FAMU Athletic Program Hit with Penalties

FAMU Athletic Program Hit with Penalties

Florida A&M University will be banned next year from post-season play in major sports, will have records vacated for a dozen teams and will face financial penalties and scholarship reductions, after an NCAA panel found the school “lacked institutional control” and did not properly certify the academic eligibility of athletes.

Florida A&M and the NCAA announced the penalties Tuesday, with the school’s athletics department placed on probation for five years. The university said 93 athletes had been improperly certified as eligible to participate in 12 sports from 2010 to 2017.

“The university certified student-athletes as eligible when they failed to fulfill required credit hours, did not complete required percentages of their degree by designated times, did not meet minimum GPA requirements and/or failed to meet transfer requirements or exceptions,” the NCAA announcement said.

“It also failed to certify a student-athlete’s amateurism status and allowed another student-athlete to compete after the student-athlete had exhausted all seasons of competition.”

The post-season ban in 2019-2020 will affect the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, volleyball and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams, the announcements said. Among other things, the penalties include a 10 percent reduction in scholarships for the football program in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 and 10 percent reductions in 2019-2020 for the baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s track and field and volleyball teams.

The university said on its website that it has taken a series of steps to address the problems in the athletics department.

“FAMU Athletics has enhanced its compliance staff to include an associate athletics director for compliance, assistant athletics director for compliance and a compliance coordinator,” the website said. “They have been provided with the resources necessary to effectively educate and monitor for NCAA compliance.”

The NCAA acknowledged in its announcement that the university has made improvements.

“Those improvements, however, have only recently brought the university in line with what the NCAA membership has identified as a fundamental obligation of all Division I members — properly certifying student-athletes as eligible,” the NCAA said.

12 Responses to "FAMU Athletic Program Hit with Penalties"

  1. punishment does not make sense,,,so the NCAA limits the future student that had nothing to do with the infraction,
    the punishment should always be levied towards the ones that violated NCAA regs.
    Stop taking eligibility away from future students.

  2. If they keep lowering the academic standards they will eventually establish a place where any numbskull can play ball AND get a degree. Corporate America can continue to be politically correct and accept them.

  3. News Maven, you are correct, racism is the exact reason HBCU’s were created. With great Americans like us they will continue to exist. HWCU exist and will always exist and our failures and corruption will be looked at as isolated incidents and not cast upon our entire institution, its graduates and our race. Much like it is now. MAGA!

  4. Once again, FAMU is a victim of its own diminished expectations.
    I would never hire someone who graduated from that dumpster fire.
    Any WHY in 2019 do we need HCBUs? They’re racist, by design. Imagine the outrage if the country had HWCUs.

    1. I’m so glad you’re not doing any hiring, because you’re the kind of racist who would ‘think’ that way. For your information, why do we need PWC’s? They have always been racist institutions since day one, or have you forgotten or ever knew the meaning of the word segregation in this country. That’s what you would refer to as being racist, and that certainly wasn’t by way of design. Imagine the outrage that’s already prevalent in this country and it has nothing to do with HBCU’s. I’m sorry to say, but you talk like someone with a ‘wooden head’……. absolutely nothing in it!!! From the way you express your opinions on certain things, I would surely say that you’re either attending a dumpster fire or finished your so-called higher education at one. WHO CARES!!!

  5. Just wondering…Does the culture of years of mismanagement reflect upon their graduates…and affect their futures? I’m thinking Kwame Kilpatrick and Andrew Gillum?

  6. Unbelievable! Board of Governors (BOG) trickle down to FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT) trickle down to FAMU’s President trickle down to years of ineptitude sloppyness now embarrassment! What’s next? 3 rattler strikes and you are done!

  7. On the bright side:
    Its been a minute since any lgbt’s were terminated on bus #3.
    RIP Robert Champion.

  8. “did not meet minimum GPA requirements” ………………….. WOW, How could you NOT make GPA, a while back FAMU rolled back the Grade Curve so more Students could Graduate.

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