FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Fayetteville State is firing basketball coach Mike Bernard for falsifying academic credentials on his resume, The Fayetteville Observer reported Friday.

A copy of the resume, obtained by the newspaper from the university, showed that Bernard claimed he received a master's degree in political science in 1978 from Atlanta University, now known as Clark Atlanta University.

``His major was political science. But no degree was received,'' said Mary Daniel, staff assistant in charge of enrollment verification at Clark Atlanta. ``Our records show that his start semester here was the fall of 1976 and he went through May of 1977.''

Fayetteville State chancellor Willis McLeod said he received confirmation Thursday that Bernard had not received the degree and decided to fire the coach, who also will lose his teaching job in political science. Under state law, Bernard's firing won't become official until he receives written notice.

``I sincerely regret this for the university as well as Mr. Bernard,'' McLeod said. ``But none of us is above the laws of the state and the land.''

Bernard declined to comment Thursday during a telephone interview from Chesapeake, Va., where he was visiting family.

The 53-year-old Bernard is 320-177 in 16 seasons at North Carolina Central, Norfolk State and Fayetteville State, leading N.C. Central to the 1989 NCAA Division II championship. He was 65-44 in four seasons at Fayetteville State, including an 18-9 mark last season.

In December 2001, football coach George O'Leary resigned five days after being hired by Notre Dame when it was learned he did not have the master's degree he listed on his resume.

Since then, the athletics director at Dartmouth, the women's basketball coach at Vanderbilt, U.S. Olympic Committee president Sarah Baldwin and several college assistant coaches have been fired or resigned for similar irregularities.