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Tuesday 9/17 - The Fallout
Thursday - The Drugs
Friday - The Sex
Tuesday 9/17 - The Fallout
Shortly after Les Miles took over as Oklahoma State's football coach in December 2000, he introduced an exhortation that he would use often at the end of team meetings during his four years in Stillwater. "Academics first," Miles would say. "Football second."
Miles's words encapsulated one of the central pillars in the mythos of major-college football: that nothing, not even wins and losses, takes precedence over educating young athletes. The reality is that when jobs and money are at stake, priorities quickly skew.
As Miles said, "Academics first," he would hold up two fingers. And as he said, "Football second," he would hold up one.
"You heard his words but you saw what he was doing," says Doug Bond, a Cowboys offensive lineman from 2002 to '04. "So the thought process was that you're going to school just so you can play football."
Given the coach's message to his players, it is not surprising that 13 Cowboys who played between 2000 and '11 told SI that they participated in some form of academic misconduct, and 16 others were named by teammates as also having had schoolwork done for them. Players said that they routinely had their coursework completed by tutors or university staff members, that they were provided with answers to exams before taking them, and that they received passing grades despite doing little or no work. Players also allege that the academic counselor for football scheduled them in classes with exceptionally lax professors and pigeonholed them into majors without consulting them. "The philosophy, the main focus [of the program], was to keep [the best players] eligible through any means necessary," says Fath' Carter, a safety from 2000 to '03. "The goal was not to educate but to get them the passing grades they needed to keep playing. That's the only thing it was about."
That philosophy took root after Miles was named Cowboys coach before the 2001 season and continued under Mike Gundy, who was the offensive coordinator under Miles and replaced him after the '04 season, players and former staff members say; less and less emphasis was placed on academics, and the school began admitting more recruits who weren't as qualified academically. "Were the players who came in after Miles [arrived] lesser students? Yes," says Carter. "So things had to be put in place to help them."
Terry Henley, an academic adviser for football since 2000, denies the players' allegations that he scheduled them in easy classes and steered them to majors, but concedes that academics weren't a priority for Miles. "There was never pressure [to cheat], but Miles was like most coaches who want to be somewhere else," said Henley. "They're going to do what they need to do for two or three years, and they're not going to have to deal with whatever the fallout is. So, no, he didn't promote academics."
Miles, the coach at LSU since 2005, denies that he deemphasized academics while at Oklahoma State: "I always said, and I always meant, that academics was the most important thing." Of the one-finger, two-finger gesture, Miles says it happened just once in "a moment of humor."
Four players and two former assistants told SI that they had teammates who they believed were functionally illiterate even after attending the school for multiple years. That is an especially disheartening revelation given Oklahoma State's history. In 1989, Dexter Manley, then an NFL defensive end, disclosed that he had not been able to read above a second-grade level for most of his life, although he had played four seasons for the Cowboys. His confession stirred a national discussion about how schools keep athletes eligible. It also dishonored the university, even if John Campbell, the school's president at the time of the revelation, wasn't chastened. "There would be those who would argue that Dexter Manley got exactly what he wanted out of OSU," Campbell said. "He was able to develop his athletic skills and ability, he was noticed by the pros, he got a pro contract. So maybe we did him a favor by letting him go through the program."
Says William Cole, a wide receiver in 2007 and '08, "If you wanted to do the work, then you could do it on your own. But if you were one of those people that they know is not going to do the work, [the school] will find a way."
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In 2008, Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant was named second-team academic All-Big 12, a salute to players who best combine athletic and scholastic achievement. There is no disputing Bryant's on-field accomplishments as a sophomore -- he was second in the nation with 19 receiving touchdowns -- but several teammates and two former assistant coaches scoffed at the notion that he would be honored for his academics. "You didn't have no choice but to laugh at it," says Victor Johnson, a Cowboys safety from 2008 to '10.
According to Johnson and one of the former assistant coaches, it was well known that Bryant would not go to class unless shepherded, often by a football staff member, and that tutors did a majority of his coursework. "He just wasn't supposed to be there. There's no way he could do the college work," said the former assistant coach. "Once he got there, he was connected with the people that would help him." Calvin Mickens, a cornerback from 2005 to '07, says he also saw tutors do coursework for Bryant.
Bryant, now with the Dallas Cowboys, denies that he had work done for him and declined further comment.
His alleged academic struggles reveal the scholastic facade created for many Oklahoma State football players. Inside the program it was known that a player's grade point average and the classes he completed often testified only to the duplicity employed to keep him on the field.
Carter, Cole, Mickens, defensive tackle Larry Brown (2005 and '06), offensive lineman Jonathan Cruz (2002), linebacker LeRon Furr (2009 to '10), defensive tackle Brad Girtman (2003 and '04), safety Chris Massey (1999 to 2002) defensive end T.J. Minor (2005 and '06), linebacker Marcus Richardson (2007), running back Herschel Sims (2011), wide receiver Artrell Woods (2006 to '08) and defensive back Thomas Wright (2002 to '04) told SI that they had work done for them and/or that they received other improper academic assistance. They and a dozen other players say they witnessed teammates participating in academic misconduct. Among those they named: running back Tatum Bell (2000 to '03), wide receiver Prentiss Elliott (2004), quarterback Josh Fields (2001 to '03), safety Vernon Grant (2002 to '04), cornerback Darrent Williams (2001 to '04) and defensive end Kevin Williams (1998 to 2002).
Darrent Williams and Grant are deceased. Bell, Elliott, Fields and Kevin Williams deny ever having work done for them while at OSU.
Some players had almost all of their assignments completed for them. "Are you kidding me? I didn't go there to go to school," says Girtman. "I went there to play football." Woods says he didn't write "a single paper" during his three years in Stillwater; he just typed what tutors dictated to him. Other players did most of their own work but used tutors and others to get improper help in a single discipline in which they struggled. Richardson says he enjoyed writing papers but that he had difficulty with math, so tutors completed those assignments for him.
There is a fine line between a tutor's assisting a player in the composition of a paper and writing the paper for him, but the players who spoke to SI say what took place was clearly the latter. "If your teacher told you to write a paper about your favorite Chinese place, all [the tutor] would ask is, 'What's your favorite Chinese place?' " says Andre McGill, a quarterback in 2000 and '01 who denies receiving improper assistance. "That's it. They'd do the rest."
Says Cruz, "I would write them, and they would take them and just completely change everything about it because it was just so awful. I never really learned how to write a paper, but I had to pull a B in Comp I, and I pulled my B in Comp I."
Tutors weren't the only people providing improper academic assistance. During his freshman year, Carter says a teammate introduced him to Ronald Keys, an assistant professor assigned to the library. Keys began working in the library in 1996; he was an academic coordinator for athletes from April 1998 until February 2001, when he returned to the library. Carter says that he and several other players would visit Keys in the library, drop off their assignments and return a few days later to pick up the finished work. Carter says that this went on through his senior season, and that during his four years in Stillwater he estimated that 15 players had at least some work done for them by Keys. Massey says Keys also did work for him and others.
"I have no idea why he did it," Carter says. "All we knew was that if you wanted a paper done, you called Keys. ... His name was infamous."
Keys, who left OSU in September 2005 and is now the interim assistant director of the library at Texas Southern, told SI that he never did work for athletes but sometimes helped them with reference questions.
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