Florida State - Violations? You've got to be kidding - it can't be true!

[amazinblue]

I saw this - and, I've always felt that Florida State didn't do things "by the book." It would appear the NCAA has finally realized that. Now, if they would only do something about the Reggie Bush incident at USC.



NCAA gives Florida State 4 years’ probation
By BRENT KALLESTAD, Associated Press Writer


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)—Florida State may have to forfeit some of coach Bobby Bowden’s 382 wins and will be on probation for the next four years as part of its punishment for a widespread academic cheating scandal.

The Seminoles will have to give up two scholarships this recruiting season and one the following year. Other sports will lose scholarships and have victories—including three NCAA national championships in track and field— threatened.

The NCAA said 61 Florida State athletes cheated on an online test from the fall of 2006 through summer 2007 or received improper help from staffers who provided them with answers to the exam and typed papers for them.

The NCAA said the school must vacate all wins in contests in which athletes involved in the cheating participated. That could involve up to 14 football victories.

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said the university would consider appealing any efforts to strip it of wins or titles.

“We did not allow anyone who we knew was ineligible to compete,” Wetherell said in a statement from the school. “Our position throughout the inquiry was that as soon as we knew of a problem, they didn’t play.”

The 79-year-old Bowden, who has often stated he wanted to reach 400 wins before calling it a career, was not available to comment on the NCAA report.

The men’s basketball program will lose one scholarship for two years and the women’s program will be down two for two years. Other programs were hit with fractional reductions.

The cheating took place in football, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s track and field and men’s golf.

The committee called the Florida State case “extremely serious” because of the large number of athletes involved, and cited unethical conduct by three former staff members and a failure to monitor by the university.

The cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single music history course in the fall of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007. It included staffers helping students on the test and, in one case, asking one athlete to take it for another.

Florida State played in the 2007 Music City Bowl without two dozen players, including several starters. The Seminoles were defeated by Kentucky. Many of the same athletes were held out of the first three games last fall as part of their punishment.

Dennis Thomas, commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, said the infractions committee didn’t consider the venerable Florida State coach when contemplating penalties.

“The committee does not get into whether or not you have a famous athlete or a famous coach or if a record is involved,” Thomas said. “The committee adjudicates the facts.”

Thomas said the school would decide which athletes were ineligible in which games, in effect determining what games it might have to forfeit.

[BlueSpread]

he'll never catch joepa now.

[The Michigan Man]

Why didn't Bobby make a call up north to Tressel and have him explain how you cover this type of shit up? JT's program is way more dirty, you don't see him getting caught and forfeiting games - come on Bobby!

Then again, if Fla ST was winning big BCS games, this would probably never be enforced, right Pete Carroll?

[rickyleach]

jimmy has ohio state feeding out of his hands ,you would think bobby would have more pull, usc and osu seem to be able to do whatever they want, its all about money..

[amazinblue]

jimmy has ohio state feeding out of his hands ,you would think bobby would have more pull, usc and osu seem to be able to do whatever they want, its all about money..

Ricky,

I'd add ND to your list of schools.... I don't think that Lou Holtz left ND because he "didn't want to break Knute Rockne's win record at ND" - I believe the NCAA was going to hit ND with some serious sanctions about steroid use and other unsavory acts - then ND and NBC said "what can we do about this" - the NCAA said - get Holtz outa here for a start, and - voila, Holtz was gone.

And, if there are those out there who think that this is crazy - I've got a question for you. Do you think Michael Jordan, at the top of his game - in the prime of his career, really said "I wanna see how good of a baseball player I could be?" I firmly believe that Jordan was betting on NBA games, something that would have banned him from the game - and Stern / Chicago Bulls (Reinsdorf) said - what can we do about this. The real pity is that the NBA / Stern - didn't have the guts to do what the NFL did to Paul Hornung and publicly state the probelm - and suspend him for a year or two.

I'm glad these infractions came down. I hope that the NCAA forces Florida State to vacate victories. And, I don't think that Bowden should have gotten "Division 1A" credit for all of his victories at Samford. If the NCAA just did that - Bowden would be "a ways off" from Paterno.

[rickyleach]

Amaizinblue, man you are right on, the deal with mj was to retire for a season instead of facing charges of gambling, really crazy thing about sports ,the older you get you start to see most of it is total bullssshit, all politics , and it keeps getting worse.

[amazinblue]

Florida State's going to reply to the NCAA. I can hardly wait to see what they ask for.

Here's the link...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-floridast-cheating&prov=ap&type=lgns

The key point that I like is: "The school is expected to challenge the NCAA’s directive to forfeit up to 14 football victories...Florida State coach Bobby Bowden’s 382 career wins are just one less than major college coaching’s all-time leader, Penn State’s Joe Paterno and the reduction would make it virtually impossible for Bowden to catch up or even reach a previously state goal of achieving 400 coaching victories."

That would be sweet justice... maybe, just maybe, the NCAA will step up and reject FSU's challenge.

[amazinblue]

This appeared on Yahoo earlier today... I particularly like the following quote - “The coaches had no involvement,” Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said Tuesday. “To hold them responsible in this case is simply wrong.”

I guess my thinking of what coaches are responsible for doing is way off...

This will be indicative of how strong the NCAA will actually be.


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)—Florida State will appeal part of an NCAA punishment that would strip the school of victories in 10 sports, including as many as 14 in football. The university president called the penalty “excessive and inappropriate.”

