After its football program was buried thanks to four years of damning media reports of impropriety perpetrated by Reggie Bush, USC is finally fighting back against the NCAA via its own media leaks.
(On second thought … he actually has a point)
Late Thursday Dan Weber and Bryan Fischer of USC Rivals site USCFootball.com published a report attributed to unreleased NCAA investigative documents that indicates the NCAA had very little, if any indisputable proof that a USC representative had direct knowledge of Bush receiving improper benefits while at the school. (The NCAA investigative documents would normally be accessible to the media but as the NCAA and USC are private institutions, respective Freedom of Information Acts are not applicable.)
Those newly-leaked NCAA investigative documents, which were part of the “workbook” used by the NCAA’s Committee On Infractions to prove its case against USC, show the NCAA made crucial errors in attempting to pin down a direct connection between USC assistant football coach Todd McNair and sports marketing agent Lloyd Lake. Lake was one of the men who provided Bush with up to $300,000 worth of improper benefits.
McNair’s alleged direct knowledge of Bush’s improper benefits is the central piece of evidence cited by the NCAA as justification for the harsh penalties doled out to the USC football program.
After reading the entire NCAA infractions report and the lengthy USCFootball.com report citing confirmed NCAA investigative documents, the basis for those penalties can be traced to two key situations.
Situation #1) The NCAA claims that a phone call from sports marketing agent Lloyd Lake, who was involved in providing Reggie Bush improper benefits, was received by the phone of USC assistant football coach Todd McNair at 1:34 a.m on Jan. 8, 2006.
Based on phone records of that call, the NCAA said the USC coach “misled the enforcement staff and failed to inform USC compliance that he’d been told of the intent to funnel illegal benefits to Bush.”
All indications are that that call is what the NCAA regards as the most damning piece of evidence against USC in the entire NCAA Infractions Report.
But newly-revealed transcripts of NCAA-led interviews with McNair and Lake about the call from the USCFootball.com report show serious errors by NCAA investigators.
When McNair was asked by an NCAA investigator about the call, he was told the call was made on Jan. 8, 2005. Phone records showed the call was made on Jan. 8, 2006.
For that reason, McNair denied he’d received the call on that date. Astonishly, the question was never corrected and the NCAA never followed up with McNair. To this day McNair has not had a chance to defend himself about the phone call in question.
When the NCAA enforcement staff interviewed Lake about the same call, twice an NCAA official mistakenly stated in the question to Lake that the call in question came from McNair. Phone records showed the call was made by Lake.
From USCFootball.com:
Just 10 days from returning to prison at the time of the Jan. 8 call, Lake did not admit that the call had been made from his phone, as telephone records showed. He answered the question as if it accurately reflected the situation, recounting why McNair had called him even though that was clearly not true.
The Case Summary does not show that NCAA investigators asked Lake to explain this discrepancy or his detailed answer about a phone call that the assistant coach did not make.
More from USCFootball.com on McNair’s specific denial of receiving the call and the NCAA’s conclusion involving the matter:
Given the 2005 date, McNair recounted what he was doing the week after USC’s BCS championship game against Oklahoma, not after the 2006 Texas game, when Bush was a junior headed off early to the NFL.
At that time in 2005, McNair was on the road recruiting Kyle Moore in Georgia and Brian Cushing in New Jersey. Both signed letters of intent with USC in February of 2005.
As a result of the enforcement staff’s mistakes, McNair appears to have never had the chance to respond about the call that the Committee used to convict him. The NCAA admitted that its staff had considered questioning McNair again, but declined since McNair “was on the record and adamant that he had never spoken to Lake.”
The Committee agreed with the enforcement staff’s finding that Lake, despite having given a detailed answer to a key question with a false premise, was more credible.
Situation #2) In its investigation, the NCAA attempted to prove a connection between sports marketer Mike Ornstein, who reportedly provided improper benefits to Bush, and USC coach Pete Carroll.
