USC could be in trouble

[UoweDucks]

I post this here because since the NCAA has comingled their Mayo investigation with the Bush investigation. Maybe some of the Trojan fans that frequent this site can give their input.

From the outside looking in, it doesn't look good.

Thursday, May 14, 2009 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

DEAN HARE / AP
A Yahoo report says USC coach Tim Floyd, left, gave at least $1,000 to a handler for O.J. Mayo, right.


Building a case to take down Tony Soprano, I mean USC

By Jerry Brewer
Times staff columnist

To their Pac-10 rivals (and haters), the USC Trojans have been unremorseful renegades the past few years, roaming freely and continuing to run a high-profile athletics program without being disciplined for the scandals involving Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.
As the months have passed and the reports of NCAA violations have multiplied, the cries of a double standard favoring the Trojans have turned into angry screams for justice.
Why won't the NCAA do anything? Why won't the Pac-10 do anything? Does USC now stand for Unpunished Scoundrels Cheating?
It's an impatient, visceral reaction that clouds the big picture. In actuality, this long wait for NCAA repercussions means it's quite possible USC is in more danger than you realize. It's quite possible the school you accuse of having more lives than Tony Soprano is being set up for one of the biggest falls from grace in sports history.
That's what I took from the latest Yahoo! Sports investigation into USC's wrongdoing. The Web site, which has broken several stories about Bush and Mayo in the past three years, reported this week that USC basketball coach Tim Floyd gave at least $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, one of Mayo's handlers, in 2007.
This new accusation now goes into a laundry basket of alleged misdeeds involving Bush, the former Heisman Trophy winner, and Mayo, the great basketball talent. The problems are so bad and widespread that several media outlets have speculated the NCAA could be building a case to prove USC has shown a lack of institutional control.
It's a scary situation, one that could destroy USC's dynastic football program and blossoming men's basketball program.
Instead of wondering why the NCAA is so afraid of USC, you should consider why USC should be frightened by this NCAA probe.
The NCAA rarely slaps an athletic department with sanctions related to a lack of institutional control. It's difficult to prove, the guidelines for what it means are ambiguous, and it takes a completely negligent athletics department to allow such rampant rule-breaking. If the NCAA wants to convict USC in this manner, it would need irrefutable evidence of both the violations and the school's recklessness.
Yahoo has identified 17 people the NCAA has interviewed during its investigation, and it's believed that there are several more unknown sources out there. The organization has grilled everyone from athletic director Mike Garrett to coaches Pete Carroll and Floyd to Lloyd Lake and Louis Johnson, two key figures in these scandals.
Lake is the co-founder of the failed marketing company that supposedly gave $300,000 to Bush. Johnson, a former sports writer who befriended Mayo, says that Guillory, while serving as an agent's runner, gave Mayo at least $30,000 while he played for the Trojans.
What's the truth? We're still waiting to learn how the NCAA interprets it. There's no doubt, however, that there's too much smoke surrounding USC to brush off these controversies.
It's false to think that USC, especially the football program, has attained sacred-cow status because it's so important to the Pac-10 and the NCAA. Over the years, the NCAA has sanctioned too many dominant programs — Kentucky basketball, Oklahoma football and many other giants — for it to whimper while standing before USC.
If the Trojans cheated the system, they will be dealt with eventually. Cases such as this one operate similarly to taking down a mob boss. They require meticulous, detailed investigation, not a conviction from public opinion. It may seem like the Trojans are getting off easy, but Garrett is probably sweating like a 350-pound lineman these days.
The Trojans' day is coming.
The punishment figures to be forceful and harsh. And, according to ESPN, it appears the NCAA is close to making up its mind.
"Our sense is that something is imminent," said Anthony Salerno, one of Johnson's lawyers. "I think the NCAA is very close to concluding their investigation. I would say it's looming large and soon."
Perhaps you'll soon find out whether the Trojans truly are invincible. They'd better hope so.
If not, all signs indicate they'll be punished to the brink of irrelevance for quite a while.

 

[guitarjosh]

The Mayo issue seems to be much worse then the Bush issue. Allegedly, Mayo received payments before he went to USC, and the school was involved. With Bush, he didn't get any money until he had been at USC for 2 years, and the school didn't facilitate that, unless the NCAA finds they looked the other way.

