Tarantini gaffe costs soccer team ACC victory (updated Wed am)

AD & Department General NC State Administration Non-Revenue71

The NC State soccer team has forfeited their only ACC victory this season over Boston College because they used an ineligible player. The information was out last week, however there is no explanation to be found on the NC State official website. The game story still has us winning, but the game has been changed on the schedule to reflect a 0-1 loss. The Technician coincidentally has a story today explaining the situation with quotes from Head Coach George Tarantini:

“It is certainly something we have never faced before,” Tarantini said. “We discussed the situation right away.”

The forfeit was due to the participation of an ineligible player. The ineligibility was based on the number of red cards the student athlete accumulated over the previous games played. According to Lindsey Rogers, associate director of media relations for the ACC, the ineligible player was determined by a self report to the NCAA from the N.C. State coaching staff.

We have highlighted the performance of the soccer program in the past. While Lee Fowler obviously doesn’t consider competing for titles in men’s soccer a requirement for employment at NC State, then is it too much to ask a coach to understand and follow the most basic rules of the game to not directly cost his kids a conference victory?

AD & Department General NC State Administration Non-Revenue

71 Responses to Tarantini gaffe costs soccer team ACC victory (updated Wed am)

  1. Scooter 10/07/2008 at 3:08 PM #

    What the hell happened?

  2. Girlfriend in a Coma 10/07/2008 at 3:45 PM #

    Does anyone know which particular farm animal Tarantini has pictures of Fowler blowing?

  3. redfred2 10/07/2008 at 4:09 PM #

    The kid probably wore the wrong socks or something.

    Whatever it was, I’ll bet Lee and Oblinger will over react and treat it as another reason to give away as many NC State concessions as their two brains can possibly conjure up. They’ll strap on their goody two shoes, be apologizing to GT, the ACC, the NCAA, for decades to come.

    Soccer, as it regards to NC State, just fell off the radar screen.

  4. old13 10/07/2008 at 5:17 PM #

    Just another pitiful example of gross incompetence . . . Foulup . . . administration . . . of Wolfpack athletics. (Is this really NEWs!)

  5. ruffles31 10/07/2008 at 6:40 PM #

    This was not Fowler’s fault, for once.

    This was Tarantini’s fault. A player received his second red card of the season and thus had to sit out 2 games. He only sat out one game and then played against BC.

    When ws the last time an ACC school had to forfeit a game because of an ineligible player?

    And then shockingly, it happened to OUR school under our new worst sport, now that volleyball has started winning.

  6. old13 10/07/2008 at 6:46 PM #

    ^ So to whom does Tarantini answer! This is not the first incident with him – not to mention his lack of success on the field. Ultimately it IS Foulup’s fault!

  7. Dr. BadgerPack 10/07/2008 at 6:48 PM #

    Um… if I’m AD and I’ve had a player on one of my teams disqualified for ANYTHING, I darn sure make sure the coach understands the situation.

    And if the coach thought (speculation) that 2 games means the one you get tossed from and the next one, well… the AD has something else to be doing in that situation.

  8. 61Packer 10/07/2008 at 7:10 PM #

    If NC State forfeited the 2-0 win as stated above, and the result was changed on the schedule to reflect a 1-0 Wolfpack loss, then how can the game be considered a “no contest” for ACC seeding purposes?

    Somebody help me out here……….

  9. Dr. BadgerPack 10/07/2008 at 7:19 PM #

    I would assume the “no contest” would apply to tiebreakers? That is pure speculation…

  10. redfred2 10/07/2008 at 7:22 PM #

    Somebody made a mistake, a bad mistake, whether it was a misunderstanding or an act of sheer disregard for the rules, those folks were caught, and there are consequences. That’s fair enough, and I have no problem with that at all. What I’m talking about is NC State itself, stepping in with it’s tail between it’s legs, not holding any ONE PERSON accountable as is always the case, making the situation worse than it already is, and then acting as if they are doing something noble, ALL in name of NC STATE University.

  11. turfpack 10/07/2008 at 7:57 PM #

    Let Lee Foulup coach soccer he knows basketball-sorry to him it’s the same thing.
    Lee said -it’s all rite good buddy everyboby makes mistakes,besides it’s just soccer -we’ll give you a new 3yr contract -that’ll help.

  12. whitefang 10/07/2008 at 8:06 PM #

    It really wasn’t the coach’s or the AD’s fault. If we only had the facilities this sort of thing would not happen…
    Most likely some sort of internet fringe group was involved as well confusing Tarantini as to the rules.

  13. graywolf 10/07/2008 at 8:09 PM #

    old 13 wrote “So to whom does Tarantini answer!”

    I know a member of the team. Practices are useless and Fowler and Tarantini are tight (best friends). So to answer your question Tarantini answers to no one.

    One more reason Fowler must go.

  14. wufpup76 10/07/2008 at 9:50 PM #

    ^what whitefang said … and this was BC, too

    dam* it

  15. SuperStuff 10/08/2008 at 6:11 AM #

    Nobody to blame but the coach and the player involved. It’s the coaches job to manage the team. A player would also have to understand the rules. How can you not know how many games you sit after two red cards?

  16. 66pack 10/08/2008 at 6:58 AM #

    IDIOTS

  17. Paramarine 10/08/2008 at 8:09 AM #

    It’s pitiful how inept we are.

  18. sautz 10/08/2008 at 8:19 AM #

    It was my fault. I was so tired of seeing us lose all the time I snuck onto the field and scored our goal. I was hoping no one would notice. :-\

  19. stately 10/08/2008 at 8:24 AM #

    Are we purposely as a University trying not to be competitive in athletics? It sure seems that way at times.

