At least eight former Oklahoma State football players say they received cash payments from people associated with the Cowboys program starting in the Les Miles era and identified another 29 players as having also taken money, Sports Illustrated revealed Tuesday in the first of a five-part investigative series on the football program.
Some players received $2,000 annually and others around $10,000, multiple players told SI, with a few stars allegedly received $25,000 or more.
Among the players SI identified as having taken money, included former quarterback Josh Fields, running back Tatum Bell and cornerback Darrent Williams, who was shot to death in 2007 while a member of the Denver Broncos. Fields, Bell and others denied getting illicit payments, but multiple players were on the record as saying they received money and saw other players getting payments.
SI also claimed that former quarterback Bobby Reid was given money. During a notable September 2007 press conference, Gundy staunchly defended Reid after an Oklahoman columnist questioned Reid's maturity. But four former Cowboys told SI that after Reid lost his starting job, he stopped receiving bonus money. Reid too denied receiving money while a player.
Subsequent chapters of the investigative piece allege that there was also widespread academic misconduct involving the football program, that the program tolerated recreational drug use and that members of a hostess program had *** with recruits.
The first part of the series concentrated on financial irregularities in the football program. SI reported that payments to players, which stretched from 2001 to at least '11 under head coaches Miles and Mike Gundy, were primarily delivered three ways: a de facto bonus system based on performances on the field; direct payments to players from boosters and coaches independent of performance; and no-show and sham jobs -- including work related to the renovation of Boone Pickens Stadium -- that involved at least one assistant coach and several boosters.
Several players claimed that former Oklahoma State special teams and secondary coach Joe DeForest played an integral role in the bonus payment system and would determine how much players would get.
"It was just like in life when you work," said Thomas Wright, a defensive back from 2002-04. "The better the job you do, the more money you make."
Defensive back Calvin Mickens said he received $200 after forcing a fumble and breaking up a pass in his very first game.
"I was like, Wow, this is the life!" Mickens said, according to Sports Illustrated. "I'm 18, playing football, and I just got $200."
DeForest, now the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at West Virginia, said he never paid a player for on-field performance.
T. Boone Pickens, the school's most prominent booster, was not implicated in any improprieties by SI's sources.
The SI report claims that the timing of the violations coincided with Miles' arrival at Oklahoma State in 2000. The Cowboys had gone 3-8 the year before Miles became coach, but afterward the football budget was increased. Assistants were paid more, players ate better, facilities were upgraded, but, according to players SI interviewed, the culture change around the football program also included NCAA violations.