Glenn Antizzo is an associate professor of government at Nicholls. He also is the faculty institutional representative to the Southland Conference. He has served as vice president of the Colonel Club for three terms and is currently a member of its executive board. Q: After attending the Colonels versus Eastern Washington football game, what are some of your thoughts on the team?

A: I was absolutely impressed. They looked fantastic. I don’t think I have ever seen Nicholls play such close to error free football in my life. This was a well-geared team out there. Nicholls pretty much manhandled them. It wasn’t until late in the game that Eastern Washington got two of what I call “hospitality” touchdowns. If they could do that every week, I don’t see why they couldn’t compete in the end of the Southland Conference schedule.

Q: Were you pleased with the crowd attendance and their involvement in the game?

A: Under the circumstances, yes. If it would have been a normal crowd, I would have been unhappy. I was disappointed that I didn’t see more students out there, but on the other side where the press box is, I think it was pretty good attendance, and I was impressed. The crowd was definitely into it. This was one of those games where the people that went are going to tell their friends about it, and I think we’ll see a bigger crowd when they play Texas A&M-Kingsville in a couple of weeks.

Q: Do you think that former football coach Daryl Daye should have been fired?

A: If somebody is in charge and they know or they should know about what’s going on in their program, then they have to be held accountable. I will say this though: I guarantee University President Stephen Hulbert took decisive action because the academic reputation of the school is on the line. I am concerned about them maintaining the academic integrity of the school. I fully support the administration. It is important to uphold the academic integrity of the school. I don’t want to see anybody lose his job, but at the same time we have to remember that the student part of the word student-athlete comes first. The University went to great lengths to indicate Coach Daye was not greatly involved in the incident.

Q: Do you think that only Daye and former assistant coach Jeff Richards should take the blame for the incident?

A: Dr. Hulbert said something during faculty institute that indicated that there were some efforts to obstruct the investigation. Anybody that was a part of that obstruction to the investigation, and he did not name any names, they are doing something that is damaging the school. They are making a problem that is bad worse. If anybody else was involved in the blocking of the investigation that would uncover the wrongdoing, they are doing everyone involved a disservice.

Q: Should the student-athletes involved in the incident have their eligibility restored?

A: I sort of feel sorry for some of the students-athletes that may have gotten caught up in this hype. I hope that if it shows that the kids were not actively involved in this, I hope they get their eligibility restored. Anybody who knowingly participated in academic fraud is cheating themselves, their teammates and the institution. Those (student-athletes) that were just following the advice of the coaches, hopefully they will be cleared.

Q: How do you think this incident is going to affect the other sports here at Nicholls?

A: I think Nicholls has a reputation for running a clean program. The school has never been on probation in the past. I think the NCAA is going to keep that in mind. I would be shocked to find out they suspended anybody other than those involved in the incident right now in football. I think the NCAA is going to confine the investigation to this area. I don’t think there is any smoke coming from any of the other sports. For the most part, Nicholls runs a clean program. I would be absolutely shocked to find out if there’s anymore of this, and I would also be very, very disappointed.

Q: What could the University in general do to make sure nothing like this ever happens again?

A: I think there has to be perhaps a little more oversight about student-athletes’ academic performance and how we handle our credits off campus. I am not a big fan of student-athletes taking classes at other schools. I’d like to see the University keep the student-athlete courses on campus as much as possible in order for us to get a handle on this stuff. I would like to see a faculty adisor or dean of the student-athletes college sign off on any correspondence class. The faculty should be actively involved in the scheduling and approval of any courses that athletes take.