Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
ASU plans football sanctions
By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser
Alabama State University will impose a two-year probation and scholarship reductions on its football program, according to a report it made to the NCAA in July.
The school released its proposal for self-imposed penalties Wednesday in response to a request the Montgomery Advertiser made under the state's open records laws.
The self-proposed penalty included the loss of five scholarships for each of two probation years and the forfeiture of games from two seasons. The school has said it will not release the full report it made to the NCAA in July, which led to the suspensions of three coaches.
Suspended head coach L.C. Cole and offensive coordinator Johnnie Cole have sued the school, asking to be reinstated.
"I think ASU is engaging in gross and unmitigated overkill to justify the actions taken against the two Coles," said Julian McPhillips, one of the Coles' lawyers.
Alabama State University removed the names of any players involved from its six-page, 35-point plan for penalties. ASU President Joe Lee was unavailable for comment Wednesday, a secretary said.
"I haven't heard anything about it," ASU trustee Elton Dean said Wednesday night. "I would like to get a chance to review it all, talk to the president and whoever proposed these sanctions."
Another trustee also said he had yet to hear anything about the self-imposed penalties.
"We're the last to know anything," Buford Crutcher said. "It just seems like the standard procedure ... I'm not sure what's going on there. I have no idea."
The proposed penalties also seemed to catch ASU's coaching staff by surprise.
The Hornets will hand out five less scholarships than permissible this year and next, and ASU coaches will not be allowed to recruit from Dec. 1-14, which is a prime time for coaches to make contact after the season and before February's signing day.
"I don't think the NCAA would do anything like that," said Charlie Coe, who was named ASU's interim coach three days after the Coles' suspension.
"It's hard for me to believe. I don't know why they would do something that drastic."
Coe and assistant coach Chris Kapilovic said the ASU administration had not told them of any proposed penalty.
"I feel really bad that most of the coaches and the players are going to wake up in the morning and the first they'll know of this is what they read in the paper," Kapilovic said.
"We'd like to have had a chance to come up with some answers to the questions they'll have. And they will have questions."
July's report ended an eight-month internal investigation into the football program.
Robert Clayton, a New Orleans attorney, ran the investigation for its final three months. He was paid $250 an hour, the school released in response to another Advertiser request.
In the proposed penalties, the school said it would disassociate itself indefinitely from two former assistant coaches, including one who sparked the investigation.
Dedrick Bell was fired in November 2001 and wrote a letter last year to ASU officials alleging that the Coles and Richard Freeman had committed major NCAA violations.
The university suspended the Coles and Freeman on Aug. 1. Freeman is not part of the Coles' suit against the school. The Coles also have sued Bell for libel and slander.
"What does this have to do with me?" Bell said of ASU's athletic disassociation with him. "I don't work for them anymore."
Lane Powell, who was the Hornets' running backs coach in 2002, also has been indefinitely disassociated. L.C. Cole said he "let (Powell) go" after last season.
Powell is now coaching at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion spokesman Richard Herman confirmed, and wasn't able to be reached for comment.
A third man also has been disassociated from the program, but for only one year.
Herman Cromartie said he did not know why he is part of ASU's proposed penalties. He said he is a graduate student at the school, got his undergraduate degree this summer and had no contact with players "other than what any other student would."
Disassociation means the three cannot do anything involving the program that is not available to the public at large.
The school said it would forfeit all games in which 17 players -- whose names were removed from the release -- participated.
The school also said it would forfeit all games the Hornets played in 2000 and 2001, which were L.C. Cole's first two seasons as head coach.
The Coles say they have yet to see the evidence against them, though the school has an internal hearing this month into the allegations.
The hearing is part of the school's policy for cancellation of a nonacademic employee's contract.
The hearing has been moved to Oct. 20 for L.C. Cole and Oct. 22 for Johnnie Cole. The two say they have done nothing to warrant their firings.
"If the fans, alumni and students supported this kind of action, fine," Johnnie Cole said. "They can stay in this cesspool."
In August, the school did send letters to both Coles outlining the charges against them.
ASU listed 13 charges against L.C. Cole that alleged he made improper contact with recruits, funded a strip show for recruits and knowingly practiced ineligible players.
Johnnie Cole's letter listed four allegations involving improper contact and strip shows.
The brothers deny the charges.
"If there were any violations concerning ineligible players, that's solely a matter for the compliance officer," McPhillips said. "And we're not conceding there were."
The school relieved Robert Whitfield of his duties as compliance officer and removed John Ivery from the eligibility certification process when the Coles were suspended.
"It's a compliance officer's job to reprimand a coach for playing ineligible players and report it to the NCAA," Johnnie Cole said. "How do you play 17 ineligible players?
"We're saying we never knowingly practiced ineligible players. We played guys on the certification list."
