NCAA penalizes Oklahoma State for violations

The NCAA penalized Oklahoma State on Friday for violations committed by the school’s football program.

The penalties come two years after a series of articles by Sports Illustrated alleged widespread misconduct in the school’s football program. Sports Illustrated found evidence of potential NCAA violations dating back to 2001. Those violations are former Oklahoma State players making allegations of cash payments to players, academic misconduct, inconsistent enforcement of the drug policies, and some of the school’s recruiting hostesses having sex with prospects from 2001-10. The NCAA found the Sports Illustrated allegations to be “fundamentally unfounded”, but did find three potential violations.

The NCAA said that from 2008 to 2012 five football players played a total of seven games when they should have been benched for violating drug policies, but the school wasn’t guilty of failing to monitor its football program, according to the Associated Press. The NCAA also said that the school committed recruiting violations through its Orange Pride hostess program. However current and former players who were interviewed said that they didn’t have sex with any Orange Pride members.

“NCAA rules do not allow the use of student hosts in a way that is inconsistent with the university's policies on providing campus tours or visits to all prospective students,” the NCAA said in a news release, CBS Sports reports. “The panel was concerned with the university's continued use of the group despite information distributed by the NCAA specifying that groups like Orange Pride for athletics recruiting was impermissible.”

According to ESPN, Oklahoma State was put on probation for one year, fined $8,500, had the Orange Pride program suspended, and had university-imposed recruiting restrictions. The Orange Pride program has been suspended for four years. Oklahoma State is limited to 30 official visits for the next two years.

Oklahoma State football had a 7-6 record last year.