TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions has ruled Florida State will have to vacate victories in 10 sports — including football and men’s basketball — in which 61 ineligible athletes competed.
The sanction is one of four penalties the NCAA has imposed on Florida State in the wake of an academic fraud scandal that has lingered over the university for nearly two years.
The university on Friday learned its fate, and the NCAA’s report become public in a stinging 23-page report that described the infractions as “extremely serious because of the large number of student-athletes involved and the fact that academic fraud is considered by the committee to be among the most egregious of NCAA infractions.”
The ruling could have a major impact on Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden’s quest to be college football’s winningest coach. Bowden has 382 career victories, one fewer than NCAA leader Joe Paterno of Penn State. The 79-year-old Bowden was not available to comment on the NCAA report.
The NCAA found FSU guilty of academic fraud, unethical conduct and failing to monitor its academic support services program.
The NCAA said it had no evidence FSU allowed athletes to participate while knowing they had cheated. It also did not specify how many victories FSU will be required to vacate. FSU will be required to provide to the NCAA a detailed listing of all contests in which ineligible athletes participated within 90 days.
The NCAA will apply that penalty to all regular-season, postseason and NCAA championship games.
It could mean an unspecified number of victories vacated for Bowden. It also could affect an NCAA track championship won by the Seminoles. All individual records, including coaches’ records, would be adjusted depending upon how many games ineligible athletes participated.
An important distinction: These would not be forfeits, meaning opponents would not be credited for victories over FSU.
In addition to vacating victories, the NCAA added to penalties the university had already imposed. FSU, which recommended to the committee that it be placed on probation for two years, will be on probation for four years, beginning Friday.
The NCAA will also further increase the university’s proposed athletic scholarship cuts. FSU had proposed it lose a little more than 10 scholarships across 10 sports during the current academic year and the 2009-10 academic year.