On page 30 of the public NCAA Infractions Report, the NCAA cited testimony from an unnamed sports agent as evidence that Carroll had facilitated a connection between Bush and Ornstein.
Ornstein is “sports marketer A” and Carroll is the “former head coach”:
There was information in the record that the former head football coach encouraged sports marketer A to hire student-athletes as interns. A current NFLPA certified agent (”sports agent B”) is the chairman of a sports agency and a colleague of sports marketer A. He reported that the former head football coach asked sports marketer A to consider hiring football student-athletes as interns in his agency. Sports agent B reported:
(Sports marketer A) was like, `yeah, here’s (the former head football coach) and the year before, he, he’s tryin’ to get me to hire, you know, three players, you know.’
…How many players, I don’t even know, maybe he tried to get him to hire ten….but it was totally agreed upon between (the former head football coach) and (sports marketer A) that there was an internship program for that summer. That’s all I do know.
At the hearing, the former head coach denied that he asked sports marketer A to hire football student-athletes as interns, although he acknowledged that he knew sports marketer A and that he (sports marketer A) had “something about his past the years before that had gone wrong . . . (and) it was related to the NFL.” [Note: At the hearing the institution’s general counsel reported that, in 1995, sports marketer A had “pleaded guilty to mail fraud for defrauding the NFL.”]
So a third party claim by an anonymous sports agent - who for all we know is in competiton with Ornstein for clients - is the basis for directly connecting Carroll to Ornstein?
… That’s it.
Those are the two strongest pieces of evidence that the NCAA cites in its Infractions Report to justify dropping a nuclear bomb on the USC football program.
No one is denying that Reggie Bush broke the rules in a big way and that USC should’ve known about it. No is denying that USC, Garrett and Carroll ran a loose ship and probably could’ve used a slap on the wrist.
But if that’s the most the NCAA can dig up about USC’s direct connection to rules violations after a four-year investigation, in my opinion, the penalties don’t fit the crime.
Though USC’s failure to cooperate fully with the investigation and its subsequent, public admonishment of the NCAA sanctions likely has already mitigated the effectiveness of a future appeal.
1:33 am on June 25th, 2010
Whatever.
3:38 am on June 25th, 2010
And the disinformation campaign from SC begins. Watch out everyone…they’ve got loads of money to pay off or keep silent propagandist/”journalist”, bloggers, and an amazingly connected alumnus throughout the media world, as well as other associates that are prepared to try to manipulate public perception in their favor. SC is a West Coast machine, and the collapse of its football team will cost a lot of lost revenue and things may never be the same again.
Prepare for the furious spinning……now.
When you’ve got jock sniffers like Stuart Scott and Jay Glazer pushed to the top of sports media, it shows you how worthless honest and intelligent investigative journalism to organizations like ESPN and Fox.
8:00 am on June 25th, 2010
The NCAA does not need to prove anything. It is not a court of law where you have any sort of rights to protect. The NCAA is a voluntarily joined organization that USC willingly joined and if they don’t like the ruling they can quit or form their on organization. This is the same thing that happen to Alabama several years ago. The NCAA had no proof only the word of people who stood to gain if Alabama was punished. Get used to it USC and learn your place as a lap dog of the NCAA.
8:25 am on June 25th, 2010
This is the first article anywhere that objectively looks at the facts. Most of what we have read is inference or written by people who want to bring USC down.
The NCAA does not need to prove anything according to them. We all know this was a witch hunt by an organization that considers itself above or outside the law.
When will we put the same standards on them that apply to anyone accused of a crime. The lack of a burden of proof here makes any reasonable person suspect the motives of those investigating USC.
8:42 am on June 25th, 2010
Frank, USC may be a member of the NCAA, but the fact that they are a private school means that there are rules and information that they are not required to give at all.
