STILLWATER, Okla. -- The NCAA Friday placed Oklahoma State's football team on probation for four years because of 'numerous' and 'extensive' recruiting violations, the second-harshest penalty ever given to a football program.
The Cowboys, the nation's No. 11 team this season, are banned from bowl games the next three years and banned from appearing on live television the next two years.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions hit Oklahoma State especially hard despite help from the university in uncovering more than 40 violations, including the bidding war for All-America receiver Hart Lee Dykes when he was in high school.
Oklahoma State was stripped of 15 football scholarships -- five initial grants-in-aid each of the next three years -- and had the number of formal visits by recruits sliced to 50 from the allowable 85.
The NCAA said Oklahoma State's football staff and boosters have been'working without regard for NCAA rules for most of the period since 1972.'
Oklahoma State was struck with probation in 1978 for similar violations. The NCAA said the violations resumed when the probation expired.
The sanctions are believed to be the stiffest against a football program since Southern Methodist received the 'death penalty' in 1987, cancelling the 1987 football season. SMU officials also abandoned the 1988 season.
Charles Smrt, a member of the NCAA enforcement division, said his group 'does not rank the penalities.'
'Some schools would say theirs was harsher because (others were) for more television sanctions,' he said. 'It's hard to judge that.'
The NCAA initially ruled Oklahoma State must cut its schedule to eight games in 1989, forcing the Cowboys to drop three conference home games. The committee suspended that penalty because of the 'thoroughness' of the university's investigation.
'We're getting more scholarships than we thought we might,' Coach Pat Jones said. 'The heart of this football program was not cut out. There were no staff reductions.'
The most serious breach of legislation, the committee said, was that a former assistant football coach became involved in the recruitment of a 'very talented and highly visible' player.
The player is believed to be Dykes. The report did say the recruitment of the player resulted in NCAA penaltiies to three other schools.
Dykes, who became the Big Eight's all-time leading pass catcher this season, allegedly was offered immunity by the NCAA for his testimony. He has been linked with probations at three other schools - Illinois, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
The former assistant coach is believed to be Willie Anderson, who was fired by Oklahoma State in 1986, when the NCAA sent Oklahoma State a letter of inquiry. The NCAA said the investigation began in Feburary 1984 when 'anonymous and confidential sources' telephoned the enforcement staff.
'These violations were not only numerous, they were extensive in scope, variety and depth,' the NCAA said in a statement.
The governing body said the violations primarily involved former members of the football staff, a former athletic department academic counselor and at least 14 university representatives, one of whom 'most lamentably' was a former member of the university's Board of Regents.'
The violations included promises to recruits of large sums of money, use of automobiles and distribution of gifts and athletic clothes.
'None of the coaches involved could recall being cautioned against committing recruiting violations, and all knew they were violating NCAA rules and regulations,' the NCAA said.
The NCAA charged Oklahoma State with giving its key recruit - believed to be Dykes -- $5,000 when he signed a national letter of intent, cash payments averaging $125 during his freshman year and $200 while a sophomore. He was also provided with an 'expensive and distinctive' sports car, with the title placed in the name of the player's brother. Car payments and insurance were to be made by three sports representatives of the university.
On Sept. 9, Texas A&M was handed a three-year probation that included a two-year bowl and live television ban. Oklahoma received a similar penalty Dec. 19.
