Universities may start asking Sports Illustrated to investigate their football programs after hearing about the success Oklahoma State is experiencing.
SI’s five-part expose that detailed the team’s alleged NCAA violations created plenty of negative buzz for the Cowboys initially, but now, in the wake of the shaky series, OSU is proving that any publicity truly is good publicity.
The reports that vowed to shed light on the number of improprieties within the program were widely discredited once they were released, as many of the sources retracted their statements and other accusations were debunked altogether. Although the series had the potential to deliver a crucial blow to the university, the outcome has only strengthened the program, according to head coach Mike Gundy.
“I think it helped us in recruiting,” Gundy told the Tulsa World on Monday. “It benefited our program.”
Based on numbers, the coach is absolutely correct. After the articles were released, the Cowboys added three commitments and had others calling them up as a direct response to the articles.
“It was interesting,” he said. “We had four or five players that were really good players that started calling on us and showing interest the next few weeks after the article came out. That was the only thing I could attribute it to, because we certainly weren’t playing very good. So it was just kind of interesting.
“I know people think, ‘Well, he’s lost it again.’ But the truth is, you guys, and I hear people say in marketing, any publicity is good publicity. So I thought about that and I thought, ‘I wonder if [prospects] thought, ‘Well, you know, we’ll check them out or see or whatever.’’ I don’t know. It was just kind of weird. But there was interest from players that we didn’t have any interest in until that came out.”
OSU has jumped out to a 9-1 record this season and is 10th in the BCS standings, so maybe Gundy has lost it, or maybe the report that was supposed to bring them down actually built them up.
