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>From the Statesman's Brian Murphy regarding Robb Akey and the loss of 8 scholarships due to the sins of past coaches. In essence, Akey is being punished by the NCAA for doing the right thing and getting rid of knuckleheads......<br><h3>May 08, 2008</h3>
<h1>Murphy: Vandals' Akey unwavering in wake of NCAA sanctions</h1>
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With dissatisfaction.With determination. And without regret. That's
how Idaho football coach Robb Akey responded Wednesday, one day after
the Vandals were officially stripped of eight scholarships for the 2008
season for poor performance in the the NCAA's annual Academic Progress
Rate (APR) report.<BR>His dissatisfaction is with the NCAA, which Akey believes is talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to football.<BR>"That's what irritates me the most about the NCAA," Akey said.<BR>Run
a clean program, but don't get rid of the bad seeds or it will cost you
scholarships. That is how Akey views the decree from NCAA president
Myles Brand.<BR>Most of the players who were involved in
rule-breaking or academic issues were brought into the program by coach
Nick Holt, who left in 2006 after two seasons. <BR>Akey said the NCAA should take such things into account before administering penalties.<BR>"Go
visit that campus. It will be very evident whether the coach is the
problem, the school is the problem or things are being done to address
the situation," Akey said.<BR>Then there is the money gap. <BR>There
were 37 football programs punished by the NCAA on Tuesday. Seventeen of
them are from Division I-A. Just two of them - Washington State and
Kansas - are from one of the six powerful BCS conferences. The WAC had
four football teams punished.<BR>"Can you fix this with money?
Absolutely, it can have a significant impact," WAC commissioner Karl
Benson said. "It's not out of a lack of intent or interest or desire.
Some of it is tied to resources."<BR>In hindsight, the league should
have used part of its windfall from the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and 2008 Sugar
Bowl to fund additional academic-related services at its schools.
Perhaps it will do so in the future.<BR>Akey's determination is to
continue the long, arduous task of building a winning program on the
field with character individuals and strong academics. He believes the
job can be accomplished with time and discipline.<BR>"As impatient as I am, you don't build anything this solid just overnight," Akey said.<BR>And he has no regrets about his decision to remove several players from the program last year, which led to the APR penalties.<BR>"We've
got the start of a foundation, a clean foundation we can build from,"
Akey said, something that would not have been the case if he kept
players who violated university policy and state law on his roster.<BR>"If I kept that element in this program, the guys here would not be saying this is a program you want to be a part of."<BR>In fact, Akey said he would not allow the threat of reduced scholarships to keep him from acting similarly in the future.<BR>"I've
got to coach it with the right deal in regards to discipline. I'm not
going to let it hold me hostage," he said. "We're still going to make
the decisions we need to make."<BR>Those decisions mean the Vandals
can play with no more than 77 scholarship players this fall, eight
fewer than the NCAA limit. The Vandals have 72 players on scholarship,
a number that could get as high as 75 before the fall, depending on the
progress of walk-ons, the school said.<BR>The Vandals are only
allowed to bring in 22 new players - initial counters in NCAA parlance
- for the 2008 season. They will use that entire allotment, which is
three fewer than teams are normally allowed.<BR>"The biggest initial
impact is that there are three kids that aren't going to play for us
that could have," Akey said. "When we're at the point of trying to
build our numbers, trying to build our talent base, three players is a
significant number."<BR>Idaho has 16 seniors on scholarship, so even
with a full recruiting class of 25 next year, the Vandals will not be
at the NCAA limit of 85 scholarships next season.<BR>"It's going to put us another year further away from getting to 85," Akey said.<BR>As
a practical matter, it means less depth. It means that incoming
freshmen will have to play quickly, without the benefit of a redshirt
season. It means that the margin of error for the Vandals, who went
1-11 last season, remains small.<BR>"It's that many less guys when
you have a starter go down due to injury. It's one less guy. Maybe your
starters or frontline guys have to play a little more because you don't
have that young freshman on scholarship who can play," Akey said.<BR>"That's the impact that it will have on this club."<br /><hr />Get Free (PRODUCT) RED™ Emoticons, Winks and Display Pics. <a href='http://joinred.spaces.live.com?ocid=TXT_HMTG_prodredemoticons_052008' target='_new'>Check it out!</a></body>
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