Florida State's Track Coach Bob Braman Issues Statement on Loss of NCAA Title

By LetsRun.com
February 8, 2010

Today it was announced that Florida State among other penalties would lose its 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field title because of a student-athlete taking part in an academic fraud ring involving an online music course and 61 students in 10 sports.

Florida State sent us the following statement from FSU coach Bob Braman.

BOB BRAMAN STATEMENT REGARDING NCAA VACTATION OF RECORDS

“Obviously we’re disappointed with the NCAA’s vacation of wins and how it affects our Track & Field program.  None of our athletes that were involved in the academic misconduct case needed the course in order to be NCAA eligible so it’s unfortunate that certain student-athletes made wrong choices when they clearly didn’t have to. 

“Our Men’s Track & Field program is learning a very painful lesson. The vacation of a National Title is certainly more punitive than perhaps the loss of regular season wins in a non-championship type season, but that is the potential outcome when student-athletes make poor decisions.

“We understand and accept the NCAA’s penalty, but want to point out that without any gained eligibility we gained no unfair advantage over our opponents.  We would have won that Title with or without that on-line course.

“I’m very proud of our academic history of our Track & Field teams.  In the past five years we’ve had the most Academic All-Americans in Track & Field of any school in the country.  Highlighted, of course, by 2006 NCAA Shot Put Champion and Rhodes Scholar

Garrett Johnson.  We also have regularly been at the top of the ACC in number of All-Academic Track & Field performers, and in fact led the ACC in Men’s and Women’s All-Academic honorees in both Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field last year.

“We as coaches will double our efforts to instill only the finest values in our athletes and provide them with exemplary leadership in athletics, in the classroom and in life.”

 

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