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Mike Carter made clear these forms are filled out by the coach recruiting the kid and the decision to award a scholarship to that kid rest solely in the athletic department and more importantly, it is basically the coaching staff's call. Further, Mike Carter made it clear that you DO NOT have to be a Christian to be awarded an athletic scholarship or be on one of our athletic teams. BTW, this applies to ALL our athletic programs. My point being that our baseball team does not seem to have a problem with this or have their hands tied by it.

Hypocrisy? How? Perry is vastly more accomplished than Sutton was when he was hired.

Is it just me or did the explanation for letting Scott go sound like it had very little to do with his W-L record and more to do with "other factors"?

Good job Mike Carter! I'm glad he held up the conference to make his point at the end.

That was a concept that only existed in Bill Haisten/Ben Johnson/John Holcolms minds. I don't agree with ORU theologically. But lying and misrepresenting the facts and beliefs of others is pretty low.

We all signed the Honor Code, right? I know that when I tried to explain that idea to people I grew up with, they couldn't understand why anyone over 18 years of age would do something like that! I recall many people I grew up telling me that was ridiculous to do. They thought it was a faith test, and no one should do that to someone else--even if it is of their own free will. is the Honor Code a "faith test"? Where did the specific words "faith test" come from? I do not recall the words from over 30 years ago. Where did "faith test" come from? It sounds likes a pejorative term? From ORU, from ORU-haters, social media ?? I looked at the Honor Code as a covenant I made with God. the ORU community and myself. So, when I signed it, it wasn't a test, but a covenant. I recall OR asking us to sign it in chapel and he said, "when I sign my name on the line. I mean it." Meaning, he wanted us to mean it, too. But that's hard to explain to people who live with different thinking. A test is pass or fail-you are either in or out--a covenant requires relationship and continually working out things with each other, in an honest way. I admire Scott Sutton for working with that system through the years. A lot of coaches don't have the guts to do that! I admire ORU for trying to keep it in place--in our secular American society. Anyone know where "faith test" came from?

Here is the full 25 minutes of the presser

Didn't catch the whole thing but here's what I heard: Scott was given a set of options to choose from that would have guaranteed his job for one more year. If he didn't take one of those options he understood that he would be terminated. They tried explaining away the fact that they didn't tell him in person because they were afraid it would leak. 40 applicants for HC. Rodney is being considered. MC says he's surprised by the quality of candidates. 10x's the quality of candidate as when Scott was hired Will have a hard time narrowing it down to 10. The pool includes current HCs MC said he wasn't a fan of having to play money games early in the season but due to things the program wanted to have, they had to do it. Does not know if that'll factor into future schedules. Depends on the HC. Haiston asked Wilson if he could walk about with him. Billy said... "No I don't think so..." I thought MC did a good job of explaining the criteria that student athletes are evaluated by. 40 point system that includes how spiritually alive the student athlete is. Said if they scored well in the other three areas they could score a zero on the spiritually alive section as long as they were open to the leading of the holy spirit.

If all of these accusations are untrue, hold a news conference and clarify. If no press conference occurs, then many people will assume that everything that has been tweeted by Gottlieb, Sittler, and said by several media outlets are true. If the accusations are true, it will unfortunately very negatively affect the public perception of ORU. I do not know anyone who would think that grading recruits and current players on how spiritual they are "faith exam/test" is a good idea. ORU is full of AMAZING students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and I am confident that 99.9% of them would disagree with doing that. If that did occur, how could an administrator even think that a coach could make such a determination? How would that information be used? How embarrassing is it to ORU if such a policy existed? Traber on OKC sports radio had several things to say about this today. He said (paraphrasing): 1. ORU is a big deal in Tulsa even though many people in OKC may not realize that. 2. Oral Roberts believed in recruiting non-Christian athletes and then trying to win them to Christ by setting a Christ-like example. 3. Richard Roberts continued Oral's approach and that Mark Rutland did not institute any of these policies i.e. tattoos, faith test, etc. 4. He then focused on Billy Wilson and called for him to be fired. 5. He said he is embarrassed to be a Christian when he hears about other Christians judging people in this way. 6. He said that when ORU was considering hiring Sean Sutton as an assistant coach, Billy Wilson was on the board and opposed the idea, while Rutland was supportive of the idea and felt that it would be a great opportunity to give Sean a second chance. I have been very supportive of Billy Wilson and do believe he has done many good things. But, if most of these things are true, this is damaging to ORU. Unfortunately, this situation is NOT going to be swept under the rug or forgotten. The longer things go with ORU dodging these issues, the more clear it will become that at least some of these things are true. I hope these things are not true, but I think the ORU board is going to need to meet and discuss how to manage this situation moving forward.

