SBU Football Player Suspended for 'Offensive Language' on Twitter

The NCAA on Tuesday announced the suspension of a rising senior athlete on the Stony Brook football team for what the organization has deemed "an inappropriate and offensive racial reference" via Twitter.

According to the NCAA, Matt Faiella, a 6-foot-3 LB, was suspended and publicly reprimanded for making a negative, racially-charged statement about Towson University student athletes via his Twitter account.

"This was a very unfortunate incident, but racially insensitive characterizations are unacceptable and will not be tolerated," said Jim O’Day, chair of the Division I Football Championship Committee.

The incident also resulted in a disqualification penalty against the Stony Brook University football team, which will be enforced the next time the Seawolves are in the championship, because the team had already been eliminated from the FCS playoffs at the time of the NCAA investigation.

Stony Brook University appealed the decision. The athletic department could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to Faiella's biography on the Seawolves' website, he appeared in 13 games in 2011 largely as a fullback, and made key contributions in a Nov. 12 game against Gardner-Webb and a Nov. 26 game against Albany.

FieldHouseMedia.net reported that the same tweet also resulted in the suspension of a LeHigh University football player who retweeted Faiella's original message.

Click here to read the full story from NCAA.org.