Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o stands on the sidelines during an NCAA against Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. Notre Dame issued a release Wednesday, saying a story about Te’o’s girlfriend dying, which he said inspired him to play better as he helped the Fighting Irish get to the BCS title game, turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker.SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A story that Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o’s girlfriend had died of leukemia – a loss he said inspired him to help lead the Irish to the BCS championship game – was dismissed by the university Wednesday as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says his faith has not been shaken in Te’o “one iota.”
Swarbrick says an investigation by a firm the school hired has convinced him that Te’o was duped into an online relationship with a woman whose death was then faked by the perpetrators of the hoax.