Lost in all of our frustration and resentment about how this was handled and how Scott was wronged and how it makes our athletic program look, is how it reflects on ORU from a Christian perspective - and the admonition that we treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. As believers we understand that we look to God and not man as the source and meaning in our lives, and when someone in the Church does something that is unchristlike we can't (or at least shouldn't) allow that to affect our relationship with Christ. But when an unbeliever sees this sort of thing it only serves to fuel their beliefs that all Christians are hypocrites, and serves to push them further from the truth. Dr. Wilson should recognize that he, as the face of the University, represents what the university stands for, which is to be the representation of Christ in every man's world. Dr. Wilson dropped the ball big time.

TheEagleman wasn't perfect....but I was close....those beers I used to drink at Shotgun Sams were my weakness....

I just don't get the whole concept of accepting "only Christians" to begin with? Whether it's an athlete or just a regular student... Isn't the whole point for us to win souls? I just don't get it? Never have, never will. Some wise dude once said something about the sick needing a physician, not the healthy.

http://www.kjrh.com/sports/local-sports/oral-roberts-university-director-of-athletics-mike-carter-to-hold-press-conference-wednesday

Larry usually leaves after 4 years....so the NCAA sanctions never seem to affect him......hopefully after SMU...he's finally done....we need to get a young aggressive coach who isn't married to a 4 guard offense....

Failing Ben Johnson #sad

Yep. And in trouble with the NCAA within 4.

While there's plenty to blame MC and Billy for, I am disappointed in how Ben Johnson is communicating about this purported faith test. Johnson presents the document as if it's singularly about faith. Also by calling it a test, he makes it sound like there is a written form that the student athlete takes a number 2 pencil to and then turns in a scantron. In reality it's basically a survey that includes evaluating whatever the hell it means to be "spiritually alive". I get it. It's weird but it's not a test in the traditional sense of academic tests. ORU awarded scholarships include similar evaluations.

If we're to believe that "they" want to win ... win at the highest levels ... then they need a "home run" pick for the new head coach. If they kick a guy up from an assistant coaching level who is an unknown ... it won't look like the commitment is really there. The're going to have to spend some money, too ... If the guy is going to be "an upgrade". Anything less would appear like more hypocrisy.

Paraphrased :"We loved Scott so much, even though I decided 4-years ago that he was beyond his prime, that we wanted him to stay around for another year and train his successor, and go on a 'farewell tour' of the Summit League ... And celebrate his accomplishments..." (and since he didn't win the Summit League for the last 3-years straight, we don't have to retain him any longer.)

Can you imagine being 46 years old, having devoted nearly half your life to your employer and being told to go out and hire your replacement to be on your staff? Essentially, "We'll keep you on board for one more year so we don't have to pay you to stay at home." And they wondered why he said no?!?

I think it prudent that we evaluate any future athlete in terms of those four criterion - as well as others. It is not unreasonable for ORU to set standards for its students or athletes. We may (do?) disagree with the standards and the methods used to make the evaluation, but I think we can agree that ORU has a right to expect a certain level of competency and adherence. Frankly that is what makes ORU distinctive. I seem to remember that when I applied to ORU 37 years ago I had to answer questions concerning various things including my spiritual walk and relationship with the Lord. I think that same general format is still used. I guess that is a form of "faith test".

An evaluation of the underlined items sounds completely backwards to me... How about we allow the students to make the choice on these points? Potential students should be given an honest statement on what the university stands for - which would allow them to make a decision whether they want to be part of that vision.

Lost in all of this is the fact that SS basically guided the program into the tank with a terrible record and mass defections in terms of players and coaches. Secondly, by permitting this tanking to all be the fault of a "faith test" or "no tattoos" which tied his hands, SS is basically saying that the last 4 years he had these restrictions which hindered him from bringing in great players so he went 8-22 this year because all he could recruit were rejects who could not play the game. Seriously if you think it through logically, the "faith test" and "no tattoos" argument basically throws not only his players but the entire program under the bus. What it sounds like is he could have been a contender but his hands were tied and therefore all he could get were a bunch of duds for players.

Thanks, Doc....TheEagleman can't wait...I am running out of the office to grab some popcorn......

Billy Wilson is a coward if he does not show up also, make a statement, issue an apology, and answer all questions forthrightly.