Pete Carroll’s salary has never been made public because USC invokes their private-school rights, and yet coaches at public universities have their salaries released in the public and fans crowed like crazy over it.
9:16 am on June 25th, 2010
Yeah guys, no proof whatsoever, oh by the way, i know you come from a lower middle class background Reggie Bush, that’s why you got the house and the Hummer (wasn’t it?) They got busted, deal with the sh!t already…at least you aren’t SMU
9:19 am on June 25th, 2010
Yeah, the NCAA is the “Cartman” of sports.
“I’ll do what I want”.
I love the Jerry Tarkanian quote. The NCAA put a 3 year probation on Long Beach State, while at the same time Sam Gilbert was taking care of the boys in Westwood.
10:00 am on June 25th, 2010
This is very similar to the Alabama Case a few years ago. Alabama would have received no penalties if it had been in an American Court of Law. The NCAA had zero actual evidence. If I remember correctly, their entire case was built around what Phillip Fulmer told them.
10:06 am on June 25th, 2010
The NCAA answers to no one and they feel they can do as they please…..with that said….how the devil the Reggie’s parents get that house? Inquiring minds want to know. The school should take the smack and move forward….just try to get back some of the scholarships…
10:25 am on June 25th, 2010
Does the Penalty fit the crime? Absolutely NOT. THere is no proof that USC knew about any of this. Did Bush and his parents violate NCAA rules? It certainly looks that way. But how do you link USC and the Football program wiht what was going on?
I am thinking that this year, SC takes it on the chin, doesnt participate in Postseason (unless they are in possition to play in the BCS) and in that case, will use an appeal in place of the penalty, but that being said, I think 1 year postseason ban, and loss of MAYBE 15 scholarships over 3 years. I think they cut it in half, right down the midde.
10:27 am on June 25th, 2010
As for the NCAA. I think that Bozworth got it right back when he was at Oklahoma.
National
Communists
Aggainst
Athletes.
That shirt was funny as hell, and how true it actually is.
10:42 am on June 25th, 2010
Simon apparently has little reading comprehension capability- The post said clearly that no one is arguing that Bush broke the rules and SC could’ve/should’ve known- the argument was the severity of the crime given the “evidence”…not the fact that “Bush got the house and a Hummer” (btw it was a 1998 Impala, hardly a red flag by itself…although apparently the compliance office screwed up when he registered it)
10:53 am on June 25th, 2010
A guy just stated that Reggie Bush got a house and a Hummer. What a schmuck! Reggie was driving around in a 1996 Chevy, and his PARENTS were SUPPOSEDLY living in a house not owned by them RENT FREE. Pretty soon, Bush will have been given the Hearst Castle free and will be the majority owner of Mercedes Benz all because of CONVICTED FELON Lloyd Lake.
10:57 am on June 25th, 2010
The NCAA has pretty weak evidence that the coaches knew about this WHILE BUSH WAS AT USC. Was Bush guilty of taking advantage of his future NFL marketability? I’m sure he was. But to drag the coaches into the mess and assume that they knew what was going on WHILE BUSH WAS ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM is a stretch, at best. Look at it this way…..A CFB team recruits a 5 star kid from out of state. He has a definate NFL future. His parents are contacted by someone and he says that he would like them to live rent free or for a reduced rent in his house. HOW IS THE COACHING STAFF RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING THIS IS GOING ON? Maybe 3,000 miles away! The fact that the phone call to McNair took place a year after Bush was at USC is significant. Put the hurt on Bush and the seasons he played when the supposed infractions took place, not on the current team.
11:25 am on June 25th, 2010
Change your diapers and suck on your bottles SC fans. No one wants to hear your whining. Garrett and his gang of cheaters got caught, but you’ll continue living in your fantasy world where everyone is jealous of SC. Here’s a news flash: You got busted, deal with it!
