Media Sues NCAA, Florida State Over Secretive Letter

In one corner sits Florida news organizations. In the other sits the NCAA and Florida State University. In the middle sits FSU President T.K. Wetherell and Seminole football coach Bobby Bowden.

More than a dozen Florida newspapers and television stations sued the NCAA and FSU on Monday for the release of documents in an ongoing appeal of athletic-program sanctions. A public-records request by the media outlets has not been fulfilled in violation of Florida's open-government laws.

The dispute is over a response the NCAA gave FSU on its appeal of sanctions resulting from an academic cheating scandal that first surfaced and was investigated by the school in March of 2007.

An NCAA response to the appeal was made available to FSU's outside attorneys exclusively on a secure Web site that did not allow the documents to be printed or downloaded and required those attorneys to sign confidentiality agreements. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that civil and criminal actions were threatened if the agreement was violated.

The fallout could cost Bowden 14 victories and, for all intents and purposes, end his bid to become college football's all-time winningest coach. Bowden, who turns 80 in November, has 382 wins, one fewer than the 82-year-old Joe Paterno of Penn State. Paterno earlier this spring voiced his displeasure with the NCAA possibly vacating Bowden's victories.

"I can't tell you how many games I've won. I can't tell you how many games Bobby's won," Paterno said.

"But I would not want to [have] somebody put me down in the grave and say, 'Hey, here's a guy that won more games than any other college coach because they took 12 games away, or 14 games away,' or whatever they want to take away from Bobby. That's not right."

Word is the NCAA has not moved from its position that FSU must vacate victories in multiple sports, including football and track, which would lose a national championship.

The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee recently granted FSU's request for a 14-day extension to submit a rebuttal to the NCAA Committee on Infractions. FSU has until July 1 to appeal the sanctions.

Wetherell last week said he asked the NCAA to release its response to FSU, but the NCAA denied the request. "I am in the crossfire," Wetherell told the Associated Press Monday. Bowden, meanwhile, has said it would be unfortunate if the NCAA ended his race with Paterno but he wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

The lawsuit was filed in Leon County Circuit Court Monday morning.

"FSU has been complicit in this scheme. FSU knows its obligations," the lawsuit states, according to the Associated Press, among the news organizations involved in the suit.

"Nonetheless FSU, through its counsel, received a public record from the NCAA pursuant to a devised plan making it artificially impossible to provide access to the public. Despite stating that it requested the NCAA to release the document, FSU has made no formal demand that the public record be provided."

The lawsuit names the university, its president and trustees and the NCAA as defendants. Attorneys of the GrayRobinson law firm, representing FSU in the appeal of NCAA sanctions, also are named in the lawsuit. The firm also will represent the university in the open-records matter.

"We look forward to the resolution of this lawsuit and hope it will lead to complete compliance with the public's right to know," said Betty Steffens, FSU's general counsel. "We stand ready to act upon any order of the court."

Said NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn: "The NCAA will reserve comment regarding this lawsuit until we have received and had a chance to review it. As customary with NCAA processes, the outcome of Florida State University's appeal will be made public once the decision is rendered by the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee."

FSU's appeal is another step of a process that will likely go into the fall, according to school officials.

While FSU fans continue to debate Bowden's retirement -- offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is contracted by the school to become the Seminoles' head coach in 2011 -- it was reported Monday by he Associated Press that Wetherell plans to announce on Wednesday his intention to retire after 6 1/2 years as president of his alma mater.

Wetherell declined to address the report.

He has repeatedly said during the past two weeks that he is focused solely on preparing the university's budget for Wednesday's trustees meeting. FSU last week unveiled a proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year that calls for as many as 200 faculty and staff layoffs.

A former politician who became speaker of the House, Wetherell also played football at FSU from 1963-67. Bowden was an assistant coach at FSU from 1963-65 under head coach Bill Peterson. Two other coaching legends who worked under Peterson during this time were Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs.

Wetherell also was president of Tallahassee Community College from 1995 to 2001.