Misplaced Anger at the NCAA's Investigation of Reggie Bush

The excellent Dr. Saturday unearthed a nice find last Tuesday, citing a newspaper columnist in Alabama frustrated with the NCAA's punishment of Alabama and Florida State while USC seems to skate by after the Reggie Bush affair.

Progress has certainly been slow for the NCAA in developing some kind of punishment for the Trojans. It certainly appears Bush received extensive compensation from several wannabe agents while he was still playing at Troy, conduct against NCAA amateur rules. Folks are frustrated and out for blood, but perhaps they shouldn't be.

Dr. Saturday is half-right that one difference between Alabama, Florida State and USC is that the southern football powers turned themselves in, saying, 'They opened the books, purged the rolls, pled guilty and hoped the Association would let them off with a slap on the wrist'. Certainly admitting guilt is a major component of the NCAA punishment process.

So far, USC and Bush have successfully stonewalled NCAA investigators seeking evidence and testimony as to the specifics of what happened while admitting no wrong.

But the other factor that separates USC here is that USC isn't really implicated. Anywhere. The smoking gun, if you can call it that, is a lingering allegation that USC runningbacks coach Todd McNair might have known something was amiss about Bush's housing situation. In the thousands of words that have been written about the story, that's about the heaviest book that can be thrown at USC.

Agents may have been on the sidelines at games in the locker room afterwards, but nowhere is USC accused of arranging for compensation between them, boosters, and players. USC certainly isn't alleged to have ties to Bush's Secret Santas who operated in San Diego County two hours from the USC campus. It isn't that USC isn't turning itself in, its that USC has no reason to turn itself in. Like the case Florida State will make to the NCAA in appealing their punishment for an academic scandal, USC can reasonably claim they unknowingly fielded an ineligible player.

Punishment will come, as Bush will likely retroactively be ruled ineligible and USC will get hit with similar sanctions as recent transgressors. We're talking a loss of scholarships, probation, and either the vacation or forfeiture of victories. Don't be surprised when USC appeals, however. After all, as an institution they've never been alleged to have done anything wrong -- unlike what happened at Oklahoma, Florida State, Alabama and others.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-16-2009 @ 10:26AM

DP said...

Nothing has been done because USC is good for the NCAA and the NCAA does not want to jeopardize that. Think about it - if the NCAA comes down on USC, then the love affair is over and the NCAA takes a hit right along with USC. The very minute Pete Carroll retires or goes back to the NFL, the NCAA will swoop down on USC so freakin' hard it will make your shorts spin. Until then, the NCAA is simply looking the other way. Bush is guilty and everybody knows it.

3-16-2009 @ 3:32PM

Brian Grummell said...

Well, yes, USC is good for the NCAA. But so are all member institutions. I don't think that's the reason why things are where they are.

Bush very likely is guilty, but what was his crime?

3-17-2009 @ 9:32PM

Randy said...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????? The NCAA can and does punish schools when they SHOULD have known something improper was going on..............what planet have you been on?? The NCAA KNOWS that folks around the program thought something was amiss with the lifestyle Bushe's family was living....if they chose NOT to take a look, that itself can result in sanctions. And one can image that there is much more than JUST Mr Bush....too much money around that school....too much of everything.........The NCAA DOES have a double standard. Are you on their payroll????? If this does not change, you will begin to see some schools begin to question how useful the NCAA is-an institution that has no checks and balances itself.....ripe for corruption. Get off the NCAA gravytrain and start to demand that the NCAA begins to behave better than the schools is investigates!!!!!!!!

4-05-2009 @ 1:35AM

Tony Phibbs said...

Mr. Grummell writes, "But the other factor that separates USC here is that USC isn't really implicated. Anywhere."

This sounds eerily like the deluded ravings Trojan apologists have been spouting since day one. Where have you been, Mr Grummell? Have you had your head in the sand, or like Trojans, in a less hygienic place? Ignoring the obvious and utter lack of institutional control that allowed the highest paid athlete in amateur sports history to roam the USC campus for 2 years, there is that matter of the ex-con sports/marketing agent. No, not Lloyd Lake, whose truthful claims have been affirmed by the failed Bush motion for compulsory arbitration, no the OTHER ex-con agent, Michael Ornstein. How could you overlook HIM?? Yahoo reported all about him in the original story years ago. He is the certified USC BOOSTER. He employed Bush while RB was a student at USC. He paid away game travel expenses for RB's family; a hotel receipt supporting this charge has been published on the Yahoo website for a long time. When asked about the receipt, Ornstein responded by saying he believed that the Bushes had repaid that expense. When asked if he was aware that LOANING them that money was an NCAA violation, he expressed his surprise. A business associate of Ornstein claims Ornstein borrowed several hundred dollars from him one day to cover his pay day expense for the Bush family. Yahoo reported that this monthly allowance was in the $1000's per month. Reggie Bush broke his deal with Lake/Michaels to sign with Ornstein. One wonders what Heritage Hall geniuses approved an ex-con sports/marketing agent as a BOOSTER? How prudent is that? That adds a new meaning to "institutional control." USC sends their Heisman candidate to work for him and fail to notice what he starts driving (even though it was on a cover of a magazine!), where he is then living and one can forget the parents' telltale signs. They were blind to their own parking lot, how could anyone expect them to notice anything in the next county? FYI, Mr. Grummell, what a BOOSTER does implicates the University -- even if it is blind/incompetent and even if it is USC.

The premise of your misinformed opinion is wrong and the public anger directed at USC is wholly appropriate. The biggest difference between USC and the other violating programs you mention is a matter of degree -- USC merits the death penalty both because of the huge amount of inappropriate benefits and because of the Trojans' unwillingness to self-report ANYTHING or self-impose ANY penalties when it is clear, at the very least, that forfeitures for using an ineligible player (whether known or not (wink wink)) are entirely routine. But with an adoring media to spread misinformation, why should they? One can only hope the NCAA is not afflicted with the double standard mentality of the media and that at the end of the day justice will be served by the severest Draconian sanctions allowed. No institution has ever been as deserving as the University of Skating Cheaters.