11:38 am on June 25th, 2010
Yo greasy, I agree with you. I said it from the day the sanctions were handed out that there would be an appeal and the penalties would be lessened because I knew for a fact that there would be documentation or (transcripts) out there somewhere that could prove that there was a flaw in the NCAA’s decision. Hell it might be lessened by more than half once is all said and done. But we shall see.
11:55 am on June 25th, 2010
The NCAA answers to the member institutions. If the member institutions want to revise the rules, for just about anything, all they have to do is follow the procedures outlined by the Association (also approved by the member institutions.
12:24 pm on June 25th, 2010
NCAA doesn’t need proof. Only a reason and a secret witness. Bush’s 1/4 of a million dollar incentives is more than enough to crucify the Trojans. I personally think they got off light.
12:27 pm on June 25th, 2010
Can we get a response from Jim Rhome about how great “cheating” Southern Cal is?
Sincerely,
Alabama fan.
12:28 pm on June 25th, 2010
It’s hard to take guys seriously, who are whinning about how USC was mistreated, while they all jumped ship and are playing and coaching elsewhere. Leaving others to deal with their mess.
12:31 pm on June 25th, 2010
What shocks me is the desire from “fans” of other schools to see USC punished. I am NOT a fan of USC. But guys, what’s with all the hatred? If you read the report, USC did basically nothing wrong. The implication that they “should” have known about Bush being paid by agents is pretty outrageous. USC wasn’ t paying Bush and the connections the NCAA lists between the agents (convicted criminals, in this instance) and USC is marginal at best. I’m shocked by the journalists at just about every reputable sports website talking about USC and corruption. Kiddies (posters), stop posting stuff that has NO basis in fact. It’s almost cowardly the witch hunt here–and worse, college football fans posting hatred (and downright dishonest comments) is not good for anyone. Grow up!
12:51 pm on June 25th, 2010
Guys, it doesn’t matter. The NCAA doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. Alabama got SLAMMED in 2000 with no proof. There was never any proof at all that any cheating took place. But that didn’t/doesn’t matter. Did Logan Young pay $200,000 for Albert Means to come to Alabama in 2000? Probably, but it was never proven. It’s not a court of law. If the NCAA thinks you’re guilty, then you’re guilty.
12:55 pm on June 25th, 2010
Give me a break. The guy’s family was being taken of and USC was responsible to know that stuff. Anybody else that has gotten stiffed by the NCAA has to deal with it, quit crying and take it, you earned it.
The Washington Huskies got slapped with 2 years probation and 20 scholarship reduction in the early 90’s when 3 players weren’t showing up for work in L.A. on a regular basis, and their coaches were proven innocent of knowing anything at all about it. They were 2000 miles away from campus, how were they suppose to know? Bush was an hour away, deal with it and quit crying.
2:06 pm on June 25th, 2010
who’s cryin?.
2:28 pm on June 25th, 2010
This is a phenomal piece of journalism that exposes the sensitive nature of the NCAA. They severely punished USC not for its actions but because they heard the whining and sniveling of USC bashers ever since Yahoo falsely accused the school of wrongdoing.
The fact remains that the NCAA has little, or nothing against USC and the penalties that they received were only so the NCAA can appear to be the “big bad bully” by “setting an example.” It’s truly a ridiculous slap in the face to the sport and makes the NCAA look like a bigger joke than it already appeared.
2:43 pm on June 25th, 2010
The reason fans rejoice in USC’s sanctions is because their schools and programs are so much more inferior to USCs. They never could beat USC on the field and so they will take whatever they can get in any form, even internal office censure.
The sanctions won’t stick and they hurt the NCAA, fans, and innocent students more than anyone else… wait actually that’s the only people they hurt, because Reggie Bush, Lloyd Lake, Michael Michaels, Mike Ornstein, and Pete Carroll all got off scott free. It’s like putting the police in jail instead of the criminals because they didn’t stop the crime from happening.
8:50 pm on June 25th, 2010
$C did there best to keep up with the big boys in the SEC but they had to pay to get the quality of players like those down south.
