Despite Order, Matthews Won’T Play

Washington State cornerback Anthony Matthews has been granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, clearing him to play for the Cougars.

But Matthews, who was ruled academically ineligible just days before the start of the season, will not be playing for the Cougars any time soon.

As of Wednesday, he had still not been cleared by WSU to play. Both Matthews and WSU coach Mike Price acknowledged that the earliest Matthews would play would be the Arizona State game on Oct. 23.

Matthews, a redshirt sophomore, was declared ineligible after the NCAA ruled that he did not comply with the “75/25” rule. That rule stipulates that a student may not take more than 25 percent of his course work during the summer.

Matthews completed 16 hours of work during the fall and spring semesters and completed nine hours in the summer. The NCAA determined that was not sufficient academic progress.

Judge Justin L. Quackenbush of the Eastern Washington Federal District Court disagreed. In the restraining order, he stated: “The defendant (the NCAA) ignores the requirement of the ADA that `reasonable’ accommodation must be afforded a disabled person.”

Matthews, who has a diagnosed learning disability, currently maintains a 2.3 grade-point average, well above the 1.8 average the NCAA requires of student athletes.

Quackenbush further determined that the NCAA is “restrained from taking any adverse action against WSU or the plaintiff (Matthews) by reason of obeying this order.”

So if Matthews does play, the NCAA cannot force WSU to forfeit if at a later date a court rules in favor of the NCAA. The temporary restraining order is in effect until Judge William Fremming Nielsen, who was originally assigned to the case, returns from an assignment in Arizona. If Nielsen does not uphold the temporary retraining order and the case goes to court, Matthews will likely miss the entire season.

“By the time we go to court and get it settled, the season would be over,” said Richard Wooster, Matthews’ attorney in Tacoma.

Matthews was the No. 2 cornerback coming into fall camp behind Chris Martin. Martin was declared academically ineligible two days prior to Matthews.