FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Mountain East Conference Commissioner Reid Amos has a message for the players involved in a post-game skirmish following Fairmont State’s tightly contested 23-19 win over Notre Dame College Thursday night.
“Let me be clear that our institutional presidents and directors of athletics and lead administrators strongly condemn such inappropriate conduct,” Amos said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval. “We won’t tolerate it.”
It’s unclear exactly what prompted the incident, which occurred toward the tail end of post-game handshakes.
“It was a compelling game between Fairmont and Notre Dame-Ohio,” he said. “Exactly what we were looking for through the 60 minutes–two NCAA Divsion II nationally ranked teams in a game on MetroNews that in many ways was a playoff game.”
Amos said he was particularly disappointed by the incident, which he sees as a black eye on an otherwise marquee game between NCAA Division II playoff contenders.
“For the most part there were appropriate exchanges and appropriate sportsmanship,” he said. “Then, as is often the case unfortunately when these circumstances occur, a few players actions were inappropriate which led to reactions by others that were additionally inappropriate–which is what we are now reviewing.”
Amos said the Mountain East Conference is investigating the incident, reviewing the tape, and will take “appropriate action” in conjunction with their policies. “Our review began immediately,” Amos said. “The administrations of both institutions have been highly cooperative and I have every expectation that will continue. I have confidence that our membership is treating this incident with the appropriate level of concern.”
“All of the efforts that we make have our student-athletes fully understand, when they go into competition, the expectations that we have for good sportsmanship,” Amos said. “When they fall short of those expectations, it’s the responsibility of the Mountain East Conference to become involved with the institutions and then ultimately determine appropriate action in response to the inappropriate conduct.”
Student-athletes in the Mountain East Conference sign a code of conduct agreement when they join schools in the conference.
“We’ve only got that video that we’ve seen at this point,” Amos said. “My hope is that additional video that we receive will be additionally revealing.”