Bye now little guys
CHEAT ON!!! LOL
11:47 pm on June 25th, 2010
The only reason why this saw the light of day is that Bush stiffed the ex-con would-be agents. Lake, the only witness for the NCAA, was a convicted perjuror. Reading the published reports is almost mind-numbing. His testimony was comical. He contradicted himself many times. The NCAA accepted everything he said as the absolute truth. When he said the wrong thing, the NCAA simply rephrased the question and led him to the answer they were looking for.
USC was of course not allowed to cross-examine him.
This is probably happening all over the country. Other players are just not stupid enough to walk away from agents who staked their family to a quarter of a million dollars. They stick with them and nothing ever comes out in the open.
People who are dancing in the ashes of USC’s program, need to realize that this could happen to any school. Bush almost went to Notre Dame. If he did, would his step-father have acted any differently? No. Could Lake have still stood next to an assistant coach and have his picture taken? Yes. Could he have gotten the phone number of a coach and placed 3 one-minute calls and one two minute call to him over a year. Of course he could.
Would Notre Dame being claiming they had nothing to do with the crooks that were paying Bush. Yes they would, and they would be right.
The NCAA had to justify their existence after a 4 year witch hunt. That is clearly what happened here. They are an absolute joke.
10:53 am on June 26th, 2010
here’s what people are forgetting: as a member of the NCAA, you are supposed to police yourself. SC didn’t do that. They also didn’t cooperate with the investigation, and stonewalled and hem and hawed. They still have McNair on staff, they still have Garrett as AD after major violations were found in three sports (basketball, football and tennis)
It is clear to the NCAA that SC doesn’t take compliance seriously, and they punished SC to change its behavior to do so.
Even with these sanctions, have you heard one person at SC admit wrong doing or say they will do anything differently? I haven’t.
12:49 pm on June 26th, 2010
I’m SO sure that USC wanted Bush to take benefits from unscrupulous sports agents. I mean, USC got SO much benefit from losing Bush a year early, right? In 9 years under Pete Carroll and four years of intense investigative scrutiny, all the NCAA could find was one player whose parents took improper benefits and no reasonable evidence whatsoever that USC knew about it.
I doubt many top programs would have come out so clean
1:48 am on June 27th, 2010
The NCAA had to step on USC’s throat. The possibility of 4 superconferences could render the NCAA powerless. Why would 4 conferences need to “pay” the NCAA? They could do it on their own.
4:38 am on June 27th, 2010
from day the report was out USC Pres. has a statement accepting some of the allegations. A day or two ago he again said it happened under their watch.
Why should anyone be fired under these accusations. So when you show up for work on monday, the boss will call you in and fire you on the grounds of somebody said something about you. Your ok with that?
7:06 am on June 27th, 2010
Dear NCAA,
You want evidence? Ok, I’ll be right back.
OJ
8:14 am on June 28th, 2010
They don’t need evidence of anything. SC fans forget, they are not getting penalized for Bush taking benefits. They are being penalized for not doing those things which may have caught him. They are being penalized for allowing people access to the team, who should not have access. When Bush’s car paperwork was unfinished, it showed that they were not completing due diligence on that process. That shows a lack of institutional control. Get it? Not that he did it, that they didn’t do enough to look for that.
5:06 pm on July 1st, 2010
As many have pointed out, the NCAA isn’t a court of law, it doens’t have the same legal requirements as one. It has the requirements as set forth by the membership institutions.
Also, the punishment isn’t just solely for the violations that did occur. USC was uncooperative especially with regards to the RB situation. They get the hammer for that.
5:23 pm on July 2nd, 2010
southern cal, really? if this all you have to show for having the sanctions reduced….lmao.. good luck. when your A.D says that the infractions committee wishes they were trojans and reggie will continue to cooperate with the ncaa, then southern cal is above all other programs. way up in never neverland