A dispute over the future of Florida A&M basketball has led to the postponement of contract negotiations between the school and its new coach.
Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting was already planned to approve Patrick Crarey’s new three-year, $450,000 contract. The university announced him as the school’s head men’s basketball coach on April 17.
He was supposed to take over the program July 1. That date is now uncertain.
Trustee Kelvin Lawson cited reports of Crarey dismissing players prior to Monday’s meeting. The allegation would mean FAMU violated NCAA rules.
“It was brought to my attention that the coach was on campus and working with students prior to the employment agreement, which is not only an NCAA violation, but also a Title 9 violation,” said Lawson.
Local pastor Julius McAllister of Bethel AME wrote a letter to FAMU on Sunday, June 23, expressing concerns after his son was dismissed from the team.
“I expressed to Coach Crarey that I thought that his decision was egregious and that it didn’t line up with the university’s credo,” McAllister said in a letter to Florida A&M President Larry Robinson.
In the letter, McAllister said Crarey and the athletics department, took back scholarships and removed 16 players from the basketball team.
“The dismissal was administered unprofessionally and void of even a modest concern for the well-being of our students whom we famously claim to “care” for,” Rev. McAllister wrote.
Florida A&M Athletics Director Tiffani-Dawn Sykes argued FAMU has not violated NCAA rules, because Crarey has been “working on campus voluntarily.”
“There was a volunteer employment agreement that was completed on behalf of this coach in April,” Sykes said during Monday’s BOT meeting.
“There are no NCAA rules that limit a coach’s ability whether they are a volunteer employee or a compensated employee, especially due to the modernization of NCAA rules as it relates to volunteer coaches.”
FAMU’s new coach is slated to make roughly $175,000 annually, but the board says without knowing more about the volunteer contract, they’re not comfortable moving forward with a multi-year deal.
The FAMU BOT will set another meeting in the next few weeks.