Football coach Bobby Bowden has 382 career wins—one fewer than Penn State’s Joe Paterno, the major college leader. Have 14 victories subtracted from Bowden’s official total could ruin his chances of retiring as the NCAA leader.

“The coaches had no involvement,” Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said Tuesday. “To hold them responsible in this case is simply wrong.”

The 79-year-old Bowden, who left town Tuesday morning for a speaking engagement, has not commented on the sanctions.

Wetherell said the university hired former administrative law judge Bill Williams of Tallahassee to represent Florida State in its appeal. Wetherell sent a letter Tuesday to NCAA president Myles Brand to advise him of the school’s decision.

“The penalty requiring the university to vacate wins is excessive and inappropriate,” Wetherell said. “Our case is compelling, it is so compelling you simply can’t go in any other direction.”

However, while the NCAA said Florida State should vacate all team and individual records for contests where the ineligible athletes competed, opponents would not benefit or be able to claim victory.

A former Seminoles football player, though he did not play for Bowden, Wetherell said it’s unfair to more than 500 athletes and 52 coaches who were not involved in the cheating.

The school accepted the loss of scholarships in 10 sports and a four-year probation the NCAA announced March 6. That’s in addition to stripping the school of victories in which any of the 61 athletes involved in the academic cheating may have participated.

The cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single music history course in the fall of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007. It included staffers helping students on the test and in one case asking one athlete to take it for another.

Florida State lost to Kentucky in the 2007 Music City Bowl without two dozen players, including several starters, who had taken the class. Many of the same athletes were also held out of the first three games last fall as part of their punishment.

[bighousemike84]

The bullshit of it is that most likely FSU will bitch there way out of having to forfeit games. If they had any class they would do whats right and take their lumps.

[amazinblue]

More comments about FSU - one from Wetherall, FSU's President, the other from Bowden...


I wonder what these guys think "appropriate punishment" would be. And, I don't know exactly the word Wetherall used, but it just builds on my belief that Bowden's wins at Samford shouldn't count toward his 1-A win total.


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)—Florida State University president T.K. Wetherell has apologized for an obscene remark about football coach Bobby Bowden’s former school.

The outspoken university president who frequently sprinkles off-color commentary into remarks, referred to Samford University by an obscene term that means stupid or incompetent.

Wetherell wrote Samford’s president an apology Wednesday, saying he was embarrassed about the way he referred to the Alabama school.

Wetherell made the comment Tuesday when answering a question about Bowden possibly losing as many as 14 wins as part of an NCAA penalty for an academic scandal that involved 10 sports and 61 athletes.

Bowden has 31 of his 382 career wins at Samford, which is in Birmingham, Ala.


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)—Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden believes the NCAA sanctions calling for the school to give up wins in 10 different sports are too harsh.

Bowden, 79, said he supports the decision by Florida State president T.K. Wetherell to challenge the NCAA’s ruling to vacate the victories in the wake of an academic cheating scandal. The forfeits could include as many as 14 in football.

“It was too stiff,” said Bowden in a university statement, commenting for the first time Wednesday night on the penalties announced March 6. “Does the punishment fit the crime? I think that’s the thing, that’s the thing we gotta find the answer to right there.”

Bowden’s 382 career wins are just one fewer than all-team major college leader Joe Paterno of Penn State.

The academic cheating involved 61 athletes in all 10 sports at Florida State. Sanctions resulted from papers being written for and test answers provided to athletes who took an online music history class in 2006 and 2007. Florida State reported the cheating to the NCAA once it learned of the problem.

The school accepted the loss of scholarships in 10 sports and a four-year probation.

However, Wetherell announced Tuesday that the university hired outside counsel to appeal the part of an NCAA punishment to strip it of victories, calling them “excessive and inappropriate.” He said it was unfair to roughly 500 athletes and 52 coaches who had nothing to do with the cheating.

Bowden said there’s been too much focus about his coaching record.

“I think everybody is putting everything on my wins, which is just part of it,” Bowden said. “All I hear from commentators is ‘Bobby Bowden this’ and ‘Bobby Bowden that.’ It is about all of our coaches and our teams.”

Bowden has won two national championships since becoming Florida State’s coach in 1976.

[amazinblue]

A link to an ESPN article that describes the NCAA / Myles Brand's response to FSU's appeal. Now, I hope that the NCAA sticks to their guns, and I'm also hoping that they eventually look into USC and the home that Reggie Bush's family enjoyed for a while.

The NCAA turned down Florida State's proposal that a "blue-ribbon committee" be formed to review the policy of vacating wins as a form of punishment, and that the policy be suspended from use while it is under review.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4003347

[Plus 1]

Why didn't Bobby make a call up north to Tressel and have him explain how you cover this type of shit up? JT's program is way more dirty, you don't see him getting caught and forfeiting games - come on Bobby!

Then again, if Fla ST was winning big BCS games, this would probably never be enforced, right Pete Carroll?




Wow, all this losing makes Michigan fans bitter. Your sour grapes are showing boys!!!:D

[The Michigan Man]

Wow, all this losing makes Michigan fans bitter. Your sour grapes are showing boys!!!:D

Someone got out on parole! Congrats. Teathered?

[amazinblue]

And now - FSU has 15 more days to respond to the NCAA? What is the NCAA - a mediator or a body that's supposed to govern athletics. If this doesn't represent some sense of "poor control" by the administration, what does?

Here's the link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-floridastcheating&prov=ap&type=lgns