FSU appeal decision coming Tuesday
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida State plans to formally respond next week to sanctions from the NCAA resulting from an academic cheating scandal, school officials said Wednesday.
The university will make its response Tuesday, according to athletic director Randy Spetman, who would not otherwise comment. Florida State has until March 21 to appeal the NCAA’s penalties.
The school is expected to challenge the NCAA’s directive to forfeit up to 14 football victories as well as wins in other sports for contests where athletes involved in a classroom cheating scandal participated.
The NCAA penalties took away scholarships in 10 sports, including a total of five in football over three years.
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 previous state goal of achieving 400 coaching victories.
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 cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single music history course. In at least one case, an athlete was asked to take an exam for another.
Florida State was defeated by Kentucky in the 2007 Music City Bowl when the Seminoles were without two dozens players, including several starters, suspended for their involvement in the cheating incident. Many of the same athletes were held out of the first three games of the 2008 season as part of their punishment.
Florida State is not expected to appeal any of the sanctions aside from the athletic wins the NCAA wants the school to vacate.