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FAMU stripped of 11 conference titles, let back in MEAC

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  • #1

    FAMU stripped of 11 conference titles, let back in MEAC

    July 22, 2004
    SportsLine.com wire reports

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference followed through with its proposed punishment against Florida A&M for 196 NCAA rule violations, and stripped the Rattlers of 11 conference titles, including two in football.

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    But that football program -- no longer the 2000 and 2001 champions -- has been allowed back into the MEAC in 2005, the last chapter in FAMU's aborted jump to Division I-A last season. FAMU will compete as a I-AA independent this season.

    Florida A&M will also forfeit regular season conference titles in men's tennis (2000), men's indoor track (2002), women's indoor track (1998-2000), women's outdoor track (1998-2000) and volleyball (1999).

    In addition, FAMU must return the $175,000 it had received for winning four women's and three men's conference all-sports titles. The MEAC presents $25,000 checks for each all-sports championship.

    MEAC commissioner Dennis Thomas informed the school of the penalties in a letter last month.

    Joseph Ramsey II, the special assistant for athletics to school president Fred Gainous, said Gainous will decide no later than Friday whether to appeal.

    "Based on what I'm hearing and what I've read, there are 196 infractions," said Rev. R.B. Holmes Jr. of Tallahassee, a member of the board of trustees. "What are you going to appeal? The great number of infractions tells me we don't need to spin this. We need to fix this."

    FAMU earlier had confessed to the violations committed between 1998 and 2003, most dealing with the academic eligibility of student-athletes.

    In the school's report, FAMU listed self-imposed sanctions that included three years' probation for the school; the loss of four partial and two full scholarships in football and one each in baseball, women's basketball and women's track in each of the next three academic years.

    FAMU also said it would cut four official visits in football in each of the next three years.

    The NCAA is conducting its own investigation, which could result in sanctions beyond those proposed by the school.



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  • DJRamFan
    MEAC to strip FAMU of 11 championships
    by DJRamFan
    July 8, 2004
    AP

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference plans to strip Florida A&M of its 2000 and 2001 football titles and nine other championships for 196 NCAA rules violations, most dealing with academic eligibility.

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    The proposed penalties were listed in a June 29 letter from MEAC commissioner Dennis Thomas to Joseph Ramsey II, FAMU's special assistant to the president for athletics. The letter said FAMU would have to forfeit the two regular-season titles in football, and championships in men's tennis in 2000; men's indoor track for 2002; women's indoor track for 1998-99 and 2000; women's outdoor track for 1998-99 and 2000; and volleyball for 1999.

    The school can appeal the sanctions.

    Ramsey said FAMU committed "substantial non-compliance" in athlete eligibility in 11 sports from 1998-2003. The violations mostly dealt with the university's compliance office certifying academically ineligible athletes.

    FAMU self-reported a list of NCAA violations and suggested self-imposed penalties. The MEAC hired an independent auditor to look into the violations and the auditor came up with the infraction count.

    FAMU also sent its report to the NCAA, which is investigating the violations. The FAMU athletic department and FAMU president Fred Gainous would not comment on the MEAC's report until after the NCAA reports back to the school.

    In all, FAMU listed self-imposed sanctions that included three years probation for the school; and the loss of four partial and two full scholarships in football and one each in baseball, women's basketball and women's track in each of the next three years.

    FAMU also said it would cut four official visits in football in each of the next three years.

    The letter did not address any postseason conference tournaments the Rattlers won.


    AP NEWS
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    Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
    -07-12-2004, 05:22 PM
  • DJRamFan
    NCAA cites Florida A&M for lack of institutional control
    by DJRamFan
    Aug. 8, 2005
    CBS SportsLine.com wire reports




    Florida A&M was cited for a lack of institutional control by the NCAA on Monday after an investigation found rampant violations regarding student-athlete eligibility and a failure by former football coach Billy Joe to adequately monitor his program.

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    The NCAA's notice of allegations listed 184 instances between 1998-99 and 2004-05 in which students throughout the athletics program were allowed to participate without meeting NCAA eligibility requirements.

    "Key personnel ... lacked acceptable levels of expertise and knowledge of these regulations resulting in an inadequate certification system and a number of improper certifications of its student-athletes," the report said.

    Most of those eligibility violations occurred under former compliance director Jonathan Evans, who is no longer at the school.

    The school had earlier made public the results of itsr internal report and volunteered to strip scholarships in almost every sport -- including 28 in football -- and impose a one-year postseason ban on its men's basketball team next season.

    This comes two months after Joe and two assistants were fired by the school, which cited alleged NCAA rules violations in recruiting and eligibility as the reasons for dismissal. Joe has since sued the school.

    The school will have until Sept. 5 to review the charges and respond. The NCAA Committee on Infractions is scheduled to hear Florida A&M's case during its Oct. 14-16 meetings in Colorado Springs, Colo.

    AP NEWS
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    -08-09-2005, 12:13 PM
  • DJRamFan
    Mississippi State nailed with probation, lost scholarships
    by DJRamFan
    Oct. 27, 2004
    SportsLine.com wire reports

    JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi State's football program was placed on probation by the NCAA for four years, stripped of eight scholarships over the next two seasons and banned from postseason play this season because of recruiting violations.

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    The NCAA announced Wednesday that its infractions committee found two former assistants and several boosters broke recruiting rules between 1998-2002. But allegations of unethical conduct against former coach Jackie Sherrill were dismissed.

