Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter Criticizes NCAA for Cowboy Hoops Penalties
STILLWATER -- 21 days ago, the NCAA passed down penalties to the Oklahoma State men's basketball team stemming from the investigation into the program and former associate head coach Lamont Evans.
It was found out that the program did nothing wrong, nor did it benefit in anyway, but Lamont Evans, who was fired in the fall of 2017 when the FBI investigation was first announced, accepted between $18,150 and $22,000 in bribes to direct players to sign with certain financial advisors.
On Friday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter penned a letter to NCAA president Mark Emmert 'denouncing the punitive, and totally unwarranted, severe punishment of the Oklahoma State University men's basketball program.
“The punishment by the NCAA to the OSU men’s basketball program is excessive, is completely unfair and only hurts the student athletes, who have worked their entire lives to play basketball at this level,” Attorney General Hunter said. “In its findings, the NCAA admits that the university had no knowledge or connection to the corrupt act of a lone wolf, and his actions were of no benefit whatsoever to the university. The NCAA’s punishment is unjustifiable, illogical and needs to be re-assessed.”
The most egregious of the penalties passed down by the NCAA is a one-year postseason ban for the upcoming 2020-21 season, the lone season the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2020 class, Cade Cunningham, will be in Stillwater.
Mike Boynton and Co. brought in a top-5 recruiting class to add to an already talented roster and were poised to make a run at a Big 12 title, as well as make a run in the NCAA tournament.
Other penalties include a loss of three scholarships over the next three season, as well as three-years of probation among other penalties.
Throughout the investigation, Oklahoma State cooperated fully and supplied the NCAA everything it needed to complete the investigation, which found out the school/program itself did nothing wrong.
“What concerns me deeply, though, is the level of punishment meted out despite OSU’s full cooperation and without sufficient explanation, punishment that will invariably and negatively affect the school’s innocent student-athletes as much as, if not more than, the leaders and authority figures of the institution.”
You can read AG Mike Hunter's full letter here.
