Louisville Administration Keeps Starting QB Eligible

Louisville starting quarterback Browning Nagle will retain his eligibility for the Cardinals’ final two regular-season games and their first possible bowl appearance in many years.

Nagle was informed Monday of the university’s decision to deny a professor’s petition to drop the senior from two of her classes.

“My family, my friends, my coaches and my teammates were standing by me,” Nagle said at a news conference. “They have helped see me through something I could never have imagined would happen to me. This is a very unfortunate situation.”

Tim Hynes, acting dean of Louisville’s College of Arts and Sciences, accepted the recommendation from the school’s Committee on Admissions and Appeals.

Had the request been approved, Nagle would have been dropped to part-time student status and he would have been ineligible for play.

Nawal Lutfiyya, an assistant professor of communications, two weeks ago petitioned Hynes to remove Nagle administratively from the classes. She said Nagle was failing both classes and had no hope of making a passing grade.

Burt Monroe, the faculty athletic representative at the news conference, said he was not privy to--nor could he comment on--the specifics of the committee’s deliberations.

But he did say that the decision not to remove Nagle from the classes was made “on the basis of Mr. Nagle as a student and as a student only. Not as an athlete.”

Monroe said such withdrawal processes are normally initiated by a student.

During the news conference, Nagle admitted he was partly to blame for the situation. But he contended that Lutfiyya was biased against him because he was an athlete.

Lutfiyya would not comment directly on the decision.

Asked whether she thought Nagle received special treatment because he was an athlete, she said, “I think that’s a conclusion or inference people will have to draw for themselves.”

Louisville Coach Howard Schnellenberger said he was “delighted” about the news. “Obviously, it takes a shadow off our team.”

The controversy threatened Louisville’s best season since 1972. With two games remaining in the regular season, Louisville is 7-1-1 and is considered a virtual shoo-in for its first bowl appearance since 1977. Scouts from the Independence, All-American, Peach, Copper and Aloha bowls have expressed interest in Louisville.

The Cardinals also broke into this week’s Associated Press college football poll at No. 25. It was Louisville’s first appearance in the Top 25 since placing 18th in the final poll of 1972.