NCAA Fires Back at FSU President

Pick a town, any town -- be it Indianapolis, Tallahassee, even Tombstone -- because it's obviously not big enough for both the NCAA and Florida State president T.K. Wetherell.

The NCAA has fired back at Wetherell, who two days ago indicated that the NCAA reneged on an agreement it had with the university in the organization's handling of the Seminoles' athletic-sanctions case. In a pregame interview Monday before the FSU-Miami game at Doak Campbell Stadium with ABC/ESPN, Wetherell described the NCAA's dealing with the Seminoles as "bait-and-switch."

In a message posted on its Web site, NCAA officials took issue with that statement and with Wetherell's assertion that the affected athletes gave up their right to due process when they accepted suspensions and began the reinstatement process for their involvement in the academic fraud case.

"Recent media comments attributed to Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell asserting that the university and the NCAA had an agreement regarding school sanctions related to Florida State's academic fraud case are not true," the NCAA statement read.

"President Wetherell's statements confuse the process for administering institutional penalties with the process for reestablishing student-athlete eligibility. These are two separate processes; there was no so-called "bait and switch" of the two."

The cheating occurred mainly through online testing for a single music history course in the fall of 2006 and the spring and summer semesters of 2007. Wetherell indicated the NCAA misled FSU during its investigation.

Wetherell said the university worked every step of the way with the NCAA and "we we had an understanding that if we did everything as they said, all player eligibility matters would be resolved. We told this to our student-athletes, and they gave up their rights of appeal. In doing so, they were led to believe that all eligibility matters would be resolved if they compiled with the suspensions plan that the NCAA set forth."

In its statement, the NCAA countered:

"Decisions on school sanctions are not made by NCAA staff and are not negotiated. Such decisions are made by the Committee on Infractions, an adjudicating body made up of representatives from member schools as well as independent legal experts. At no time was an agreement on university penalties discussed with the institution in this case or any other case.

"The NCAA staff and Florida State did discuss the process necessary for the student-athletes in question to regain their eligibility (student-athlete reinstatement). Based on facts presented, the NCAA and FSU agreed to those student-athletes sitting out 30 percent of the next season's games if they came forward with information on the academic fraud allegations.

"President Wetherell's assertion that the student-athletes were asked to give up "due process" is also false. In fact, the university was given specific instructions on how to appeal student-athlete reinstatement decisions. Additionally, FSU was repeatedly reminded that the student-athlete reinstatement process was not connected in any way to penalties that may be assessed by the Committee on Infractions to Florida State for the academic fraud which took place at the institution."

FSU is scheduled to present its case before the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee Nov. 15 at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. Wetherell has been at odds with the NCAA on past occasions -- he led the school's fight to keep its "Seminoles" nickname.

Wetherell has criticized the NCAA's plan to strip coaches and athletes of wins in 10 sports. Head coach Bobby Bowden would lose 14 victories in the ruling, all but ending his historic race with Joe Paterno of Penn State as major college football's winningest coach. Bowden has 382 victories, two behind Paterno. The Nittany Lions opened their season Saturday with a convincing 31-7 win over visiting Akron, while Bowden's Seminoles fell 38-34 to Miami Monday night.

"This isn't just about saving Bobby Bowden's wins as the public perception might be," Wetherell said on Monday in a statement released by the university. "It's about the NCAA, as an institution, and the agreement it had with Florida State University.

"We are only appealing the sanction taking away wins because it flies in the face of the understanding we had with the NCAA about player eligibility and suspensions. This just seems like a bait-and-switch. I don't know what else to call it. We are appealing it because we believe it is excessive and unfair."