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10 Takeaways From SI's "The Money" Report On Oklahoma State

Pay for play.

Today, Sports Illustrated released part one of a five section expose on Oklahoma State's football program -- the series is titled 'The Dirty Game.' Part one was all about the money -- Cowboys players had allegedly been receiving cash payments from Oklahoma State coaches and boosters from 2001-2011.

You can read the full report here, which sheds details on a number of dirty deals, but here are the ten major takeaways:

  • Oklahoma State football players were receiving cash payments from coaches and boosters from (at least) 2001-2011
  • Roughly 15-20 players would be paid each year - payments weren't to everyone, but to the stars -- Tatum Bell, Darrent Williams, Brad Girtman, and Thomas Wright were big offenders
  • Amount of pay was related to on-field performance - sacks, yardage, touchdowns, etc.
  • Players who were paid could be "cut off" if performance decreased
  • 29 players in total were named by their teammates as having received money -- 8 former players admitted that they received cash
  • Boosters often gave "money handshakes" of up to $500 to the players
  • Players were hired to do sham jobs -- they got paid excessively for little to no services rendered
  • Big stars received as much as $25,000 per year
  • Three current coaches are implicated: LSU's Les Miles, WVU's Joe DeForest, and Texas' Larry Porter all allegedly paid players or set up times/places for them to get paid and/or receive benefits
  • T. Boone Pickens, the school's biggest booster, was not implicated in the report

Part two of the series will be "The Academics" -- it will be released by SI on Wednesday morning. The preview:

A dozen Cowboys who played between 2000 and '11 say that they participated in some form of academic misconduct; another 16 were named by teammates as having schoolwork done for them. Players were also clustered into online classes. "The goal was not to educate but to get [the best players] the passing grades they needed to keep playing," said Fath' Carter, who played at OSU from 2000 to '03.

I'm sure Oklahoma State fans can't wait.