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FSU To Challenge NCAA Sanctions On Forfeits

Tribune file photo (2008)

FSU President T.K. Wetherell, left, will appeal the NCAA sanctions that would strip 14 victories from football coach Bobby Bowden.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 16, 2009

Updated: 03/16/2009 02:07 pm

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State University will appeal the part of an NCAA sanction that would take away wins in 10 sports, including as many as 14 in football.

President T.K. Wetherell will announce the school's appeal Tuesday.

Trustees chairman Jim Smith says the board is 100 percent behind the decision. "It's certainly unfair to Coach [Bobby] Bowden," Smith said Monday. "It was a breakdown in academics, a breakdown that none of us condone."

The NCAA this month took away scholarships and put the school on four years' probation as part of the punishment for 61 athletes who took a music history class where test answers were provided and other prohibited help was received.

Bowden could also lose 14 wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons when players who took the class played. More than two dozen football players were suspended for four games after the school discovered the cheating.

Bowden has 382 wins, just one less than Penn State's Joe Paterno - the all-time leader in major college coaching wins.

After learning of the cheating, Florida State reported it to NCAA officials and began its own investigation to identify which athletes were involved.

"I think the NCAA ought to give some hard thought to why would you self-report if they come back and you're penalized so harshly?" said Smith, a lawyer who served two terms as Florida's attorney general. "Schools should be encouraged to self-report as we did.

"Florida State did the right thing. We self-reported, stood up and were counted."

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