Oklahoma State receives one-year probation after investigation

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have been investigated by the NFL and handed a one-year probationary period after drug test and recruitment issues have been found.

In what seemed like a long-awaited punishment after an investigation that was brought to life by Sports Illustrated‘s uncovering of illegal activities, Oklahoma State is now on a one-year probationary period that limits a number of things the athletic program is able to do.

The school was placed on probation after the NCAA uncovered drug test issues as well as instances where the all-female Orange Pride student group engaged in impermissible activities during recruits official and unofficial visits to the university.

This wasn’t quite the punishment people were expecting when Sports Illustrated unearthed some shocking information about recruiting practices and illegal recruitment activities.

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Greg Christopher, the chief hearing officer on this case as well as Xavier’s athletic director, didn’t believe the crime was enough to accrue a major punishment.

"“There were mistakes made, (but) we didn’t believe there was a failure to monitor, per se. Because they had a compliance program for a drug policy, they had a drug plan administrator. They had a monitor in place for Orange Pride. The monitoring was there, but it was ineffective.”"

All of this shows that the university had plans to monitor everything, but a few hiccups fell through the cracks and went undocumented and unpunished when it should have been.

Luckily for the Cowboys, there will be no loss of scholarships nor will there be a postseason ban on the program. Many of the allegations made in the five-part Sports Illustrated exposé were not discovered and that was after thousands of emails were reviewed as well as upwards of 100 players, former players and coaches were interviewed.

Christopher knew about the previous allegations and he’s confident that his team did whatever it could in order to prove that none of that existed.

"“Some salacious stuff was out there … a lot of unsubstantiated stuff out there that was not found. And it was not for a lack of looking. … We have full confidence in what came out of this.”"

This is good news for the university as Mike Gundy and the football program will lose a number of allotted official visits for recruits over the next two years. In fact, the school will only be allowed 30 official visits, down from 57, for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.

Oklahoma State was applauded by the chief investigator as he called this one of the most cooperative investigations in recent history.

I’m sure that last part had something to do with the slight punishment.

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Oklahoma State receives one year of probation after investigation

By Connor Muldowney | Apr 24, 2015

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have been investigated by the NFL and handed a one-year probationary period after drug test and recruitment issues have been found.

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