We last saw George Dohrmann — he of the "How Deep It Went" fame — attempting to burn down Oklahoma State's "dirty" program. It went about as well as expected for a man attempting arson with an unlit candle on a brick house. (Oklahoma State sued Sports Illustrated over it in July.)
And to be fair, this piece had a lot of problems before a true investigation took place, as noted by Deadspin's Dom Cosentino:
SI, as it had throughout its reporting, showed little interest in the perspectives or information of anyone not directly involved with the football program—surprising, given that the supposed purpose of the investigation was to provide a "deeper, longitudinal" view of how big-time football can corrupt an academic institution.
The magazine also declined to give OSU the opportunity to address specific claims or corroborate basic information about players, coaches, tutors, and professors. Partly, this was a tactical decision by journalists not wishing to leave footprints all over Stillwater while reporting a sensitive story, but it would backfire when it turned out that a key source's claims could have been refuted with a simple phone call.
Hmmm. I'm no journalist, but that sounds like the opposite of investigative journalism to me. Judges?
In a joint statement released by the NCAA and OSU, and “[a]fter a thorough review by the NCAA Enforcement Staff and an outside consultant hired by Oklahoma State University,” it’s been determined that “allegations of misconduct in the Oklahoma State football program as reported by the media in September 2013 were fundamentally unfounded.” Investigators from both sides “reviewed approximately 50,000 emails and interviewed nearly 100 individuals involved with Oklahoma State’s football program, including current and former coaches, administrators, student-athletes, students and prospects.”
But hark, it wasn't a total failure for the Pulitzer-winning writer:
The joint investigation did uncover three Level II NCAA violations [...]
Well, hey! They did get Al Capone on tax evasion charges, after all!
[...] that were unrelated to the SI series.
Lol.
