Interesting story out of the Delaware State football program, as Hornets head coach Al Lavan is all but accusing new Florida A&M head coach Joe Taylor of cheating. The Hornets and Rattlers are scheduled to meet this Saturday in Dover, but Lavan has gone on the record as saying he hasn’t received film of the Rattlers’ season-opening win over Alabama A&M State.
“There is a procedure to get the tape,” Lavan said. “They know they haven’t sent it.”
That procedure is for the game tape to be digitally uploaded to a conference-created, web-based retrieval system. Lavan says that attempts to contact the FAMU athletic department and MEAC officials have not yielded a satisfactory answer.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
It must be noted, however, that DSU did not play last weekend, and has no current film to offer the Rattlers.
It’s bad enough to assume that Joe Taylor and the Rattlers feel so committed to turning things around, that they may be resorting to underhanded tactics to secure an advantage over the defending conference champions. But if the MEAC doesn’t regulate this scenario, it opens the door for widespread cheating among the coaches.
Dennis Thomas better respond quick, fast and in a hurry before this becomes a real problem for two of the conference’s most notable programs.
Oldschoolram 11:13 am on September 3, 2008 Permalink
Sounds like a “snake in the grass” thing going on here.
JC 2:29 pm on September 3, 2008 Permalink
If he’s holding film back on the notion that DSU has no film from 2008 to provide, it would be interesting to see how the MEAC heads off what could become a nefarious practice among its coaches.