NCAA Strips Colorado Of 1997 Victories
The NCAA has ruled that Colorado must forfeit all five 1997 football victories because an ineligible player participated, the Rocky Mountain News reported today.
The NCAA sanction was not as harsh as it could have been because Colorado reported the ineligible player, fullback-linebacker Darren Fisk, and said his use was unintentional.
The newspaper attributed the report to a source it did not identify.
As a results of the decision, Colorado's 1997 record dropped from 5-6 to 0-11. The school has had just one other winless season since a football program was established in 1890.
The NCAA will not comment on disciplinary actions before they are announced by the school, the News said.
A telephone message seeking comment from university officials was not returned immediately today.
Athletic director Dick Tharp was in Kansas City, Mo., attending the Big 12 Conference men's basketball tournament and could not be reached, the newspaper said.
Fisk's eligibility was questioned late last year during a routine season-ending eligibility check of outgoing seniors.
After graduating from high school at Los Gatos, Calif., in 1992, Fisk played one game in 1993 at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo before transferring in 1994. He sat out the transfer year, then lettered the following three seasons with the Buffaloes.
NCAA rules permit student athletes four seasons of competition over five years, with a fifth season granted in some cases because of a medical hardship.
The problem arose because Fisk first enrolled in college in 1992, which means his five years of eligibility expired at the end of the 1996 season.
Colorado reported the ineligibility issue to the NCAA last month. Last fall, Fisk played in all 11 games for CU, mostly on special teams.
Under the sanction, the school will not be required to change coach Rick Neuheisel's 25-10 record over three years or mention the five forfeited games in the 1998 media guide, the newspaper said.
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