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Wolves Circling At FSU

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

Just a friendly travel reminder for Florida State fans planning to attend the Music City Bowl in Nashville on New Year's Eve:

Bring champagne.

Oh, and your helmet, shoulder pads and admission forms.

You, too, can play college football for the Seminoles in their big bowl game with Kentucky. There are open slots, plenty of them.

Wait, they can't sneak you in.

That would be wrong.

You know, like academic fraud.

NCAA Will Be Calling

The ever mushrooming cheating scandal in Tallahassee should not be underestimated, especially since the coach is 78, his successor already has been named and the words "institutional control," or lack of it, are sure to come up.

Where this FSU mess was once thought to involve 23 athletes across nine sports, FSU's internal investigation is pointing at perhaps as many as two dozen of Bobby Bowden's football players alone, including several starters. They'll be suspended for the bowl game.

It's big.

It's big because the NCAA has been urging FSU's in-house investigation along, which is why these kids will sit out. FSU is doing what it has to do.

But the NCAA will be back - with penalties.

Some behind-the-scenes types in the FSU athletic department already have resigned, including the learning specialist adviser who, along with two tutors, allegedly provided test answers for an online course to student-athletes.

Maybe they get thrown to the wolves by FSU president T.K. Wetherell, along with former athletic director Dave Hart.

Thing is, the wolves won't stop there.

Doomsday scenario: Florida State has to forfeit victories, Bobby, two ahead of Joe Paterno in all-time wins, falls behind in the official record books.

Oh, buddy.

The strange thing is that this scandal wouldn't even make the Top Three List of Bad Things FSU has done in its history. It wouldn't make Florida and Miami's lists either. Everybody has dirt.

This is big because it's academics.

The NCAA is Hypocrisy Central in so many ways. Coaches jump teams for millions, lying before and after. Presidents and athletic directors sell their souls and schools in the name of the three B's - BCS, bowls and bucks.

Academics is the crucifix the NCAA always brandishes when besieged.

Why don't you pay players? The NCAA says they get paid in education. Is the NCAA about money? The NCAA points to education. It's the shield. And when that shield gets tarnished, the NCAA jumps. And it should. And when it lands, it lands hard.

The Purdue women's basketball program was placed on two years of probation and lost scholarships after an assistant coach wrote class papers for a player.

This is serious stuff.

You just watch.

Standards Should Be Different

I'm sure there are students in every college who leap at the chance to take classes online, and might also leap at the answers if they were provided.

But the standards are different for student-athletes - and should be. They're the standard bearers. I think they should get paid for that, and one day maybe they will, and one day maybe we'll rid colleges of coaches who send the wrong messages.

I'm not implying FSU coaches knew anything about this. I don't think they did. No one could be that stupid. If they did, they should be fired before the sun sets.

The bottom line is that the NCAA is on the case, and if they decide institutional control is lacking, it could go badly. The timing couldn't be worse for Bowden. This is another log on the fireplace that awaits him in retirement.

I'll give FSU the benefit of the doubt. I say they're doing the right thing.

Then again, the NCAA is watching.

On with the Music City Bowl.

By the way, do you know what the apparent subject matter of the online course that's in question?

Music appreciation.

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