Bogus Smith Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 OSU baseball program faces NCAA hearing by: BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer On Aug. 7, Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, athletic director Mike Holder and baseball coach Frank Anderson will be in Indianapolis to meet with members of the NCAA Committee on Infractions. For the first time since 1992, an OSU program – in this case, the baseball program – is alleged to have committed a major violation. Documents obtained by the Tulsa World through an open-records request indicate that a former OSU baseball player allegedly received a gift – a used car – from an out-of-state church congregation in December 2007. The documents do not identify the former player, the church or the location of the church. An OSU source indicated that the former player was an active member of the Cowboy baseball team only in 2006 and 2007, receiving only limited playing time. In a response letter addressed to Hargis, the OSU athletic department acknowledged being aware that the former player was given a car. The letter stated that Scott Williams, OSU’s associate athletic director for compliance, “should have made greater inquiry into the source of the gift, which would have led to the conclusion that the gift was, in fact, impermissible.” OSU baseball program faces NCAA hearing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 How ironic would it be if OSU gets reprimanded for what appears to be an innocent gift made by a church congregation (with absolutely no ties to OSU) to help a needy young man - and USC never has to answer for its 'issues'? BTW, Scott Williams (formerly in ORU's Athletic Department) is the current compliance director for OSU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 I can't imagine that a Notre Dame or BYU student-athlete hasn't received some sort of renumeration (more than de-minimis) from one of their churches while attending school. Sounds like the NCAA is still smarting from their attack (and subsequent loss) towards Andrew Oliver. If I am Scott Williams and the compliance team at OSU, I'd make sure to dot every "i" and cross every "t" before an interpretation of the rules was applied until the Oliver debacle blows over. Sorry to see Scott have to be in the middle of this....he's one of the good guys (playing for the enemy)!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Remind me of what happened with Andrew Oliver.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I had to look it up . . . Oklahoma St. star reinstated after winning lawsuit against NCAA NEW YORK (AP) -- Oklahoma State pitcher Andrew Oliver was reinstated to the team on Thursday when an Ohio judge tossed out an NCAA rule that prevents college baseball players from hiring advisers who are in direct contact with big league clubs. Oliver filed a lawsuit after he was ruled ineligible. The NCAA suspended him last spring because it said advisers he had hired listened in on contract negotiations after he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in June 2006. Baseball players -- unlike those in football and basketball -- can be drafted before they've entered college, forcing many to retain advisers who can help them with negotiations. NCAA rules prevent those advisers from having direct contact with big league clubs . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 This isn't the first time Scott Williams' name has been mentioned publicly regarding compliance problems at OSU. I can't imagine having his name in the papers - especially when it involves bad news - is very good for business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Sometimes the NCAA seems almost abusive in the level of control they attempt to exert. This is certainly one of those, in my opinion. While the player WAS a member of the team, there is no indication of whether he was even scholarshiped, and if he WAS, we all know the way baseball scholarships work - 11.7 scholarships divided between 25-35 players. Few, if any, get more than a 50% scholly, and quite a few play as walk ons - no scholarship at all. I believe ORU was playing with four walk-ons this baseball season (granted, that was due to late defections to the draft and early-in-the-season injuries). Most baseball players, like the one in this case, spend their summers playing in amateur baseball leagues for little or no pay, I would imagine. So if money is tight, what does the NCAA expect these guys to do? As the story says: "An OSU spokesman explained that the former player was on an out-of-state summer baseball roster in 2007, and during that summer attended a church.[Good for him! ] The player did not own a vehicle and had money problems, the spokesman said. Months later, in December 2007, church members contributed to the purchase of a used car for the player. The OSU spokesman said the car was a 10-year-old model valued at less than $5,000. OSU’s NCAA compliance office initially determined that the car did not qualify as an impermissible gift because the church had no connection to Oklahoma State University. The university reported that the church had no history of OSU ticket purchases or donations." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Besides the apparent absurdness of the situation - the hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. The NCAA spends time investigating this and still can't brings themselves to do anything against USC. Incredible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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