By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser
Alabama State University will impose a two-year probation and scholarship reductions on its football program, according to a report it made to the NCAA in July.
The school released its proposal for self-imposed penalties Wednesday in response to a request the Montgomery Advertiser made under the state's open records laws.
The self-proposed penalty included the loss of five scholarships for each of two probation years and the forfeiture of games from two seasons. The school has said it will not release the full report it made to the NCAA in July, which led to the suspensions of three coaches.
Suspended head coach L.C. Cole and offensive coordinator Johnnie Cole have sued the school, asking to be reinstated.
"I think ASU is engaging in gross and unmitigated overkill to justify the actions taken against the two Coles," said Julian McPhillips, one of the Coles' lawyers.
Alabama State University removed the names of any players involved from its six-page, 35-point plan for penalties. ASU President Joe Lee was unavailable for comment Wednesday, a secretary said.
"I haven't heard anything about it," ASU trustee Elton Dean said Wednesday night. "I would like to get a chance to review it all, talk to the president and whoever proposed these sanctions."
Another trustee also said he had yet to hear anything about the self-imposed penalties.
"We're the last to know anything," Buford Crutcher said. "It just seems like the standard procedure ... I'm not sure what's going on there. I have no idea."
The proposed penalties also seemed to catch ASU's coaching staff by surprise.
The Hornets will hand out five less scholarships than permissible this year and next, and ASU coaches will not be allowed to recruit from Dec. 1-14, which is a prime time for coaches to make contact after the season and before February's signing day.
"I don't think the NCAA would do anything like that," said Charlie Coe, who was named ASU's interim coach three days after the Coles' suspension.
"It's hard for me to believe. I don't know why they would do something that drastic."
Coe and assistant coach Chris Kapilovic said the ASU administration had not told them of any proposed penalty.
"I feel really bad that most of the coaches and the players are going to wake up in the morning and the first they'll know of this is what they read in the paper," Kapilovic said.
"We'd like to have had a chance to come up with some answers to the questions they'll have. And they will have questions."
July's report ended an eight-month internal investigation into the football program.
Robert Clayton, a New Orleans attorney, ran the investigation for its final three months. He was paid $250 an hour, the school released in response to another Advertiser request.
In the proposed penalties, the school said it would disassociate itself indefinitely from two former assistant coaches, including one who sparked the investigation.
Dedrick Bell was fired in November 2001 and wrote a letter last year to ASU officials alleging that the Coles and Richard Freeman had committed major NCAA violations.
The university suspended the Coles and Freeman on Aug. 1. Freeman is not part of the Coles' suit against the school. The Coles also have sued Bell for libel and slander.
"What does this have to do with me?" Bell said of ASU's athletic disassociation with him. "I don't work for them anymore."
Lane Powell, who was the Hornets' running backs coach in 2002, also has been indefinitely disassociated. L.C. Cole said he "let (Powell) go" after last season.
Powell is now coaching at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion spokesman Richard Herman confirmed, and wasn't able to be reached for comment.
A third man also has been disassociated from the program, but for only one year.
Herman Cromartie said he did not know why he is part of ASU's proposed penalties. He said he is a graduate student at the school, got his undergraduate degree this summer and had no contact with players "other than what any other student would."
Disassociation means the three cannot do anything involving the program that is not available to the public at large.
The school said it would forfeit all games in which 17 players -- whose names were removed from the release -- participated.
The school also said it would forfeit all games the Hornets played in 2000 and 2001, which were L.C. Cole's first two seasons as head coach.
The Coles say they have yet to see the evidence against them, though the school has an internal hearing this month into the allegations.
The hearing is part of the school's policy for cancellation of a nonacademic employee's contract.
The hearing has been moved to Oct. 20 for L.C. Cole and Oct. 22 for Johnnie Cole. The two say they have done nothing to warrant their firings.
"If the fans, alumni and students supported this kind of action, fine," Johnnie Cole said. "They can stay in this cesspool."
In August, the school did send letters to both Coles outlining the charges against them.
ASU listed 13 charges against L.C. Cole that alleged he made improper contact with recruits, funded a strip show for recruits and knowingly practiced ineligible players.
Johnnie Cole's letter listed four allegations involving improper contact and strip shows.
The brothers deny the charges.
"If there were any violations concerning ineligible players, that's solely a matter for the compliance officer," McPhillips said. "And we're not conceding there were."
The school relieved Robert Whitfield of his duties as compliance officer and removed John Ivery from the eligibility certification process when the Coles were suspended.
"It's a compliance officer's job to reprimand a coach for playing ineligible players and report it to the NCAA," Johnnie Cole said. "How do you play 17 ineligible players?
"We're saying we never knowingly practiced ineligible players. We played guys on the certification list."