September 14, 2008

NCAA finds no new violations in FSU Tutor-gate

I think I've gotten about 15 emails on this in the past month, so I suppose an update is warranted in the FSU Tutor-gate scandal.

As you may recall, FSU found that an academic tutor had provided answers to a music history test to as many as sixty FSU scholarship athletes. The scandal accelerated the departure of athletic director Dave Hart, among others. As a result of its own investigation, FSU fired replaced nearly every position with the academic support department, banned the tutor, self-imposed scholarship reductions and suspended players from 25 percent of their next games. For the football team, the suspensions meant twenty-three football players were subject to four-game suspensions.

This week, the NCAA released the finding of its investigation, concluding that no additional infractions were found at FSU.

Also detailed in the release were FSU's voluntary scholarship reductions in ten sports and the formula used to determine the self-imposed reductions:

(# of student-athletes involved in case / # of student-athletes on the roster) x # of total NCAA scholarships X .30 = number of scholarships to cut

The resulting self-imposed penalties mean that FSU will be without two scholarships in the 2008-2009 season (this year) and three scholarships in the 2009-2010 (next year).

By all appearances, the NCAA will not further penalize the Noles because the university conducted its own full and thorough investigation. Whether the loss of five scholarships (as well as the suspensions and other self-imposed actions) is "enough" may be subject to debate, but the irony of the NCAA holding up FSU as a role model is... delicious.

Posted by Kevin Donahue

Comments:

NCAA finds no new violations in FSU Tutor-gate
I think I've gotten about 15 emails on this in the past month, so I suppose an update is warranted in the FSU Tutor-gate scandal. As you may recall, FSU found that an academic tutor had provided answers to a music history test to as many as sixty FSU scholarship athletes. The scandal accelerated the departure of athletic director Dave Hart, among others. As a result of its own investigation, FSU fired replaced nearly every position with the academic support department, banned the tutor, self-imposed scholarship reductions and suspended players from 25 percent of their next games. For the football team, the suspensions meant twenty-three football players were subject to four-game suspensions. This week, the NCAA released the finding of its investigation, concluding that no additional infractions were found at FSU. Also detailed in the release were FSU's voluntary scholarship reductions in ten sports and the formula used to determine the self-imposed reductions:
(# of student-athletes involved in case / # of student-athletes on the roster) x # of total NCAA scholarships X .30 = number of scholarships to cut
The resulting self-imposed penalties mean that FSU will be without two scholarships in the 2008-2009 season (this year) and three scholarships in the 2009-2010 (next year). By all appearances, the NCAA will not further penalize the Noles because the university conducted its own full and thorough investigation. Whether the loss of five scholarships (as well as the suspensions and other self-imposed actions) is "enough" may be subject to debate, but the irony of the NCAA holding up FSU as a role model is... delicious.