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.
