FSU COMMITTED MAJOR VIOLATIONS

With the NCAA finally releasing its decision on the Florida State academic fraud case, the NCAA Committee on Infractions said that FSU committed “major violations.""This case is extremely serious because of the large number of student-athletes involved and because academic fraud is considered by the committee to be among the most egregious of NCAA infractions,” Dennis Thomas, the vice chairman of the committee said in a teleconference.Pending any appeals by Florida State, this is how the infraction will be recorded in the NCAA’s database:Institution: Florida State UniversityDate: 06-MAR-09 Violation Summary: Violations of NCAA legislation involving three former University Athletics Academic Support Services staff members (including a former learning specialist) who gave improper assistance resulting in academic fraud to numerous student-athletes representing multiple sport programs. There were also associated violations relating to the provision of impermissible benefits and a failure to monitor by the institution. Penalty Summary: Additional penalties imposed by the committee were as follows: public reprimand and censure; four years of probation (the institution had proposed a period of two years); additional limits in the number of grants-in-aid in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s track and field, baseball, softball and men’s golf; vacation of all records in which the 61 student-athletes competed while ineligible during 2006 and 2007 in the sports of football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s track and field, baseball, softball and men’s golf; show-cause order for the former learning specialist for a period of four years; show-cause order for the former tutor for a period of three years; show-cause order for the former academic advisor for a period of five years; annual compliance reporting required. Andrew Carter, who runs “The Chopping Block” blog at the Orlando Sentinel worked up this excellent timeline of the fradulent events and the aftermath.I’m actually impressed at the quick work by the athletic department after the student finally came clean about the dirty work by Brenda Monk, a learning specialist with the FSU athletic academic support services department. The scandal cost a handful of upper level administrators their job in the athletic department.If this was something like steroids in Major League Baseball, Bud Selig would’ve given himself a $4 million raise, and forced people to watch an international baseball tournament that takes place in the middle of spring training.