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Oklahoma State Basketball

The Noise Is the Only Weapon Oklahoma State Has Left

November 3, 2021
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STILLWATER – Be loud, don’t forget, and don’t stop the noise. The noise is the only answer left for Oklahoma State. There may be more noise even using a legal resource forthcoming. The University athletic department followed protocol and fought the infractions levied as the result of an NCAA investigation stemming from a federal sting initiated by the federal courts in Southern New York and assisted by the FBI. Former Oklahoma State Cowboys assistant coach Lamont Evans got caught taking bribe money to try to persuade student-athletes to go with certain professional representation. He hid it from the man that hired him in former Oklahoma State head coach Brad Underwood and from his fellow assistant Mike Boynton that would make him his associate head coach until he found out Evans was greasing his pockets.

This was about a selfish assistant coach that never used the illegal money for recruiting purposes, paid one active player in Jeffrey Carroll, and was fired by Boynton as soon as it was learned what he did. Carroll paid the money back and was suspended by the school based on past NCAA cases. That’s it!

Oklahoma State received no competitive advantage from Evans’ acts, no recruiting advantage, and the only ramifications for OSU was the bad publicity of the whole ordeal and the NCAA investigation that hung over Boynton and his program as he tried to get it up and running.

Now, after the case was heard and initial penalties that were deemed unfair by everybody from other coaches and administrators to the media, those penalties from the NCAA Committee on Infractions have been upheld in appeal, Boynton and Oklahoma State are still paying.

Oklahoma State Athletics
Boynton tearful at the press conference on Wednesday.

“I invite members of the NCAA enforcement staff, it's Committee on Infractions, and appeals panel involved in our case to meet with my team, to look each of them in their eyes and explain why illicit conduct committed by a rogue assistant coach five years ago – conduct which led to no competitive advantage for our program, and for which the coach was fired immediately upon discovery by our administration – should serve as a basis for denying them the opportunity to experience postseason tournament play,” Boynton said and he named every NCAA employee and the committee member’s names. “This is the greatest disappointment in my career as a head coach."

Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg is one of the most honest, proper, and fair-minded individuals that I know. I think Chad is that guy that looks past an insect and prefers not to squash him with the bottom of his shoe but let him live for whatever usefulness that nature intended. However Weiberg showed his teeth in the news conference on Wednesday.

Zachary Lancaster - Pokes Report
Weiberg on right with Boynton at press conference.

"We are profoundly disappointed for our student-athletes, none of whom were here at the time of this case," said read Weiberg "This is an unprecedented decision by the NCAA. There are other strikingly similar cases that did not include postseason bans and had only minor penalties. We had a rogue employee carrying out actions that benefited him alone and he went to great lengths to assure his actions were undetectable. He was terminated when we learned of his actions.

"We cooperated with the NCAA, expedited the process and received no credit for it. What message is the NCAA sending here? This is further evidence that the NCAA system is broken."

Weiberg had the mic drop line when he answered a question as to if he was disappointed with how upfront and cooperative Oklahoma State was compared to the results and the penalties.

“If we find ourselves faced with this situation again, we will handle it differently,” Weiberg said sternly.

When Chad Weiberg has lost faith in the NCAA, then maybe the organization isn’t worth having faith in period.

There are no more steps. There is no outlet for athletic justice here. When the cold reality of February rolls around and the Oklahoma State basketball team is in the middle of the grueling double round-robin schedule played in the Big 12, Boynton is going to have to show how brilliant a motivator he is. It won’t be easy for those players to look past this unfair snub and push through middle of the week trips with ice and snow and no glow of postseason down the line as a reward.

The adults, the people with the graduate degrees are showing the ignorance and lack or understanding.

Pokes Report
The basketball team is the NCAA victims.

The whispers that I’m hearing in the halls of Gallagher-Iba Arena are to push the fans, keep feeding the media, encourage fellow schools to keep talking. A Boynton in tears is an impactful soundbite, especially when it is sincere and showing real emotional wounds.

The NCAA is a ship taking on water. It has been for a long time. There is a constitutional convention coming to make massive changes to the organization. Many believe it is outdated and has ended its’ usefulness.

Keep the noise up! Take the fight to the masses. Maybe the NCAA is ripe for an overthrow. It is sad that is what it has come to, for Oklahoma State basketball and a team of innocent student-athletes and a once proud organization that actually stood for something.

Don’t stop the noise!

