In 2006 and 2007, 61 FSU athletes were involved in academic cheating. On March 6 the NCAA announced that FSU would lose scholarships in 10 sports, be on a four-year probabtion, and be stripped of victories in 10 sports, including as many as 14 in football. The university president, T.K. Wetherell, is appealling the part of the NCAA ruling that strips FSU of the victories in which the cheating student-athletes were involved.
It just so happens that the 79-year-old football coach, Bobby Bowden, is in a race with Joe Paterno of Penn State for the greatest number of career wins at a major college. If the NCAA ruling stands, Bowden would lose 14 of his 382 wins and make it more difficult to catch up with Paterno.
FSU is arguing that it is wrong to hold the coaches responsible. Really? So it's all about the coaches.
Face it, 14 of the football team's victories were tainted by the participation of athletes who cheated in order to play. Whether the coach was responsible or not, the team does not deserve credit for a victory, and therefore the coach of the team does not deserve credit for a victory. It would seem that the honorable thing for Bowden to do is to step forward and say: "I do not wish to receive credit for any tainted victory."
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