Lane Kiffin Responds to NCAA Ruling:
Kevin O'Neill Responds to NCAA Ruling:
Matt Barkley Responds to NCAA Ruling:
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FIGHT ON, guys! Win EVERY game this year to stick it to the NCAA!
It was good to see that neither Lane nor Ed were involved in any way. It is great to see the players' reactions as well as the new recruits’ statements. My biggest concern outside of trying to reduce the severity of the penalties is Todd McNair.
I did not read the report, just comments about the report. The comments I’ve read state that there were 700+ calls to the marketers. The comment is a very vague. Did he call them or did they call him? Did he talk to them or were they calling his office and leaving unanswered messages? Only one conversation for about 2.5 minutes was discussed. Were there others and how do they know the contents of that conversation? What was Todd's motive for speaking with them and was this the reason that Pete did not take him to Seattle? Is Todd denying the report’s findings? How will this affect his employment at USC? If he leaves how will that affect the program and who may take his place? Lots of questions…
A bigger question may become what to do about the obvious damages. It seems that the two marketers maybe responsible financially as I understand it is against the law in California to solicit athletes against NCAA rules. They clearly did so and SC is economically damaged. There also seems to be a clear lawsuit against Reggie as he clearly violated the rules for personal financial gain, which in turn damaged severely economically USC.
Personally I'm against lawsuits; however, an example maybe very important and may make athletes and marketers think twice. There will be some very interesting decisions to be made by USC over the coming months. Nothing will occur until after the NCAA appeals are complete and there are many inherent risks to opening up lawsuits, but the damages are clear and the parties clearly violated rules.
My two cents worth...
Class school, class coaching, class kids. I can't think of any other better place better than USC to be at on Saturdays in the fall.
This situation will show the college football world what character means in the sport. See you all on September 11th when Virgina comes to town.
FIGHT ON!!
The best university is well equipped with handling these draconian and unjustified NCAA sanctions. We are envied by every other school in the nation in our ability to combine academic excellence with athletic prowace.
We have Mike Garrett, Max Nikias and Todd Dickey along with countless others to navigate us through these uncharted waters. I love USC with all my heart and can not think of three greater figures to cut through the hyperbole and ridiculous claims in the media and set the record straight. I definitely feel the media played a vicious role in these sanctions and I hope USC will continually keep them an arms length away as we proceed.
Fight On and fill the coliseum come September
Josh,
Like so many USC haters you have failed to read or understand the violations. We did not "cheat" in any way. We did not recruit unfairly or pay players to play for us. A player named Bush had a step-father who got greedy and made deals with ex-cons who wanted to be marketers. They had no history or other players that they represented. Reggie was to be their first.
It is hard to manage such a large institution with 640 athletes without missing what a parent might be doing. USC cannot look at their tax returns or force them to explain their income. It is unfair. The car that Reggie was given was a $2,300 car. It was not an expensive SUV or a BMW. It looked ordinary and like a car he should be driving given his parents economic background. The other benefits were given to his parents who lived two hours away. Nothing obvious was in SCs face. The sanctions are way overboard and are political. Nothing more...
IMHO, the NCAA Infractions Committee both literally and figuratively rewrote the rule book for this case. The implication of the report is:
"If you have a high profile player on your team, you need to hire a chaperone to follow him and his family around, day and night."
Other universities had better take note, because a precedent has been set.
Gentlemen:
I agree with the comments from Bob C., Andy H and Sy. There will always be folks who are passionate about their schools and think that USC exhibits an unscupulous demeanor and flagrantly commits NCAA infractions. These folks are not USC Trojans and that's cool. Not everyone can be a Trojan family member. So let it go guys. Jealousy and ignorance only cause one to get sucked into the dark vortex of despair.
Moving on to the recent announcement.... the appeals process will prevail for SC, because, as we all have heard over the last 2 days, the penalties are not commensurate to the degree of the infraction. The NCAA Committee has cleary over-reacted to this issue, and are using SC as an example to other schools. Not the best way to enact change my friends.
One thing that will come out of this announcement is the fact that, now, all NCAA school will have to hire their own NCAA monitoring/security force, so to speak, to actively and precisely monitor all student athletes and their families. What a nightmare this will cause for everyone. Each athlete might have their own "guardian" with them at all times. Kinda liek the Secret Service without the weapons.
Secondly, student athletes must be held accountable for theirs and their families actions and that if they are deemed to be responsible for an NCAA infraction and do not report it to the school for follow-up, then they should be held financially and academically responsible for the outcome.
I believe that Coach Kiffin and his staff, as well as the players, are going to have a bang up year in 2010, and into the following years, and that finishing up the 2010 season will, no doubt, show the college football world that the USC Trojan football team's high-caliber spirit is not going away, will not be demoralized and the team will continue to win football games with a Championship level of play. A Pac-10 Championship, this year, will mean more than it has in several years, for both fans and the university. Style, class and grace is what you have at USC, for academics and sports!
Fight on brothers and sisters, all the way!
Hi Greg,
I agree with you and it should be noted that the NCAA is attempting to dismantle USC football. They not only gave sanctions that were way over the top and radically out of line with the infraction, but they removed the one year ineligibility for players wanting to move to other schools trying to encourage them to leave USC. Their agenda is clear, but their motives are not. I don't think any of the players are planning to leave and that the recruits are steadfast in their decisions. The NCAA did not expect their continued resolve. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out with all of the twists and turns this is likely to take.
