*Florida A&M’s athletic director has responded to accusations that student Shamoria Johnson was booted off the university’s bowling team for choosing academics over athletics.
According to MadameNoire, Johnson, a sophomore English major, claims she was kicked off the team by first-year head coach Capri Howard because she wanted to be excused to study for final exams.
FAMU released a statement from Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes on X (formerly Twitter), responding to Johnson’s accusations. According to Sykes, Johnson’s dismissal was supported by NCAA rules.
“In December of 2023, Coach Howard dismissed a student from the bowling team for reasons supported by the NCAA bylaws,” Sykes wrote. ”Though it’s always challenging to see our student-athletes dismissed, I support the decision by Coach Howard as the proper procedures were taken before dismissal.”
In response to Johnson’s removal, teammates Emilia Sturk, Anna, and Fransecsa Olay left the team. According to Sykes, all former members “have been awarded their athletics aid for the remainder of the academic year.”
Meanwhile, Florida A&M bowler Eva Holmes addressed the issue in an Instagram post, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
“We have a young head coach, but so do various other sports across the country. It is not impossible for a program to function with such new leadership,” said Holmes.
“Without a chance to even begin shaping the future of our program, our coach was called names and disrespected regardless of her head coach status. This clearly reached a breaking point when the final, extremely disrespectful email was sent. Had any other athlete in any other sport sent their head coach an email like that, they’d be dismissed from the team as well, and their teammates would understand why,” Holmes continued.
Statement from Vice President and Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn B. Sykes on bowling:#FAMU | #FAMUly | #Rattlers | #FangsUp 🐍 pic.twitter.com/RRuOTTazBs
— Florida A&M Athletics (@FAMUAthletics) January 20, 2024
Holmes believes the close age gap between Howard and the former FAMU players may have contributed to the tension leading to the players’ departure. She claims Johnson’s “reasoning behind it all is not as accurate.”
“While academics are of the utmost importance, we also have an obligation as athletes (on scholarship specifically) to be at every practice, lift/conditioning, team bonding activity, and competition,” Holmes explained, per the Tallahassee Democrat.
“There is no excuse to miss any of these things unless deemed okay by your coach. And that goes for every sport on campus. We’re all held to the same basic standard,” she continued, “This is non-negotiable, given that we all read and signed the same contract that states that if you ‘voluntarily withdraw (quit)’ from the team, you’re giving up rights to your scholarship.”
Johnson shared her story with Roland Martin during the Jan. 20 episode. The young athlete explained that her status on the bowling team changed after she informed the coach of her decision to “prioritize” her academics.
“I also referenced one of the rules from the women’s bowling team — where it stated that being a student is the priority,” Johnson claimed. “That was the only bolded rule on the rule sheet. And I didn’t get a response to that email either. Instead, I was just dismissed from the team [on Dec. 1].”
Scroll up to watch her conversation with Roland via the YouTube clip above.
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