 

[Conan]

I saw this coming a few weeks ago when it appeared at ESPN... now the investigation is moving ahead.

One thing to remember is that "lack of institutional control" is considered a minor infraction. In this instance it's probably something like a plea bargain because the NCAA was getting nowhere with the Bush investigation, so they decided to take this route instead.

But as far as USC is concerned, the most they risk here would be something like losing a few schollies and getting a stiff reprimand. Bush keeps his Heisman and they won't be forfeiting any games and their bowl eligibility won't be affected.

I think the whole thing is pretty stupid. I mean USC officials are stupid for pursuing a guy like Mayo when the most they could expect is one season out of the guy. Pretty obvious to me that they just looked the other way when some shady characters surfaced that were involved in the player's career. Same goes for Reggie Bush.

But again, if you think about it, nowadays schools must recognize, whether they like it or not, that they are swimming in shark infested waters. Playing dumb or just looking the other way won't cut it anymore. I think it is a fulltime job for a school cop to protect his school and its student athletes. That's a pitiful state of affairs for anyone to find themselves involved in, but it's also the truth. Star athletes are nothing but prey for unscrupulous grifters.

 

[ChrisParadise]

 

[ChrisParadise]

i wonder if the BCS commitee will take away the Pac-10 winners auto bid if USC gets a bowl ban?

what yall think?

 

[russ1945]

CP: No it is all a red herring, and as always it is just as conan said "he saw this coming". He sees things that none of us sees, I think there is a term for that condition but it escapes me. USC (Under Suspicion Constantly) Is a red flag anything like a red herring? I thought red herrings were on the endangered species list in California.

 

[PO69]

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[PO69]

Was

 

[fishmustdie]

Nothing to see here

USC had the NCAA come in and look at the Mayo situation BEFORE they signed him. NCAA said we can't find anything. So SC signed him. That is a tough bridge for the NCAA to cross. Now you have Louis Johnson, a scum "handler" and convicted cocaine dealer, claiming that wait-get this-he assumes that money he saw Guillory flash came from Tim floyd? Oh and he was sure cause Floyd had a guilty look. WTF? Anyway of proving this? Uh noooooo. One more thing, the AHOLE will soon be publishing a book! Who of thunk!!!!

THe biggest thing I find unbelievable is that Tim Floyd HIMSELF would be walking around in broad daylight IN Beverly Hills Handing out evelopes full of cash, it is just so stupid and no one can proof it did or didn't happen but you have a total scum bag whose job was to feed off a kids fame syaing it happened so all the press just jumps on it LIKE IT HAPPENED and there you have it.

BTW SC had an away game that they had to leave at 1pm and they practice before the flight. Johson said the "Deal" happend between 10 and 1-he thinks. This would not make it possible for Tim to have been there. Way to many holes in this losers story.

 

[Conan]

I've read up on all of this to death, practically.

For the sake of presenting the other side of the argument, at least from the football side of things here's an excerpt from a Pac-10 blog that raises questions about USC's culpability. FWIW, I think it's better to keep a level head about this than to hop on the bandwagon like a bunch of crazed vigilantes. So for whatever reasons you may have to wish the worst for USC, read this before you get yourself too deeply entrenched in a street riot-like atmosphere.

*************************************

As for football, as I have previously stated: It will come down to whether the NCAA finds that USC knew -- or should have known -- about Reggie Bush's relationship with a pair of would-be agents who were allegedly giving him money and gifts.
The evidence to support the notion that any USC coach had direct knowledge is scant. It basically amounts to an allegation that running backs coach Todd McNair socialized with Bush one night in San Diego when the would-be agents were around and claims by the would-be agents that they were allowed in the USC locker room after games.
Having been in the USC locker room many times, I can only say ... who isn't inside the freaking USC locker room after a game?
And, by the way, both Lloyd Lake's and Michael Michaels' lawyers said early in the case that they had no direct evidence that USC knew what was going on, according to the book, "Tarnished Heisman."
Where USC football, however, might be found most culpable is lax oversight.
Will that, combined with the basketball allegations, amount to the dreaded "lack of institutional control"? We shall see. The odds it will are certainly better than they were a few months ago.

*************************************

In a way it makes sense that Michaels and Lake would want to shield themselves from USC officials to protect their "investment" from blowing up in their faces had their involvement been discovered.