    Sherrill retired after the 2003 season and was replaced by Sylvester Croom. The Bulldogs (2-5) won their first Southeastern Conference game under Croom, the first black head football coach in SEC history, last Saturday when they upset Florida.

    The NCAA's decision came two months after Mississippi State expected it.

    "The uncertainty is gone," Croom said. "We can move forward and move our program in the direction we want it to go. ... We will not under my watch be in this situation again."

    Thomas Yeager, chairman and commissioner of the NCAA committee, said Croom's race was "immaterial to our conclusion," but credited Mississippi State for creating "a new atmosphere surrounding rules compliance."

    "There is a new direction with the program. ... Simply changing coaches does not necessarily mitigate (that) the committee will look favorably on that kind of personnel action," Yeager said. "In this case, it was a positive evaluation."


    Coach Sylvester Croom is glad the uncertainty is gone with the ex- pected sanctions. (Getty Images)
    The Bulldogs are allowed just 81 football scholarships for the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and are limited to 45 expense-paid recruiting visits in each of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years -- 11 per year fewer than the maximum allowed by the NCAA.

    Mississippi State in April admitted to secondary rules violations within the football program, but denied the more serious NCAA allegations of offering to provide cash and other perks to recruits.

    The school had limited itself to 83 scholarships in the 2005-06 academic year as part of a self-imposed penalty -- down from the NCAA maximum of 85.

    The university received a letter of allegations from the NCAA on Dec. 2, detailing 13 possible rules violations, some by former assistants coaches Glenn Davis and Jerry Fremin.

    "The cloud that has been over the Mississippi State football program for the last four years certainly has not been fair to this institution, and it certainly has not been fair to (Croom) and his first year of trying to put it together," athletic director Larry Templeton said.

    Among the violations, the committee...
    -10-28-2004, 09:18 AM
  • DJRamFan
    Florida A&M volunteers to implement penalties
    by DJRamFan
    Aug. 1, 2005
    CBS SportsLine.com wire reports




    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida A&M volunteered to strip its football program of 28 scholarships over three years and impose a one-year postseason ban on its men's basketball team as the school conceded a "widespread" lack of institutional control in an internal report released Monday.

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    The school fired football coach Billy Joe several weeks ago as part of its effort to avoid additional penalties for more than 200 violations that surfaced in nearly every varsity sport at the historically black college.

    The report also recommended eliminating 4.5 baseball scholarships, 3.5 in men's track and 2.5 in women's track and curtail recruiting activities for three years and reduce the time allowed for football practice.

    The university's findings revealed more than 100 athletes were allowed to compete without filling out eligibility or drug-testing consent forms required by the NCAA.

    Florida A&M said it would vacate any team or individual records or awards resulting from performances by ineligible athletes between 1998-2005.

    In addition, the school volunteered to eliminate one assistant basketball coach and a graduate assistant in the program for 2005-06, the same season the school banned itself from the postseason.

    In all, 12 of the school's sports programs will be affected.

    The investigation has already led to the school stripping itself of 11 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles, including two in football.

    Florida A&M forwarded this report to the NCAA in June, but had not released the details of the proposed scholarship cuts. The NCAA is doing its own investigation at the school and is expected to make its ruling this fall.

    The proposed cutbacks would coincide with Florida A&M's budget cuts that have staggered the athletic department.

    Suffering from a school-wide budget crisis, Florida A&M has already eliminated its men's tennis and golf teams and its men's and women's swimming and diving programs, cutting the total number of programs from 18 to 14.

    In addition to releasing copies of its own internal evaluation, Florida A&M selected a new compliance director -- Rosalyn Dunlap -- and the university is also advertising for a new vice president of audit and compliance.

    Joe, who was 86-46 in 11 seasons at the school, filed suit last month to get access to records the school cited at the time he was fired. The university pointed to NCAA rules violations in recruiting and eligibility as the reason for his dismissal.

    Former University of Miami and Denver Broncos defensive tackle Rubin Carter was chosen as Joe's replacement last month.

    AP NEWS
    The Associated...
    -08-02-2005, 01:33 PM
  • DJRamFan
    ACC wants to give players another year to complete degrees
    by DJRamFan
    July 28, 2004
    SportsLine.com wire reports

    GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Atlantic Coast Conference has proposed making football players eligible to compete for five years, saying the extra season might allow some students to get their degrees rather than leave school early.

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    The NCAA will vote on the proposal no earlier than April 2005, said Shane Lyons, the ACC's associate commissioner.

    "Many students who have exhausted eligibility have to make a decision about whether they pursue their professional or athletic career without getting their education," Lyons said in a phone interview Tuesday. "We believe it's more likely that student athletes will return if they still have that eligibility."

    The ACC, which proposed the rule to the NCAA earlier this month, suggested that the NCAA eliminate redshirt seasons, when players are on the team but don't play. A redshirt season does not count toward eligibility.

    About 70 percent of college football players are redshirted, Lyons said.

    The proposal shouldn't increase costs because the scholarship limit will remain at 85, he said. "The pool of athletes may be around a year longer than they are now," he said.

    The average student, not just one who plays sports, takes 4.8 years to graduate, said Lyons, citing an NCAA study. In addition, the NCAA's new academic standards are based on five years for a degree, he said.

    The National Association of Basketball Coaches has proposed similar legislation for men's and women's basketball players. The American Football Coaches Association has supported the legislation for several years, Lyons said.


    AP NEWS
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    Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
    -07-29-2004, 09:18 AM
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