FIGHT ON!!!
That was awesome what Matt Barkley said about his conversation with Jake Olsen. Fight On SC!
I am honored to be a alum of this fine institution. I took the NCAA 5 years to be bullied to attempt to make an example of USC. Mike Garrett emphatically threw this garbage back in the face of a powerless outdated body.
And to fans of other institutions who do not like what the premier University in California stands for, just remember the most viewed game on ESPN last year was USC Ohio St and the most viewed bowl was the Emerald Bowl.
Short sited and mis directed prose does have consequences and in due time we will prevail. Because at the end of the day we are SC.
Fight on! I say that we'll be back on top by 2020.
It is my understanding that when a school is put on probation that all players for that sport have the option to transfer without penalty.
This is the sixth time the NCAA has sanctioned USC dating back to 1957.
The penalties will be a significant setback to the Southern California football program for several years, said Dennis Franchione, the coach at Alabama when it was announced that the program would face the two-year postseason ban and the loss of 21 scholarships over three years. Franchione left for Texas A&M later that year.
“It’s a three- to five-year process to get back to where you were,” Franchione said. “We were able to recruit a lot of walk-ons at Alabama. Some panned out and we put them on scholarship. With U.S.C. being a private school, I’m not sure what their ability is to do that.”
Lamont,
Your sentiments are commonly felt; however, circumstances have changed since Alabama's loss of 21 scholarships. Today we have many students enrolling early. Matt, Dillon and Kyle all enrolled early. Early enrollees DO NOT COUNT(!) towards the limit of 15 per year.
Our total scholarships for the three years were reduced from 85 to 75. Lane and Ed I believe led the NCAA with 6 early enrollees at Tennessee this year and will work hard on moving players in that position next year as well. We should see only 3 to 4 less scholarships in total being given by our football program for each of the next three years.
Another note is that dual sport athletes that qualify for a track, basketball, baseball, etc. scholarship will not count towards the limit of 15 if they received their scholarship from another program. As a result Lane and Ed will probably work closely with other coaches to make a few strategic offers to assist the football program (Starling would be a good example of a true dual sport athlete). They really do not have to do too many dual sport scholarships to make up the real difference as long as they have five or so early enrollees.
I think the goal of the appeal will be to see if USC can reduce the bowl ban at least one year. If so the problems will be mostly avoided.
The focus of the appeal should be on the conversation that Lake claimed he had with McNair. It seems clearly unfair, or at least questionable to say the least, to take an ex-cons word that had a financial motive to involve USC over Todd McNair's. Lake could not pressure Bush into a settlement without involving USC. That is a fact and should have been recognized by the NCAA.
The only way he could do so is to claim he had a conversation with a coach. The NCAA should have read through this easily. After all why would Todd never bring this up to compliance or Pete when he would surely be fired for ignoring such a conversation? He gains nothing and can lose everything. Lake gains everything by claiming the conversation existed. He is a criminal and in a court of law his voice would not be given the same level of credence as McNair's who has no criminal background and unlike Lake has no financial gain at stake. Why would the NCAA do so???
Why is Coach McNair still on the payroll?
I’m guessing that we are scared to let McNair go because then he might spill his guts. If McNair is no longer working for USC (and, presumably, can't get a great job somewhere else), he might feel free to tell the whole truth. And then he might implicate Garrett, Carroll, Lane Kiffin and a whole boatload of other people.
How much will they pay him to keep him quiet?
Any junior or senior can transfer without sitting out a year (since their final year will be bowl-ineligible). They have to get a signed paper, but they merely need to request it from the NCAA. Also, ANY COLLEGE COACH can contact the current USC players.
Sy,
It is my understanding that a dual sport athlete (e.g. track scholarship, walk-on football) would count as track until the player becomes an active member of the football team. So if he only does track year 1 and 2, he does not count against the football team. But as soon as he starts to be actively engaged with the football team (i.e. spring, fall, or regular season practices) he'd count against the football team. They count the scholarship against the more major sport to prevent the loophole you are talking about. Still, as long as the student does not play football, they can carry him. That's probably what Miami is doing with Latwan Anderson.
Hi Harry,
You're correct; however, most players do not play in their first two years (with notable, but few, exceptions of course). As such using this strategy over the next three years can free up several scholarships until the end of the limitation. This is not a cure, but a Band-Aid coupled with mid-year enrollees to attempt to augment or mitigate the handicap and field the best possible team.
I may be wrong, but I don't think practicing will cause them to be counted on the football team. I think they have to be playing in games. Florida is known to use this strategy as well.
I am, and always will be a Trojan fan. Since these sanctions are clearly the doing of Reggie Bush and his family, and since these actions have done everything to besmirch the reputation of the university, I would like to know if there is anything the University can do to immediately against Reggie and his family. I think a good start would be to un-retire the #5 jersey. Then for good measure, remove the Reggie Bush Heisman and his jersey from Heritage Hall, and remove the large #5 jersey from the Peristyle. I really wouldn't care what SC did with them, as long as they didn't put them on display anymore.