TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder doesn’t understand why it happened. He wouldn’t. Neither would cornerback Tony Carter or rover Myron Rolle. They’re Seminoles starters who already have their degrees and are in grad school.
Yet they’re on a football team in which 25 players were caught cheating on tests in an athletic-department-wide scandal.
“We’ve got smart guys,” Ponder said. “They’re able to do it on their own. That wasn’t really needed.”
The only good news for FSU is that seven of those players are coming back from four-game suspensions Saturday when the Seminoles meet Colorado. Six have starting experience, four on a defense that was already one of the most formidable in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
While Colorado must find a way to move the ball, FSU (2-1) must find a way to move ahead. It’s not just football. Sixty-one athletes in 10 sports — ranging from men’s golf to softball — took part in the scandal conducted by advisers and tutors in the athletic department. Scholarships have been slashed; forfeitures are possible.
The university has cleaned house, firing everyone connected, even academicians who weren’t publicly named. Athletic director Randy Spetman, Air Force’s AD from 1996 to 2003, arrived here Feb. 4 from Utah State just in time to help clean up the mess. Of the 61 athletes who had to retake the test, 59 got a worse score.
“Every pebble . . . every stone”
“It’s been an embarrassment for all of our athletic programs,” Spetman said. “The great thing is when we did recognize we did have an issue, there was tremendous transparency within the athletic department and the university in which we’ve overturned every pebble and every stone to see what it is.”
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
According to FSU’s 80-page response to the NCAA’s notice of allegations, tutors provided athletes with questions and answers to an online music test that one football player said hadn’t changed in six years. FSU admitted to violations of six NCAA bylaws.
The university self-reported the violations in February, placed itself on two years’ probation and imposed scholarship reductions on 10 sports. Football received five scholarship reductions, and the NCAA Committee on Infractions will hold a hearing Oct. 18 to determine whether more penalties, including forfeits, are necessary.
How could this possibly happen? And who’s to blame? By all reports, it appears to be the work of overzealous academic advisers who wanted to help Seminoles athletics.
“I’ve never talked to the individuals, but they obviously thought they were providing a good service in which they jeopardized it,” Spetman said. “I don’t think they’re malicious people by any means, but they were pretty naive in thinking they could get away with it.”
The university has not laid any blame on head coach Bobby Bowden or his staff. Still, Bowden was appalled by the events. A forfeiture of wins would jeopardize his race with Penn State’s Joe Paterno as major college football’s winningest coach. Paterno leads, 376-375.
Bowden is more concerned with how the cheating took place, particularly in a music course, saying, “Hey, if it was physiology or chemistry, you could understand.”
Big blow to football team
The football team took the biggest public-relations hit. While many players involved have left the program or graduated, 12 players in all were suspended. Two returned last week, and the last three come back next week.
Junior linebacker Dekoda Watson was one of those coming off the four- game suspension, including last year’s Music City Bowl. He indicated the possibility of getting test answers was a matter of merely showing up. But he didn’t know the consequences.
“The main thing I learned is to learn from your mistakes,” Watson said. “OK, the situation has happened, but it’s not a matter of what you’ve done. It’s about overcoming the situation.”
This is a talented group coming back in time for Colorado. Besides Watson, FSU’s defensive MVP last year, other key players include junior defensive tackle Justin Mincey, a part-time starter at defensive end a year ago; senior defensive end Neefy Moffett, who started seven games last year; junior cornerback Patrick Robinson, an All-ACC preseason pick; tight end Caz Piurowski; and senior wide receiver Richard Goodman, who caught 20 passes last year.
None is listed on the FSU depth chart for the Colorado game, but all are expected to play. A lot. They are healthy, hungry and rested.
“Things will seem to be in our favor once we get everybody back, to be honest with you,” Watson said. “I just really believe that it’s going to be different. With the film, I know it’s going to be different. I won’t say it’ll be a new team but a better team.”
