Oklahoma State Athletic Director Mike Holder adressed the media this morning to answer questions regarding the upcoming SI report that alleges Oklahoma State paid players as recently as 2011 and provided recruits with sex.
“I don’t know a lot of specifics,” Holder said. “I know a little bit. I know enough to be very concerned. … (SI’s reporting team) believe what they’re about to write to be true.
“As the athletic director at Oklahoma State and an alumnus of Oklahoma State University, I don’t want to believe that it’s true. … We take this personally. We’re all committed to playing by the rules and doing things the right way around here, and for people to say that’s not what’s happening is very disturbing.”
“Our goal is to separate fact from fiction and then we can start dealing with it,” Holder said. “We’ve already notified the NCAA and they’re going to assign an investigator to this. We’ll reach out and get someone to stand with that investigator to go through the facts.
From the University’s point of view, launching their own internal investigation looks great because it seems like they are taking full responsibility. Schools do seem to get punished less when they fall on the sword and don’t try to hide things from the NCAA.
This was a good first step in that, but seriously, am we supposed to believe the AD didn’t know about this?