Several F$U players suspended

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Seminoles start bowl practices in limbo
By Steve Ellis
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER

Florida State football coaches begin preparation for the Music City Bowl today not knowing exactly which of their players will be available for the Dec. 31 game.

FSU will declare an undetermined number of players ineligible for the bowl game. The school's decision relates to academic misconduct involving student-athletes and a former tutor who provided improper help on an online test.

"Oh, yeah. We don't have a choice," FSU President T.K. Wetherell said Thursday. "When we know without a shadow of a doubt, or that a kid admits he has done something, we don't have a choice. NCAA rules tell us that."

Football players are being re-interviewed about their involvement in a case that has already involved 23 student-athletes. That process is winding down.

Players who admit wrongdoing will be suspended for multiple games. FSU is still waiting for written confirmation from the NCAA regarding the percentage of missed games it will demand. One scenario is that underclassmen could miss close to four games depending on what the NCAA determines.

The number of football players involved won't be known until the interview process is complete.

Players who admit to wrongdoing will be suspended for games. Those who deny involvement and are later determined by the NCAA to have received improper help could lose their athletic eligibility.

Wetherell said FSU could also be subject to forfeiting games if a player who is later determined to be involved participated. That means FSU must closely scrutinize the interview process.

FSU coaches enter today's practice with the understanding all players will be available for practices held in Tallahassee before the team breaks for the holiday on Dec. 22. But suspended players are not expected to make the trip to Nashville.

A committee appointed by Wetherell and chaired by university provost Larry Abele is also completing a final report on the academic misconduct cases that will be delivered to the NCAA. Wetherell would like that to be completed before Christmas.

The committee includes FSU's NCAA faculty representative Joe Beckman, general counsel Betty Steffens and The Compliance Group, a consulting firm from Kansas that is putting together the report.

Noteworthy

FSU prospects on their official visits will be among those watching Saturday morning's practice. The group includes four commitments, running backs LaGarrette Blount and Tavares Pressley, linebacker Vincent Williams and safety Nick Moody. Running back Jamie Harper of Jacksonville Trinity Christian Academy is also visiting FSU.

 

Source: Multiple suspensions likely for Music City Bowl, plus 3 games in 2008

By Mark Schlabach
ESPN.com
(Archive)





Updated: December 18, 2007, 2:44 PM ET



As many as 20 Florida State football players will be suspended from playing against Kentucky in the Dec. 31 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, as well as the first three games of the 2008 season, for their roles in an alleged cheating scandal involving an Internet-based course, a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday morning.
Florida State officials are expected to announce the results of the investigation this week. The source said university officials determined Monday night the exact number of football players who will be suspended. Federal privacy laws prohibit the school from releasing names.
"We want to make sure that we have complete information, and that we have dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's," said Lee Hinkle, vice president of university relations. "It is premature to say anything at this point."
Coach Bobby Bowden was expected to issue a statement later Tuesday after it was reviewed by Florida State's general counsel.
The source said student-athletes in several other sports also were implicated in the cheating scandal.
The investigation already has led to the resignations of two academic assistance employees who worked with FSU student-athletes. The school revealed in September that as many as 23 student-athletes were given answers before taking tests over the Internet.
Further investigations revealed additional student-athletes were involved in the cheating, according to the source.
"If the players fight the suspensions, they'll risk losing all of their eligibility," a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday morning.
The school's investigation found that a tutor gave students answers while they were taking tests and filled in answers on quizzes and typed papers for students.
Florida State president T.K. Wetherell, a former Seminoles football player, reported the initial findings in a letter to the NCAA in September.
Wetherell ordered an investigation by the university's Office of Audit Services in May after receiving information an athletics department tutor had directed one athlete to take an online quiz for another athlete and then provided the answers.
The tutor implicated in the audit told investigators he had been providing students with answers for the test since the fall of 2006, according to a university report.
Wisconsin was the last football program to suspend as many as 20 players. Days before the start of the 2000 regular season, 26 Badgers were given three- or one-game suspensions for getting unadvertised price breaks at a shoe store.
Florida State announced in October that athletics director Dave Hart Jr. will resign Dec. 31. Wetherell appointed State Rep. William "Bill" Proctor interim athletics director. Proctor also is a former FSU football player.
The school announced last week that longtime football coach Bobby Bowden had agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2008 season that will pay him at least $1.98 million. Bowden, who is in his 32nd season at the school, is major college football's all-time winningest coach with 373 career victories.
Florida State also designated offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher as Bowden's eventual successor. Fisher's new contract calls for him to replace Bowden by the end of the 2010 season. If Fisher isn't named FSU's new coach by then, the school's booster organization would owe him $2.5 million. Under the terms of the new contract, Fisher would owe Seminoles boosters $2.5 million if he leaves the school before the end of the 2010 season.
The Seminoles struggled for the fourth consecutive season in 2007, finishing 7-5 overall, 4-4 in ACC play. It is the fourth consecutive season they failed to win 10 games, after winning at least 10 games in 14 consecutive seasons, from 1987 to 2000.

 

It's truely time for Bowden to go.

 

It seems that Florida State has some players suspended before every bowl game every year, or am I just imagining that?

 

w00t!

there's only a few players from the whole team that i even want to be there next season -- and most of them redshirted.

 

the troubles for the state of Florida football continue. Why are there so many issues there and why have they been going on for the last 10 years?

 

This happens at every school, these just happened to get caught.

 

There is some talk that they might cancel the Music City bowl. I think they could find another team.

 

Thank you old wise one for your contribution.

 

The Gamecocks are available...