Pre-Snap Read

Need to Know

Breaking Down the N.C.A.A. and U.S.C.

By Paul Myerberg   //   Jun 10, 2010

After years of investigation — it feels like years, at least — the N.C.A.A. released its long-gestating statement regarding the violations committed by the U.S.C. football program from 2004-6. You know the names: Reggie Bush, New Era Sports and Pete Carroll, for starters, but the governing body’s release also touched on U.S.C. assistant coach Todd McNair and high-ranking members of the athletic department, implying an overall lack of institutional control.

Let’s take a glance at the report, touching on each of the violations and the ensuing penalties issued by the N.C.A.A. The hammer, as we’re now all aware, was dropped.

FAILURE TO REPORT KNOWLEDGE OF VIOLATIONS

As expected, as hypothesized for years, the N.C.A.A. found the relationship between Reggie Bush and Lloyd Lake and Michael Micheals, the financiers behind the now-defunct New Era Sports, to constitute impermissible contact. No shock here.

In the course of this relationship, agency partners A and B (New Era Sports) gave student-athlete 1 (Bush) and his parents impermissible benefits in the form of cash, merchandise, an automobile, housing, hotel lodging and transportation.

The “impermissible benefits” included paying $1,200 for Bush’s brother to fly cross-country to attend the 2005 Orange Bowl; buying Bush a new car in late 2004 — Bush was “embarrassed” driving a pick-up truck; allowing Bush’s mother and step-father to live in a Spring Valley, Calif., residence for no cost from March 2005 to April 2006; and giving Bush’s step-father $5,000 in cash in September 2005.

Most damaging to U.S.C., perhaps, is the N.C.A.A.’s finding that U.S.C. running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd McNair was aware of Bush’s improper relationship with New Era Sports. The N.C.A.A. stated that McNair met with a representative from the agency in March 2005, at which time he gained knowledge of its understanding with Bush.

And with that, the N.C.A.A. begins to prove the case that U.S.C. suffered from a lack of institutional control. The N.C.A.A. disputed most, if not all, of McNair’s claims that he was completely unaware of the relationship between Bush and New Era Sports; the statement cited phone calls between McNair and the agency — four, all told — which McNair said never occurred.

AMATEURISM VIOLATIONS, IMPERMISSIBLE EXTRA BENEFITS

Continuing with Bush, the N.C.A.A. found the former Heisman-winning back to have entered a second impermissible relationship with a for–profit organization, this one a local sports marketing agency.

On a number of occasions from November 2005 to January 2006, in an effort to obtain representation in future professional marketing negotiations from student-athlete 1 (Bush), a sports marketing agent (“sports marketer A”), and his associate (“sports marketer B”) and their agency, all of whom are representatives of the institution’s athletics interests, provided impermissible benefits to student-athlete 1, some of his friends and members of his family.

Amazingly, the marketing agency began its relationship with Bush via a phone call it placed to the U.S.C. associate athletic director “inquiring if any of the institution’s student-athletes would be interested in a summer internship”with the company. So far, so good. The university’s compliance director approved the internship opportunity; former compliance director, I should add.

Among the improper benefits provided to Bush by the marketing agency included providing Bush’s family with round-trip airfare, limousine service and hotel accommodations for U.S.C.’s game at California in 2005; purchasing round-trip airfare for a handful of Bush’s friends; and, in 2006, paying an undetermined amount to help repair damage made to Bush’s car.

Pete Carroll, the former U.S.C. coach, makes his first appearance in this section.

There was information in the record that the former head football coach (Carroll) 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.

Nothing wrong with that, of course. Unfortunately, according to the N.C.A.A., Carroll had reason to second-guess any relationship aligning his players with the agency.

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.”

VIOLATION OF COACHING STAFF LIMITATIONS

The N.C.A.A. found that U.S.C. exceeded the “maximum number of countable coaches” in 2008, when Carroll hired an outside consultant to aid his staff. According to the report, the consultant

…attended practice sessions, analyzed video footage of the institution’s contests, and discussed with the former head football coach his observations and analyses of the institution’s special teams.

This is a practice typically seen on the N.F.L. ranks: last fall, for instance, the Washington Redskins hired Sherman Lewis as a consultant to the offensive coaching staff. It’s illegal on the college ranks, where teams are not allowed more than 12 members, included the head coach, on its staff.

