Football team will be affected by UM findings

ORONO – University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove said the latest eligibility problem at the school could leave his Black Bears a little shorthanded for Saturday’s opener at home against the nationally-ranked University of Central Florida.

The university announced Monday that for several years it has misinterpreted an NCAA bylaw concerning the types of credit hours student-athletes have used to remain eligible for intercollegiate athletics.

The school is currently investigating the transcripts of its student-athletes and the process is expected to take at least a couple of more weeks.

The football, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s field hockey teams open their seasons this weekend and Cosgrove said the eligibility of some of his players is being reviewed.

“I would say it appears as though we may not be as good as we anticipated on Saturday,” said Cosgrove. “It will affect us a little bit.”

However, Cosgrove also said he hopes that some of the players in question will get the green light to play from school compliance director Tammy Light by the end of the week.

Cosgrove said the players in question are understandably devastated by the misinterpretation and he sympathizes with them.

“They’re trying to figure out what they did wrong,” said Cosgrove. “They took the advice of people who misinterpreted the rules. That has forced them into a difficult situation.”

However, Cosgrove is confident that the upgrading of the compliance department and its computer software will prevent future violations and he knows Light is “working very hard” to rectify the situation.

Men’s soccer coach Scott Atherley and women’s coach Lisa Petruccelli do not appear to be affected by the situation.

“I prefer not to comment on the situation because I’d rather focus on Fairfield University (in Saturday’s game at the University of Rhode Island’s Diadora Classic) and the upcoming season,” said Atherley. “As far as I know, we will travel to URI with our roster intact.”

Petruccelli said she has left the matter in the hands of the compliance department.

Petruccelli’s team opens at home against Army on Sunday.

Kix, whose team opens on Saturday against Temple at the Husky Classic in Storrs, Conn., could not be reached for comment.

Men’s basketball coach Rudy Keeling said it was too soon to tell if hs team would be affected. Keeling said the situation is something everyone in the athletic department will have to live with.

“I just think what’s happening right now is we’re trying to make our compliance office perfect. Because of that we’re finding imperfections that have been there that would be there anywhere (in the country),” said Keeling.

Black Bear ice hockey coach Shawn Walsh said he also did not know if the situation affected members of his team. Walsh said he is determined to stay positive regardless of any findings.

“The positive thing is it’s proactive. It happened before anyone played. We’ll weather it. We’ll persevere. There’s not a lot the coaches can do.”