Unlike Southern Cal, FSU is lucky NCAA didn't stick a flaming spear through program's future
Florida State owes the NCAA an apology.
A grovelling, heartfelt apology.
Remember a few months ago when former Florida State president T.K. Wetherell was crying and whining about how the mean ol’ NCAA had double-crossed the Seminoles and stuck FSU with unjust penalties in regards to the widespread academic fraud scandal at his school?
In hindsight — after seeing the hammer the NCAA wielded against Southern Cal — how silly does Wetherell’s complaining look now?
Southern Cal, in the wake of a massive cheating scandal involving Heisman Trophy-winning Reggie Bush, lost a total of 30 football scholarships over the next three seasons, will likely have to forfeit its 2004 national championship and has been banned from bowl games for the next two years.
What penalties did Florida State’s football program get for a massive academic cheating scandal that included nine sports and 61 athletes? No significant loss of scholarships, no bowl ban and no TV ban. The Seminoles’ most significant sanction was to forfeit some of Bobby Bowden victories — victories that turned out to be relatively meaningless.
Granted, at the time, when Bowden was in a race with Joe Paterno to become the all-time winningest coach in college football history, the forfeiture of victories seemed significant, but in hindsight … who cares? Even with the forfeited victories, Bowden, who was forced out after last season, finished five victories behind Paterno.
And think about this: If Bowden had been allowed to keep those forfeited victories, he likely would have dug in, fought harder against forced retirement so he could stay in the race with Paterno and might still be presiding over a program he allowed to fall into a state of mediocrity. That would not have been good for FSU.
Unlike Southern Cal, FSU’s future was spared by the NCAA. Jimbo Fisher has taken over as FSU’s coach with no crippling scholarship, bowl or TV sanctions that would have decimated his program moving forward. New Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin certainly cannot say the same thing.
At the time, the NCAA called FSU’s academic fraud case “egregious” and “extremely serious” and said it was perpetrated purposefully” by the school’s own employees.” But in the end, the Committee on Infractions actually did FSU a favor.
The NCAA deserves a letter of apology and a belated thank-you note from FSU fans everywhere.
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FSU SHOULD SEND ALONG THIS OLD BRENDA LEE VIDEO WITH ITS APOLOGY:
