Mike Holder does not sound confident about SI story

Here are the statements from Mike Holder on the Sports Illustrated scandal which will (presumably) drop tonight…

Holder on SI: "I know enough to be very concerned."

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) September 9, 2013

AD Mike Holder: "I don't want to believe (the allegations) are true. … Our goal is to separate fact from fiction." #okstate

— Kelly Hines (@KellyHinesTW) September 9, 2013

Holder: "We've already notified the NCAA and they're going to assign an investigator to this."

— Brendon (@brendon_wm) September 9, 2013

Holder: "I apologize to all the AD's in the conference for what's about to be said about a member of our conference."

— Brendon (@brendon_wm) September 9, 2013

Holder: "I apologize to all the AD's in the conference for what's about to be said about a member of our conference."

— Brendon (@brendon_wm) September 9, 2013

"But we hope to make you proud by how we deal with it." (2/2)

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) September 9, 2013

Holder: "It's time to Cowboy up."

— Brendon (@brendon_wm) September 9, 2013

That last one is cringe-worthy but man, what a series of statements.

Maybe he’s taking the “set your expectations really, really, really low and maybe we won’t look as bad by comparison!” angle but this is not a good look.

One thing that nobody has talked much about but a reader named Brian mentioned in the comments section today was that Holder is probably terrified of what Boone’s thinking right now. This quote came from a CBS Sports story in 2011:

“He [Pickens] has made it very clear to us,” Holder said. “If we want to lose our No. 1 supporter, then start breaking the rules.”

This after Holder noted that Boone had disassociated himself from the OSU football program for a decade after the Hart Lee Dykes stuff in the late 80s.

Boone’s your boy…until he’s not, and while I don’t think this is something he would bail the program on, Holder probably doesn’t want to take any chances. Boone doesn’t like getting embarrassed and nothing is more embarrassing than funding a football program that was running dirty the entire time.

Stay tuned.