Bloody nose not enough to shake Rattlers
ROSCOE NANCE
Special to the BCSP
Florida A&M's proud football program is bloodied but unbowed after sustaining a pair of off-season black eyes.
An ill-fated attempt to move from NCAA Division IAA to Division IA left the Rattlers having to scramble to put together a schedule, which has them playing four IA opponents and just four games in Tallahassee all in October.
Their 2000 and 2001 football championships were among 11
conference titles the Mid Eastern Athletic
Conference stripped them of as the result of 196 NCAA rules violations in the
athletic program between 1998-2003 that they recently self-reported.
The schedule, which includes road games against Illinois, where they opened the season Sept. 4 with a 52-13 drubbing, Tulane, where they fell 32-19 last week, Temple, and Virginia Tech, made the prospects for a winning record gloomy at best from the outset.
Those prospects became even darker when the Rattlers learned before their first game that they would have to begin the season without four of their best players, all seniors, who were involved in the violations which had to do with eligibility.
The NCAA ruled that John Edwards and Edward Kwaku would have to sit out the first three games, Fletcher Williams the first five, and Rod Miller, the first six.
Still, the Rattlers are putting a positive spin on their circumstances.
"We have taken a plethora of hits," coach Billy Joe says. "It's disappointing and rather frustrating not to have anything to play for. That's the way it is. We have players who are committed and dedicated. They have a lot of drive, desire and determination. They're happy to be playing football."
Joe says despite the fallout from the attempted move, the effort to go Division IA wasn't a waste of time.
"It was an attempt to move forward," Joe says. "It was definitely worth a try. Most coaches, players and administrators want to have their program compete on the highest level. When you have that opportunity, and you think that you have the tangibles and intangibles to do it, why not try?"
New Athletic Director, Dr. Joseph Ramsay III says Florida A&M's reputation as one of the top IAA programs hasn't been done irreparable damage by the negative publicity that has come with the aborted move to IA.
"The president made a good decision," Ramsay says. "We moved a little too quickly. He realized that a little later. In order to regroup before we got out there too far, he decided we needed to come back and take care of the basic needs of the university before we decide to spend a lot of resources and time going IA. I think we're going to be all right in the next four or five years."
Ramsay says the Rattlers plan is to revisit moving to Division IA in 5-8 years, but "we have to make sure once we get there we're able to sprint, not crawl."
National alumni president Dr. Alvin Bryant says he would have preferred to see Florida A&M stay the course and continue their efforts to move up.
"Most alumni never like to take any backwards steps," Bryant says. "It's a matter in the hands of the board and president, and we'll let them handle that. The problems will be corrected. It was an embarrassment, and we're upset about that. But these are family matters that we will eventually make right. Any negative press that may have been associated with the university in the past is a temporary entity and certainly will pass over."
However, the Rattler Nation has yet to put the Division IA debacle behind them. A petition calling for the removal of Florida A&M president Fred Gainous is being circulated among alumni online. It lists the attempted IA move as one of 13 reasons a change in leadership is needed.
The petition says Gainous "allowed others to make a decision about FAMU football that bought dishonor and ridicule to one of the nation's greatest athletic traditions as a result of a decision to move to Division IA without a due diligence report on the merits of such a move."
Ramsay says he doesn't believe the alumni are divided and that they will continue to support the Rattlers as they have in the past. He points to strong ticket sales for the Florida Classic vs. traditional rival Bethune-Cookman up 20% from what they were at this time a year ago as a strong indicator. Also, there wasn't a drop off in season ticket sales, which held steady at about 2,500.
"When decisions like this are made, the alumni don't know the inside details of why the decisions were made," he says. "Only the president and his administration know exactly why and what's best for the university. Most of the alumni have accepted that and we're moving forward."
In this instance, moving forward means taking a step backward returning to the MEAC, where the Rattlers will be eligible for the conference football championship next season.
While no one is saying so publicly, it's a good bet some conference members still have hard feelings toward FAMU for the way the Rattlers left the conference. They didn't formally notify the conference of their intentions as required by MEAC by-laws.
"We're family," MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas says. "When you're family you have disagreements among siblings. That doesn't mean you're going to throw them out of the house. I'm sure there are some members who disagree with what they did and how they did it. But we're going to move forward and hopefully FAMU will continue to do the right thing. The bottom line is they were voted back in."
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.