Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280045
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FSU OFFICIAL BLASTS REPORT

The (Montgomery) Alabama Journal quoted a source identified as a "highly ranked SEC official" as confirming that FSU and Arkansas had accepted invitations to increase the SEC's membership to 12 schools. The newspaper reported that SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer met with FSU officials earlier this week to make the deal final.

"That story is incorrect," Goin said Friday from his Tallahassee office. "I consider it nothing more than irresponsible journalism. It's terrible. We have not been extended an offer to join the SEC. We have not accepted an invitation to join the SEC. The story is simply wrong, period.

"We have been in the middle of our evaluations [on conference affiliation] and we remain in those evaluations. We have talked to the SEC, among others. But there is no decision involving Florida State at this time."

Donald Zacharis, president of Mississippi State University and president of the SEC, told Tupelo, Miss., television station WTVA that Florida State has not been formally invited.

FSU, one of eight Metro Conference members, is a key player in that league's hopes to expand to bring together 16 schools in a football affiliation and 12 in an all-sports setup. The Atlantic Coast Conference, which met earlier this week to discuss expansion, also is intrigued by FSU, a perennial football power as an independent.

The Metro has an Oct. 15 deadline for schools' commitments to the league's expansion concept.

ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan will contact various schools the ACC has discussed for potential expansion, then report back to the league's athletic directors in September. "It's a very informal process," said an ACC source. "We're in no hurry."

Goin said he has not heard from the ACC since that league's expansion meeting Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C.

Meanwhile, Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles said the Razorbacks will announce their decision on whether to join the SEC by Aug. 15. Arkansas has been a member of the Southwest Conference for 76 years.

"Our discussions with the Southeastern Conference have ended and it's up to us to decide what we want to do," Broyles said.

Some information in this story was provided by The Associated Press.