  20. EverettBeez 10/08/2008 at 8:27 AM #

    Wasn’t Tarantini also the LAX coach when that team got completely out of control? The solution then, under a different AD I believe, was to drop the sport but keep the coach. This had to be late 80s/ early 90s.

  21. Girlfriend in a Coma 10/08/2008 at 8:39 AM #

    To answer the seeding question, this will not impact our seed because we were going to be seeded last either way.

  22. Greywolf 10/08/2008 at 9:28 AM #

    ^ So to whom does Tarantini answer! This is not the first incident with him – not to mention his lack of success on the field. Ultimately it IS Foulup’s fault!

    So to whom does LF answer? Ultimately, according to Old13’s logic, it’s Oblinger’s fault. No, wait a minute, to whom does Oblinger answer? The BOT. It’s the BOT’s fault. And actually it is because if the BOT prioritized athletic excellence at a higher level at NCSU, then the BOT would give Oblinger instructions to replace the AD based on the overall won/lost record. But first the BOT would remove Institutional Control from the AD’s office and give the AD authority to hire and fire. Responsibility without authority is ludicrous.

    Blaming the AD for not doing what he cannot do, is like blaming the QB for not passing when the OC is sends in a running play. And how long would the OC last if he went against the HC’s dictates? The QB executes the OC’s play call, the OC calls plays inside the offense the HC wants run, The HC has the say about philosophy of wide open or conservative as well as the kind of student athlete to recruit. This chain of responsibility continues right up to the BOT’s policy for student athletes.

    At NCSU the BOT’s priority is academic excellence with athletics at an appropriate place in the big scheme of things as the choosen path at NCSU. To argue the AD’s role should be to do anything other than fulfill on the BOT’s intention, is to demonstrate either ignorance of how the system works or blatant disregard for truth or fairness in assessment of the AD’s performance.

    All criticism inside the AD’s mandate to carry out the BOT’s policy is fair and just. All criticism outside that mandate is just pettiness and says way more about the critics than it does about the AD who is being criticized.

    IMO as long as we are being stupid in our criticism of the AD, we are ultimately damaging any chance of having the AD replaced. As a body we want SFN to be an influence in NCSU athletics. When we express ourselves in ways that demonstrate our ignorance of how the system works, we hinder our ability to cause change.

    BOT members have distinctions in responsibility authority that apparently most of us do not. The BOT is acutely aware of the AD’s authority and responsibility. They and Oblinger hold the AD responsible for all that occurs inside the realm of athletics at NCSU. They do not expect not want the AD operating outside his authority.

    Putting a negative spin on EVERYTHING the AD says, may SEEM like a good idea, when in fact it insults the intelligence of the very people we want to listen to us. Every member of the BOT knows that the AD is *responsible* for everything that happens inside the Athletics Department. They also know that the AD does not have the authority to hire and fire without due process and justification.

    We experts on administration here on SFN seem to think that public backstabbing of department employees should be SOP. Fowler has been repeatedly taken to task for his public support of HCs who are failing in their won/lost record. Public support of the people in his employ as long as they are employed at NCSU is expected and required by the BOT. Public flogging of coaches who are not winning would not be tolerated by Oblinger or the BOT. Don’t expect Oblinger to do that with the AD either.

    To hire and fire on a whim is not permissible at an academic institution such as NCSU not can a case for dismissal be made in the won and loss record of a coach at NCSU by any AD here. The institutional controls imposed on our Athletic Department do not make the job of AD at NCSU attractive to qualified ADs who are on an upward career path.

    TOB had stated his three priorities with equal emphasis. He will not be judged on his won/lost record alone. And at NCSU with our priorities as set by the BOT, he should not and will not be judged that way by those that matter. Hint: that ain’t us.

  23. Daily Update 10/08/2008 at 9:38 AM #

    Can you explain to me why Lee Fowler cannot replace George Tarantini?

    How would replacing a coach who has been at NC State as long as Tarantini be “firing and hiring on a whim”?

    What institutional controls are there on the AD in terms of hiring and firing?

    In terms of “due process and justification”, then do you really think a case cannot be made to fire Tarantini based on his record and mistakes such as this one that caused a forfeit? Are there other coaches who are making this same mistake and producing similar records where universities have been unable to replace them?

    Serious questions.

  24. Rick 10/08/2008 at 10:05 AM #

    NCSU just sinks lower and lower under the Fowler/Oblinger watch.
    We are on the edge of irrelevance.

  25. old13 10/08/2008 at 10:11 AM #

    The point is, Greywolf, that in a well-managed organization, an underling who’s performance is REPEATEDLY subpar would be removed from the position by the manager. And a manager who REPEATEDLY displays incompentency and fails to set and meet performance goals for his department/organization would be removed from the position by whomever has the responsibility/authority – on up the ladder. In my view, there are a number of culprits responsible for the current miserable condition of Wolfpack athletics and, yes, some responsibility does extend all the way up to the BOT.

    While athletics is certainly not the main purpose of universities, they do add to the university experience for students. And if this is the only purpose of athletics at NCSU, then why even be a D1 member. By being a D1 member, and providing athletic scholarships on that basis, the university raises expectations for the competitiveness of its athletics to the highest level. But there is no follow-through at NCSU to that end. In my view, it is just downright wrong to take people’s/fans’/alumni’s money under the guise of building competitive athletics at NCSU and then not manage the purpose for which the money is given in a competent manner. And that, as I see it, is exactly the situation at NCSU!

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