(Los Angeles Times) The Cinderella story of Notre Dame's college football season ended in defeat in the BCS national championship game. The story that fueled Manti Te'o's emotional play, the loss of his girlfriend Lennay Kekua, however, ends in a lie, according to a report by Deadspin.com.
It's not clear when Te'o became aware of the hoax, or if he was involved in its perpetuation, but according to Notre Dame spokesman and assistant vice president Dennis Brown, the team's coaches were informed of the hoax before the team took the field for the BCS title game against Alabama.
"On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te'o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia," Brown said in a statement on Facebook.