MEAC NEWS: FAMU ruled ineligible for regular-season title


Jafus (Thinker)

Jafus (Thinker)

Well-Known Member
MEAC NEWS: FAMU ruled ineligible for regular-season title

By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2003/06/24/sports/sports2.txt

GREENSBORO, NC -- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Commissioner Dennis Thomas announced Monday Florida A&M 's football team is ineligible to compete for the 2003 conference football championship.

FAMU has submitted an application to have its football program reclassified from NCAA Division I-AA to Division I-A, making the Tallahassee, Fla., school ineligible for the NCAA Division I-AA football championship. The Rattlers won the national championship back in 1978.

"With Florida A&M's move to reclassify to Division I-A in football, which made them ineligible to participate in the I-AA football championship, the conference could not jeopardize its automatic berth to the I-AA championship by allowing Florida A&M to compete for the conference championship," Thomas said. "Therefore, the membership voted to render Florida A&M ineligible for the 2003 football championship."

FAMU will play a conference schedule, but their results will not be counted in the conference standings. The Rattlers visit South Carolina State on Nov. 15.
 
Posted by KRFAMU1 on the MEACFANS site.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/sports/colleges/florida_am_university/6155747.htm


FAMU ineligible for 2003 MEAC football title
DEMOCRAT STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES


The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference officially declared Florida A&M's football team ineligible Monday to compete for the conference championship for the 2003 season.

MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas confirmed the news Monday afternoon. The move was expected after FAMU submitted its application earlier this month to move its football program up to Division I-A.

FAMU will still play a complete MEAC schedule this season but is expected to play a Division I-A independent schedule in 2004, if the school is not accepted into a I-A football conference by then.

Thomas said FAMU's other sports will still be eligible for conference championships for the 2003-2004 season, however, because the conference is Division I in all other sports already.
Click to expand...

Division status won't be the only thing that changes for the Rattlers in 2003. Because of new NCAA guidelines, the Rattlers' preseason practice will be changing too.

All players are expected to report to school on Tuesday, Aug. 5, with the first day of practice on Aug. 6. Unlike previous preseason practices, two-a-days will not start until Monday Aug. 11.

The NCAA initiated this new "acclimation period" to allow athletes more recovery time physically from the heat. The new guidelines also call for two-a-day practices to be held on alternating days.

FAMU will hold two-a-days on a Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and single practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, leading up to the season opener Aug. 30 against Alabama State in Detroit.
 



Since Miami and Virginia Tech are possibly leaving the Big East, I think FAMU should go all out and apply for membership in the Big East. That would be monumental for black college sports.
 
Talking about contradiction from the Tallahassee Democrat Newspaper report on the Florida A & M University's eligiblity for championships all other MEAC, NCAA Division I sports. Interesting!!

FAMU Now Ineligible For Title Contention

By Rick Brown
The Ledger
[email protected]

http://www.lakelandledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030625/NEWS/306250391/1002/SPORTS

It is official, Florida A&M will have no football championships in 2003.

The Rattlers, winners of seven MEAC titles, were ruled ineligible to compete for the 2003 MidEastern Athletic Conference football championship, because of their application to the NCAA to reclassify their status from Division I-AA to I-A in football.

With the application for reclassification, submitted earlier this month, the Rattlers were also ruled ineligible for the 2003 I-AA playoffs. On Tuesday, the MEAC followed suit.

"With Florida A&M's move to reclassify to Division I-A in football, which made them ineligible to participate in the I-AA football championship, the conference could not jeopardize its automatic berth to the I-AA championship by allowing Florida A&M to compete for the conference championship," MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas said in a statement released by the conference. "Therefore, the membership voted to render Florida A&M ineligible for the 2003 football championship."

The Rattlers who still play the eight other members of the MEAC this season in football, but their results will not be counted in the conference standings.

Thomas said the conference has not decided on the status of FAMU's other sports, which are also members of the MEAC.

The MEAC Council Chief Executive Officers, made up of the presidents and chancellors of the colleges and universities in the conference, will determine the fate of FAMU's other sports.

"We haven't made a decision at this time because, obviously, their other sports are Division I and can't go any higher," Thomas said. "We don't know at this time when we'll make a final decision. We are doing our due diligence on all aspects of it and once we feel comfortable where we are, a decision will be made."
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FAMU is expected to find out whether its application for reclassification will be accepted by the NCAA in August.
 
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