Carter is holding a press conference at 2:30...

Those in the ORU community are aware of what a great place ORU is and the overall quality of the student body, faculty, staff, etc. There is still an opportunity to handle this situation in the right way and defuse most of the issues, and then take an opportunity while people are paying attention, to sell the positive things about ORU that many people may not be familiar with i.e. the extensive community outreach programs, summer missions programs, positive academic achievements, recent participation in the hyper loop competition, and the reasons why a place like ORU is exactly where many parents would feel very comfortable sending their kids and many students would want to attend.

I guess if he admits to the lesser charge of just being a terrible boss then technically it clears him of being an absolute liar (he conveniently leaves out when Sutton was contacted).

We took a nice slide down the rankings this weekend even with two run-rule victories. Hopefully we don't slip too far by the time the season is over. Can this team pull a 3 seed, or have we sunk too far down the polls? Very impressed with the pitching staff this year. We don't really have the Friday night ace we've had in the past, but I think this bullpen has a lot more depth than we've seen in a long time. Just have to keep the bats awake to back them up.

Journalists citing sources within the organization who do not wish to go on the record is how journalism gets done. Without it the folks in power control all of the information.

I'm in total agreement with this. Even the most generous version of events involves SS getting fired over email and a phone call and not in person, which seems low for a beloved public figure who spent over two decades at the school.

Ah so you're one of those guys.

You mean like CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, ABC?

We always said our goal was to get to Omaha - just didn't think it would be every year!

Now from the Haisten article referenced above: At the end, as he watched the oldest of his three daughters play tennis at LaFortune Park, Sutton did not learn of his demise during conversation with Wilson or athletic director Mike Carter. Instead, Sutton saw the first report on Twitter. He was informed about 40 minutes after his players were told by university officials. So now there are two different sources directly contradicting Billy Wilson. It is possible they are both wrong. It will be real interesting to see how Billy Wilson reacts. If he is twisting the truth, it is hard to imagine the Green family tolerating that type of behavior from the University President.

We needed that...Huge 3-2 victory for the Golden Eagles which takes a little bit of the sting out of this day....thank God for ORU Baseball........we are 23-9 and on to Omaha for a weekend series...

Billbury speaks truth in that article.

Billy has twisted the truth before. Has anyone (besides Billy) made a report disputing these claims? No. My gut tells me that all of these journalists aren't banding together in a conspiracy "to make ORU look bad". Low class move by Billy, compounded by twisting facts on Twitter to make himself look better. Any confidence I had in his ability to lead ORU has been shattered in the last 24 hours. To anyone still thinking this move signals that "winning still matters at ORU", don't be fooled. This is in no way a wise, basketball focused move. This is 100% ego motivated by the head of our university.

You're assuming he cares whether athletics is successful or not.

Wow. Well, I stand corrected. That's completely ridiculous and displays total administrative incompetence. I guess this is why you don't hire a non-academic with no executive experience to run a university. You can't run the school like a church camp and expect to be successful in Division I athletics.

Interesting wording here - "notified in writing and by phone". This does not preclude Scott from finding out via twitter that he was fired. "Notified in writing" could mean sending an email and "by phone" could include leaving a message on voice mail. It does not demonstrate that Billy talked to Scott. This sure sounds like double speak, with very little integrity. It is unbelievable that Wilson did not have the courage to tell Scott face-to-face that he was being terminated. This was the highest paid employee at ORU, and arguably, at least in some circles, the face of the school. If Wilson does not have the ability to fire Scott in person, how can he make other tough decisions that are needed to run the University? Herein is an example of an administrator who is not a leader. It has been my personal opinion for the last couple of years that Scott was being set-up for failure. The restrictions that were placed on recruiting, the expulsion of Billbury, and other things caused me to question the current administration. I have wondered why he (Wilson) would do this to our school. Some have opined that Wilson does not truly understand the vision of the school. I think that is part of the issue, but could jealously be involved here as well? You know the next coach will not make more than Wilson. Scott is certainly better known in Tulsa as well as nationally, except in some very narrow circles. I picked up an alumni magazine a few months ago, and as I flipped through it, it seemed that Wilson's picture was on every page. So I went back and counted - he was on two-thirds of the pages of the magazine. (I wonder who thinks that someone will give to the school because they see a picture of the school administrator - who is not even an alum.) I truly hope that the Trustees who read this Board, have the wisdom to understand that the school has lost its way, and the courage to act to return ORU to its founding vision.