NCAA Considers FAMU Infractions

By Will Brown
Black College Wire

Rattlers logo and that of NCAA.

Florida A&M University is up against a more daunting opponent than any of the schools the Rattlers are playing this season -- the NCAA infractions committee -- and is awaiting the results.

A group including Interim President Castell V. Bryant, Athletics Director E. Newton Jackson, a representative of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Michael Buckner, the independent auditor who helped the university self-report hundreds of violations to the NCAA, spoke with the committee all day on Oct. 15 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The NCAA considered whether the Rattlers' self-imposed reduction of 28 scholarships and a one-year ban from post-season consideration in men's basketball for the 2005-06 year were sufficient penalties for more than 200 infractions of the rules.

The meeting ended with no final decisions.

At the same meeting, former Rattler football coach Billy Joe and two of his assistants were officially cleared of wrongdoing. They were fired in June amid allegations of major rules infractions.

Joe said he was hoping the school would now voluntarily pay him the $270,000 remaining on his contract so that he did not have to file a lawsuit, according to news reports.

"I would like for a FAMU member, especially a board member, to give me a call," Joe said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. "An apology would be nice but not necessary. Call and say, `Coach, I'm sorry, we thought we were doing right thing; it's obvious that we didn't. Please accept my apology and please accept the balance of your contract.' "

"This was a total victory," Joe's lawyer, Donald Jackson, told the Tallahassee Democrat. Joe's "credibility and legacy have been restored."

No one from the 2004 football coaching staff currently works for the university in an athletic capacity. Five assistants abruptly resigned in February.

Other schools expecting punishment by the NCAA have taken a similar approach before the organization, and at an Oct. 6 meeting of FAMU's Board of Trustees, Buckner, the independent auditor, expressed confidence that the infractions committee would accept the university's proactive approach to dealing with the violations.

"They could impose a four-year, five-year or an indefinite probation," Buckner said. "We're confident the committee will see an additional probationary period is not warranted."

The university said Oct. 17 it would not comment further until the NCAA released its final decision, which is expected in the next five to seven weeks.

The NCAA alleges violations of nearly 230 eligibility requirements, primarily involving the football team.

Will Brown, a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Posted Oct. 24, 2005