TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Assistant Director of Media Relations at Florida A&M University said the Compliance Office has already started interviewing for the 5 new compliance positions.
In 2019, FAMU had three compliance officers for athletics. Now, they are down to just one for more than 330 athletes. President Dr. Larry Robinson said the university's compliance program is working to help the one officer in athletics.
"We did commit to five additional people to work on athletic related issues, whether it's financial aid, academic progress issues and so forth," said Robinson.
On Tuesday, President Robinson pledged to provide 5 new compliance officers. Officers that are crucial in making sure players are certified to play through the NCAA.
No matter the size of the college, when it comes to athletics, compliance officers are key. Chuck Moore is the Athletics Director at Tallahassee Community College. He says that a compliance officer's main job is to file eligibility and know rules and regulations for the student athletes. Moore said the process of keeping student athlete's paperwork up needs to start on day one.
"As an incoming freshman, you need to start gathering all their stuff right then, and it's pretty much as I say progression from there. Each semester you should be keeping the right documentation and making sure they're registered for the right classes, so you are moving them forward," said Moore.
TCC is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
For TCC, Moore is the one that signs off on all eligibility and compliance forms each semester for student athletes. He said they have three people working on compliance and eligibility and one part-time academic adviser and success coach for their 110 student athletes.
At FAMU, there is currently one compliance officer and one academic adviser for athletics. President Robinson said the university is looking to have at least two of those compliance officers in place in the next 45 days.