IMPERMISSIBLE RECRUITING CONTACTS BY A BOOSTER

The release found that from 2002-5, impermissible contact occurred between prospective U.S.C. recruits and the owner of Papadakis Taverna, a Los Angeles-area restaurant famous for hosting recruits during official weekend visits. The N.C.A.A. found that the owner

…made impermissible off-campus recruiting contacts with a number of prospective student-athletes.

However, the statement went on to say that any relationship between the restaurant and potential U.S.C. recruits was “not interpreted by the prospects as having a recruiting purpose, and that they did not play a role in any prospect’s decisions to attend the institution.”

LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL

That dreaded phrase.

From December 2004 through March 2009, the institution exhibited a lack of control over its department of athletics by its failure to have in place procedures to effectively monitor the violations of NCAA amateurism, recruiting and extra benefit legislation.

In making its case, as covered, the N.C.A.A. cited a failure to monitor Bush’s automobile registration; Bush’s employment with the sports marketing agency; the “involvement of boosters and agents in the recruiting process”; and the number of coaches working in the football program.

It’s a rock-solid case, one obviously built through years of thorough investigation.

THE FOOTBALL PENALTIES

From top to bottom, here they are:

1. “Public reprimand and censure.” Done.

2. Four years of probation, beginning today and running until June 9, 2014.

3. No postseason play in either 2010 and 2011.

The institution’s football team shall end its 2010 and 2011 seasons with the playing of its last regularly scheduled, in-season contest and shall not be eligible to participate in any postseason competition, including a bowl game, following the season.

4. The program will vacate all wins posted by the team while Bush was ineligible, a period beginning in 2004 and continuing through the 2005 season. Included in this stretch? A pair of Pac-10 championships and the 2004 national championship. However, since the B.C.S. decides the title, not the N.C.A.A., it’s up to the post-season body to determine if U.S.C. can keep the championship.

Whether Bush remains the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, another decision that lies outside the N.C.A.A.’s purview, also remains to be seen.

5. Pete Carroll’s coaching record from 2004-5 will recognize the vacated victories, conference championships and national title. All U.S.C. media guides must also recognize that change.

Finally, the institution’s records regarding (the football team) shall be reconfigured to reflect the vacated institutional, coaches’ and student-athletes’ records in all publications in which records for (football) are recorded, including, but not limited to, institutional media guides, recruiting materials, electronic and digital media, and institutional and NCAA archives. Any reference to the vacated results, including championships, shall be removed from athletics department stationery, banners displayed in public areas, and any other forum in which they appear.

6. Ten fewer scholarships per year for the next three years.

7. Because of the often-questionable relationship between the football program and countless periphery individuals unassociated with the program, the N.C.A.A. will “prohibit non-institutional personnel,” not including the media and family members, from traveling on team charters; attending football practices — no more Will Ferrell; attending or donating money to U.S.C. football camps; and having access to “sidelines and locker rooms before, during and after” games.

8. The university must fully inform all potential recruits that the program is on four years of probation, as well as list that information in its media guide.

9. Todd McNair will be put on a one-year “show cause” period, meaning he may not participate in any recruiting at U.S.C. nor have any contact with a projected recruit prior to his enrollment.

The Bottom Line

Beyond the future penalties — the probation, the lost scholarships — it’s hard to ignore what was lost. U.S.C. must vacate all its wins from 2004-5: included in this period, of course, is the 2004 national championship, even if the B.C.S. — and I’d find this hard to believe — allows U.S.C. to keep that hardware. Reputations have been tarnished. The university has already disassociated itself from Reggie Bush; next comes Pete Carroll.

In good news for the university, its current coach, Lane Kiffin — formerly the offensive coordinator at U.S.C. — did not warrant any mention in the N.C.A.A.’s release. Neither did Steve Sarkisian and Nick Holt, former U.S.C. staff members currently running the show at Washington.

We’ll discover if the penalties will rob U.S.C. of its swagger and confidence. Can the Trojans come to play in the Pac-10 if nothing, beyond its own reputation, is at stake?

Tags: N.C.A.A. violations, U.S.C.

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