Sports Illustrated Says OSU Used Sex To Sell Recruits On Stillwater

Part 4 of Sports Illustrated's special report focuses on OSU's hostess program, Orange Pride, claiming a small subset of the girls slept with recruits in an effort to sway them to Stillwater.

Thursday, September 12th 2013, 4:01 pm

By: News 9

Part 4 of Sports Illustrated's special report focuses on OSU's hostess program, Orange Pride, claiming a small subset of the girls slept with recruits in an effort to sway them to choose to come to Oklahoma State.

Sports Illustrated

The article poses that, under Les Miles, membership in Orange Pride tripled as the organization became a key recruiting tool. Players say that a small number of women in the group had sex with recruits. Says Artrell Woods, a Cowboys wide receiver from 2006 to '08, "The idea was to get [recruits] to think if they came [to OSU] it was going to be like that all the time, with all these girls wanting to have sex with you."

In 2004 the NCAA passed legislation that, in part, prohibited "the use of alcohol, drugs, sex and gambling in recruiting."
Oklahoma State not only kept Orange Pride intact, but by 2004, multiple sources told SI, the group also became a key contributor to the program's rise.
Membership in the organization more than tripled; there was a greater emphasis on attracting prettier and more outgoing women; and more than a dozen Cowboys who played from 2001 to '11 told SI that a small number of Orange Pride members had sexual relations with them or with other prospects during recruiting visits.
According to the former hostesses who spoke to SI, the vast majority did not have sex with recruits. But for those who did, it proved to be an effective inducement.

Chantal Drumgole (née Sanders) an Orange Pride member during the 2003-04 academic year says there was a group within the group "and I am not that kind of girl, a groupie that is just about the football players and trying to sleep with the football players."
A former Orange Pride adviser and two former members of the football staff say that coaches sometimes decided which hostesses to pair with which recruits.
Oklahoma State football personnel played a central role in vetting Orange Pride candidates, with Les Miles, who coached the team from 2001 to '04, and current coach Mike Gundy interviewing some applicants -- a practice that does not occur at the three other Big 12 schools that confirmed to SI they had hostess programs.
Gundy declined to comment on Orange Pride, and university officials accused SI of sensationalizing a small number of alleged sexual encounters between recruits and hostesses.
Athletic director Mike Holder says a review of the organization might be warranted in the wake of SI's findings.