FSU Sanctions Response Kept Secret
June 2, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Football
Florida State has finally received a response from the NCAA about their appeal of sanctions from an academic cheating scandal…but they’ve kept that response a secret. They now have 15 days to respond again to the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, and the school says that their response will be made public, at least in part.
Bobby Bowden, Image: Newscom
FSU admits that the cheating occurred and they aren’t challenging the the loss of scholarships in 10 sports and a four-year probation for the dirty deeds. However, they are challenging the part of the sanctions that would strip coach Bobby Bowden of 14 of the school’s wins.
Normally, that may not be a big deal, but Bowden is neck-and-neck with Penn State’s Joe Paterno for the title of “winningest coach in college football.” Both coaches are expected to retire within the next few years, so there’s not time to make up those 14 wins.
Paterno has gone on record as saying that he hopes the NCAA allowed Bowden to keep the wins. I’m glad to see that he wants a fair fight.
Leave a comment below – should Bowden be allowed to keep his wins or should the games be declared losses?
It is imperative this type of activity be condemned in any sports program and punishment must be administered to the guilty parties. It is also necessary for the coaching staff to get a handle on the behavior of the athletes participating in all the activities for which they have been given responsibility. Let the punishments fit the crime and be swift in meting out punishment. Coach Bowden and his staff did, without hesitation, administer this punishment as soon as they were made aware of its happening.
There was no deliberate attempt by Coach Bowden or any of his staff to hide the infractions. I don’t see the benefit of personally punishing Coach Bowden for the trespasses of his athletes. All under the guise of taking away wins from the school because the athletes participated in the games while they were in the process of cheating. If there were complicity on the part of Coach Bowden and his staff, then perhaps this part of the sanctions would be understandable and even warranted. No such complicity was proven to have taken place. It should be apparent, even to the NCAA ruling committee, that this would be a punitive action on their part and unwarranted.
Are you kidding? How can someone not think he needs to be stripped of the wins. He has know of this going on since the 80’s. Past players have even spoke of the classes they never took and ALL the coaches new of the arrangements. Would be foolish to think that the Head Coach doesn’t know what is going on. It’s one of those “don’t ask, don’t tell” things. There have been many FSU players in trouble with the law in the past. Media is told that under no circumstance will those players play until a time period has passed for punishment. What happens next? Those same suspended players are in the starting line up on the field that Saturday. If all he cares about is the wins (or any coach), then they also should be held accountable.