Sex and drugs and OSU

When Sports Illustrated is about to release a bombshell of a story alleging “…academic improprieties; inconsistent monitoring of drug use; payments to players by coaches and payment by boosters for work not performed; and a hostess program providing recruits with sex” and the best you can do in response is apologize to other programs and supporters, you’re admitting you’re pretty much screwed, at least in the court of public opinion.

And how about this tepid response from Mike Gundy, who supposedly is personally involved in some of the claims?

“ … I’m going to guess that once we get all the information and we see what’s out there, then our administration and the people inside will look at it and we’ll see where we made mistakes and we’ll try to make ourselves better and we’ll correct it and then we’ll move forward. And I would hope that there will be some of it that we look at and say I’m not sure one way or the other based on what’s out there.”

That’s not exactly “I’m a man!” type bluster there.

Where this goes from here is hard to say.  Luckily for the school, most of the story centers around things that happened far enough back in time to escape NCAA sanctions.  The interesting thing to keep an eye on is if there are any ramifications for Gundy personally… and Les Miles.

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UPDATE:  “I’m a man!”, indeed.

One of the signature moments of Gundy’s nine seasons as coach came in September 2007, when he staunchly defended quarterback Bobby Reid at a postgame press conference. A columnist for The Oklahoman had questioned Reid’s maturity, and Gundy responded by shouting at the writer, “He’s not a professional athlete, and he doesn’t deserve to be kicked when he’s down.”

Johnson (Reid’s onetime roommate), Mickens, Shaw and wide receiver Artrell Woods say Reid was a professional athlete, though. They say that Reid had received money earlier in his career, when he was the starting quarterback. (Now an offensive administrative assistant at Oklahoma State, Reid denies receiving money while a player.) By the time of Gundy’s rant in 2007, Reid was no longer a starter, and Woods says Reid’s bonus money had dried up. Says Woods, “They cut his ass off.”