Perhaps one of the most memorable celebrations of a championship victory came in 2019 when the LSU Tigers won the National Championship. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow went viral when he lit up a cigar in the locker room after the win. Players from a Division II program copied his celebration, but their actions warranted a sanction from the NCAA.
The Ferris State Bulldog are back-to-back Division II football champions. However, they may have trouble repeating their success next season due to an incoming postseason suspension for head coach Tony Annese.
While Burrow got away with smoking a cigar, Ferris State was not as lucky. That’s due to the National Championship game taking place in a high school stadium. The stadium has clear a very clear no-tobacco policy, and that is being enforced by the NCAA. Both Aneese and the Ferris State program were issued a number of disciplinary actions on Thursday.
The NCAA revealed in a statement that Aneese will be suspended for the team’s next NCAA championship playoff game. The program will also pay a $2,500 fine and also pay restitution to McKinney Independent School District for $15,383 in cleaning and repair expenses for the incident.
Many took notice of this suspension on social media and find it way too harsh from the NCAA.
The NCAA strikes again
This time suspending Ferris State’s head coach after players smoked cigars celebrating a win in the National Title game pic.twitter.com/rExSS4tG00
— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) March 23, 2023
Thanks @NCAA. Way to cherry pick. Don’t you have bigger fish to fry? https://t.co/yLgeSR3tnr
— Sidelines – Ferris State (@SSN_FerrisState) March 23, 2023
This is pure insanity by the @NCAA.
We’ve seen LSU and UGA players smoking cigars in their locker rooms on national television and the NCAA loved the exposure. Now a D2 national champion coach is suspended for a future playoff game? That’s a totally made up punishment too!! 🤬 https://t.co/mWWmU0vNye
— Rob Gallik (@CoachGallik) March 23, 2023
The NCAA is an absolute joke. https://t.co/lXuxkVWCUM
— Eric Lloyd (@EricLloyd) March 23, 2023
Just for clarity, the article goes on to specify that the problem was that the locker room they were in was at a high school stadium that has a no tobacco policy.
Still ridiculous to suspend a coach for a playoff game. A fine would’ve been more than enough. https://t.co/lkhbpveTIA
— Jacob Richman (@JacobHRichman) March 23, 2023
The statement from the NCAA goes on to say that this is not an isolated incident from Ferris State and that the program has “committed multiple cases of misconduct recently”.
While it is important for programs to follow the rules of whichever stadium they are in, suspending a coach for a playoff game does seem to be quite the overreaction from the NCAA.
[NCAA.org]
