SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - 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.
Click here to watch ESPN video from Notre Dame's media conference.
The website deadspin.com, who broke the story, is reporting that a source close to Te’o claims he is "80 percent sure" that Manti Te'o was "in on it," and that he and a friend perpetrated Lennay Kekua's death with publicity in mind.
