TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida State says it's unfair to take
wins off the individual records of football coach Bobby Bowden and
other coaches and athletes who had no role in an academic cheating
scandal.
In an appeal to the NCAA Wednesday, the university argued that a
proposal to strip the school, its coaches and athletes of victories
in several sports is too harsh and should be reversed.
If not, the penalty would cost Bowden up to 14 wins. Taking that
many victories off his personal record would give Bowden little
chance of catching Penn State's Joe Paterno in their race to be
major college football's winningest coach. Paterno has 383 wins,
just one more than Bowden, who is entering his 34th season at
Florida State.
The appeal cites Florida State's cooperation with the NCAA and
self-imposed penalties including the loss of athletic scholarships
and the suspension of those who cheated on an online music history
test.
Florida State's backup argument is that even if wins should be
stripped from the school's record, the individual records of
innocent coaches and athletes should not be docked. Under that
scenario Florida State would still lose its 1997 national
championship in track and field and the football team would lose
victories but Bowden would not.
The 20-page appeal says it serves no valid purpose to rewrite
the won-loss records of a coach or a baseball or softball pitcher
who did not cheat because of violations committed by others. It
also notes that athletes whose accomplishments are measured by
other factors such as touchdowns or rushing yards would not be
punished.
"The NCAA should protect - and not penalize - those who play by
the rules," wrote Florida State's legal team headed by William E.
Williams.
The NCAA's Infractions Committee in March added the loss of wins
to the penalties Florida State imposed on itself last year. The
case next goes to an infractions appeal committee, which is
expected to hold a hearing later this year.
The university issued a statement saying there would be no
comment on the appeal.
Florida State itself reported the violations to the NCAA, which
then found 61 Seminole athletes had cheated on the test in 2006-07
or received improper help from staffers who provided answers or
typed papers for them.
The NCAA's Infractions Committee decided that "vacating," or
giving up wins - technically not forfeits because opponents'
records would remain unchanged - was justified because "what
happened in that course was simply a symptom of a much larger
disease - a systemic, 'environmental' problem among a large group
of student-athletes and three staff members."
The appeal says there's no evidence to support that conclusion.
"This is mere hyperbole," the lawyers wrote. "It is
unquestioned that virtually all of the violations at issue are
associated with a single, online music course."
If academic fraud have been pandemic, there would have been
violations in other courses, but that didn't happen, the university
argues.
The appeal traces the cheating to academic adviser Brenda Monk's
zeal in helping student-athletes with learning disabilities and her
erroneous belief the music test was an "open book exam." As soon
as she realized her mistake, she reported it, the appeal says.
Florida State also argues the infractions committee broke
precedent by failing to explain what weight it gave to the
university's cooperation and self-imposed sanctions, citing prior
cases involving Alabama State, Howard, Alabama, Kentucky and
Oklahoma.
That failure will discourage other schools from cooperating in
the future and undermines the legitimacy of the penalties, the
appeal states.
"It also compels reversal," the lawyers wrote. "If the
committee in fact weighed those factors, it did so in a black box
that denies the university and this committee a meaningful
opportunity to review the appropriateness of its logic and its
decision."
Finally, Florida State argues it never would have entered an
agreement with NCAA staffers for the self-imposed penalties if
officials had known the school also would lose wins.