sports Illustrated being the main source, played a huge role in highlighting the extreme measures taken by the program and also the damages that resulted from them. It all began from a leak of information given to these two reporters and consequently an investigation began in attempts to obtain more information. They used available resources by techniques of communication through interviews to individuals with ties to the university in order to gain insight about the corruption within the program. From that Sports Illustrated created a five series special report that detailed their findings and started their release on September 10 and titled the whole series “The Dirty Game.” The five parts were named: the Money, The Academics, The Drugs, The Sex and The Fallout. The violations that OSU committed aren’t uncommon in regards to big-time college sports programs especially in specifics to the acceptance of money or academic dishonesty, but one of the most troubling aspects of this case that the media wanted to emphasize was the collateral damages to humans that were also exploited by the university. Sports Illustrated looked to not only investigate these allegations against OSU but also the impact that it had on the players. They exposed how many of these players that were involved in this scandal were basically “cast aside.” Consistently from the interviews, the players exposed how their experience in university didn’t build them up for the future but their involvement with the corrupt football program left them with next to nothing. Some players were even kicked out, stripped away of their scholarships and returning to environments they believed to be done with.

Sports Illustrated took a very strategic approach to this case by releasing their results in an investigative series on all SI platforms. The fact that they decided to release it in individual parts makes the story much more appealing and intriguing. The main reason why this story is now such a big issue is due to the investigation that Sports Illustrated conducted. Since the release of the story there have been multiple press releases, news conferences and interviews investigating in depth of the allegations uncovered by SI.
The relevancy to this course rests in the techniques that Sports Illustrated used in order to present their story. Specifically, the amounts of time spent in creating this story as well as the amount of promotional work used to market the OSU scandal as well, not to mention the press release prior to the five segments were set to release. The story itself was set to release on multiple platforms, first on their website and then all together in a published magazine to increase their coverage. Sports Illustrated through the release of this story has profoundly affected both the university’s reputation as a football program as well as the players involved. They looked to not only exploit the deceit and disingenuousness of the school but also invited the audience and SI readers to feel empathy with the players who were deemed no longer useful to the program.

---

Analysis by Austin Hersh in SRM 334 (section 1)

In this article Sports Illustrated investigators bring to light the foul play that occurred during Les Miles and Mike Gundy’s tenders as head coach of Oklahoma State University football. In the article you will find that there was everything from failed drug tests, sex provided to recruits, and money payments for good play.

The investigators found it odd for OSU to go from a, “big school stepping stone” to a major contender for a national championship in such a short period of time. Sports Illustrated interviewed 64 former Cowboys and received stories of players failing multiple drug tests with no repercussions. Many players would receive drugs for free and some on the team were dealing drugs as well. This lack of authority in these young men’s lives led many to drug abuse and some to end up in prison after leaving Clear Water. Payments for good play and sex provided to big name recruits seemed to be something of the norm in the OSU football community and as long as wins were rolling in, figures of authority seemed to turn a blind eye.

After life as head coach for OSU, Les Miles went on to create a powerhouse in Baton Rouge for LSU. With no consequences for his actions and how he ran his programs he now has more power and more tools at his fingertips to create champions on the field and rake in the cash for the university. What was interesting is that while all of this did occur, that SI decided to investigate years later. The investigation will do nothing but tarnish a once proud school and once proud program. Players with no association to the regime that caused so much pain now have to represent a legacy they did not sign up for.. Being a former college athlete and in speaking with former and current athletes at universities all around the country I still find it amusing to hear stories such as this one. Foul play occurs at programs all around the nation and it seems to be accepted that in order to succeed, “if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.” While I understand it is the nature of the media beast to find dirt any way possible, I feel that the majority of fans do not realize that this sort of thing has been happening for decades and will never go away. Coaches will always give players/ recruits whatever it takes to keep food on their tables. OSU might be the latest on the long list of scandal ridden programs but the surface has only just been scratched.