The NCAA's inconsistent standards and applications of penalties are a reflection of a broken system. Our one-year postseason ban is excessive, especially considering our coaches and players were never involved with the rogue assistant coach who acted alone in violating the rules, as the evidence showed. Our appeal was about seeking a fair outcome from the NCAA and supporting our innocent coaches and players, who sadly will now pay the price.

Discussion from...

The Noise Is the Only Weapon Oklahoma State Has Left

4,582 Views | 5 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by CaliforniaCowboy
CaliforniaCowboy
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I wonder why nobody ever mentions that two teams accepted their ban, and already took the hit without further complaint?

I keep hearing comments like "unprecedented" and "other programs not penalized", but nobody ever seems to mention that OSU was one of 3 that were issued post-season bans. (2 of the 5 were not)

There is no honest discussion about why those 2 programs did not (how where their situations different from ours), there is only "the NCAA is bad" and isn't "fair" - with no discussion about exactly what wasn't fair.

We're the only team complaining. Two others accepted the penalty and did not participate in the post season.
NJAggie
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Well I think you'll find those other schools had more than one secondary violation, and the coaches were using money to entice recruits. So their penalties were fair.

We also have seen schools with a coach that didn't use it to entice, just line his own pocket that got no post-season ban.

Probably just not wanting to put other schools in a bad light while making the public case for the bad action of the NCAA.
rphosu
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First time comment on this board, but couldn't NOT comment- and accepting the recommendation of Robert to be LOUD !

If you kept up with this nefarious action by the NCAA from day one, you would know that the Committee on Infractions committee was comprised of Division II AD's who could obviously have cared less about JUSTICE, and were probably prejudiced against all Division I teams- and simply rubber stamping the recommendations of that ONE NCAA examiner!! And, that ONE NCAA investigator was probably prejudiced too, as there are lots of OU alums that work for that obese and grossly overpaid institution! Also, when in doubt about legal actions, seriously consider listening to your attorney- and they said that there was an 80-90% chance of getting it reversed-simply because of the fact that- in NO WAY- did OSU benefit from those actions of Evans! Finally, it is a TOTAL FARCE for anyone to try to levy any criticism of our previous administration, our current administration, or our coach, for not accepting that pitifully poor probation!!
Mpoke1
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CaliforniaCowboy
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rphosu said:

First time comment on this board, but couldn't NOT comment- and accepting the recommendation of Robert to be LOUD !

If you kept up with this nefarious action by the NCAA from day one, you would know that the Committee on Infractions committee was comprised of Division II AD's who could obviously have cared less about JUSTICE, and were probably prejudiced against all Division I teams- and simply rubber stamping the recommendations of that ONE NCAA examiner!! And, that ONE NCAA investigator was probably prejudiced too, as there are lots of OU alums that work for that obese and grossly overpaid institution! Also, when in doubt about legal actions, seriously consider listening to your attorney- and they said that there was an 80-90% chance of getting it reversed-simply because of the fact that- in NO WAY- did OSU benefit from those actions of Evans! Finally, it is a TOTAL FARCE for anyone to try to levy any criticism of our previous administration, our current administration, or our coach, for not accepting that pitifully poor probation!!
if you have any facts or examples, that would be helpful... almost all of what you wrote it pure conjecture and innuendo, or is flat out false from what I could determine. No OU alumni involved at all.

The infractions appeals committee IS NOT not from Div II ADs with a vendetta. This stuff is easy to look up. If you click on the link below, there are only TWO from lower divisions, and 3 from Div1A (tOSU, Georgia, and someone from the AAC conference).

Composition
The committee shall be comprised of seven members. At least two members shall be from the general public and shall not be connected with a collegiate institution, conference, or professional or similar sports organization, or represent coaches or athletes in any capacity. The remaining members shall presently or previously be on the staff of an active member institution or member conference, but shall not serve presently on the Board of Directors. There shall be no subdivision restrictions except that all nonpublic members may not be from the same subdivision. The committee shall reflect the Association's commitment to diversity.


Also, there is this:
Evans, who never had to speak at trial due to pleading guilty, did not cooperate with the NCAA's investigation. That was a factor in Oklahoma State's punishment, a source told CBS Sports. Everything else the NCAA acted upon was based off of what was provided in federal court. Oklahoma State is being punished for lack of cooperation (strictly from Evans) and unethical conduct, plus the fact Evans accepted dirty money.

Just because you do not agree with the decisions of an organization, does not mean that you have grounds for a lawsuit in civil court (although that standard does seem pretty low).

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