FanHouse Acc

The NCAA has not moved from its position that Florida State must vacate victories in multiple sports, a ruling that would cost Seminoles football coach Bobby Bowden 14 victories and essentially end his bid to become college football's all-time winningest coach.

FSU officials on Thursday morning released previously withheld public documents in the university's appeal of NCAA sanctions. The NCAA allowed FSU to release the information sought in a lawsuit with Florida news organizations. FSU transcribed the information from a secure NCAA Web site that does not permit printing or downloading.

Read the Documents (PDF Documents)
Florida State's Appeal | NCAA's Response to Appeal

The NCAA changed its mind after all Tuesday and will allow Florida State to release NCAA documents sought in a lawsuit. But the NCAA is still playing hardball with Florida news organizations and says it's not subject to the state's public-records laws.

"That's not even hardball," Barbara A. Petersen, president of The First Amendment Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Tallahassee, Fla., told FanHouse Tuesday. "That's 'I am taking my ball and going home,' crybaby type of stuff.

"It is absurd. It's totally absurd. The issue of whether the NCAA and FSU violated the public records law has not been resolved."

Related Documents (PDF Format)
NCAA Letter to FSU | Joint Complaint Against FSU, NCAA | NCAA Letter to Fugate

The NCAA has spoken, and the answer is no.

The NCAA has officially rejected a request to release documents in its case against Florida State University athletics. The response is part of an ongoing dispute between Florida news organizations and the NCAA, which says it is not subject to Florida's public-records law.

The response, dated June 8 from Elsa Kircher Cole, vice president of Legal Affairs/General Counsel for the NCAA, reads "... please be advised that the NCAA is not subject to requests pursuant to Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution (Access to Public Records and Meetings) or Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes (Public Records).

Talk about a dramatic final impression.

D'Vontrey Richardson, a part-time player on the Florida State baseball and football teams, spent Monday working out for two scouts with the Milwaukee Brewers. Richardson clocked a 6.2 60-yard dash on a local high track and then displayed impressive pop with a wooden bat during batting practice at a nearby community college.

Scout.com released its updated Scout 300 on Monday, and offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson remains the site's top high school prospect. Two other offensive lineman were rated among the country's top 22 players, including tackle James Hurst of Indiana.

In fact, Hurst just might be the most heavily-recruited offensive lineman ever from the Hoosier state, which should put a smile on the face of North Carolina coach Butch Davis. Hurst is one of three verbal commitments for the Tar Heels.

"I ran out of good things to say about James a long time ago," Brian Woodard, Hurst's high school coach in Plainfield, Ind., outside of Indianapolis, told FanHouse.

When Thaddeus Lewis arrived at Duke as a freshman quarterback in 2006, he had already given thought to his legacy with the Blue Devils. Lewis wanted to be recognized and remembered as the quarterback that started a new trend at Duke. It is called winning, a novel approach for a football program that last experienced a winning season in 1994.

Lewis hasn't accomplished his goal just yet, but he has certainly helped make Duke football fun again. The Blue Devils won four games in 2008, as many as they had won in the previous four years combined, and won their first Atlantic Coast Conference game since 2004.

Florida State's list of available receivers continues to dwindle.

Richard Goodman, a senior receiver for the Seminoles, was arrested by Florida State University police Tuesday night and charged with aggravated battery, a felony. He was released on $1,000 bond. The charge, according to a sheriff's office spokesman, stems from an on-campus fight in November 2008 between members of the football team and members of a fraternity.

Goodman was suspended indefinitely from the team on Wednesday by FSU coach Bobby Bowden.

Trouble also has filtered into the local high school ranks, where star quarterback A.J. Graham, the state's Mr. Football Award winner who signed with Marshall University last February, was arrested on Tuesday by Tallahassee police on a robbery with firearm charge.

Florida State's president has passionately pursued protecting FSU football and the entire athletic department from NCAA penalties to the point of insanity. Bobby Bowden wants to keep his wins. Plus, Florida State has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect Bowden's total wins before he is put out to pasture in 2011 -- the least the NCAA can do is make a final ruling before that point.

Maybe not. The NCAA was supposed to rule on Florida State's appeal of sanctions from the Seminoles' academic scandal today. Instead, the NCAA gave the Committee on Infractions another week to consider the appeal -- which could include the FSU football team forfeiting up to 14 games.

At least it gives college football fans something else to talk about as we trudge through the doldrums of June.

It hasn't been the best of times for Florida State football, and Seminole fans have had plenty to gripe about lately. From multiple arrests to a cheating scandal to inconsistency on Saturdays, quarterback Christian Ponder realizes that FSU's image has been a national punch line.

Raised not to make excuses, Ponder is determined to help the Seminoles regain the trust and appreciation of their fans. Ponder says players have made a commitment to hold themselves and each other accountable as FSU works towards repairing its bruised image.

As a high school senior in Tampa, Fla., in 2007, Robert Marve passed for 48 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards. The final pass of his prep career was a touchdown with 17 seconds remaining in the state title game. With big numbers and clutch performances, Marve was one of the top quarterback recruits in the country, fielding scholarship offers from Alabama, Purdue, Miami and Michigan State and a host of others. Initially Marve committed to the Crimson Tide, but after Mike Shula's firing, he reopened his recruitment and ended up signing with Miami.

Less than six months later, Marve was a passenger in a car driven by one of his Miami teammates. The car slammed into a guardrail on I-95 after the driver fell asleep, and Marve's left hand was badly injured, leading him to redshirt his freshman season. This past season, Marve returned to start 11 games for the Hurricanes, throwing for nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. But in December he decided to transfer. Which leads to an interesting question, how often have college football quarterbacks transferred and actually been successful at their new destination?