• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

NCAA punishes USC - Reggie Bush, OJ Mayo, Dwayne Jarrett, Joe McKnight investigation

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Stewart Mandel reviews the situation. He notes that Carroll and Kiffin were reported to be at the meetings yesterday, and that it will be 8 to 10 weeks before any punishments are announced.

SI.com

NCAA hearing may have greater impact on USC's past than future

...
This week, however, a group of USC officials will return to Tempe under far less pleasant circumstances. Following a nearly four-year investigation, the school will finally appear before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions to address allegations that Bush and his family received hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra benefits from a group of aspiring sports marketers. The committee will also address allegations involving former basketball star O.J. Mayo's lucrative relationship with an agent-runner (for which the school has already self-imposed sanctions) and any other violations NCAA investigators may have unearthed about either program.

The hearing began Thursday morning, and a Los Angeles Times reporter at the scene confirmed that Carroll, current coach Lane Kiffin and running backs coach Todd McNair are in attendance, as well as university president Steven Sample, athletic director Mike Garrett and Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott. Any resulting punishment will be announced eight to 10 weeks after the hearing.
​

...

Last May, Yahoo! reported that investigators had interviewed at least 17 known witnesses. They include Lloyd Lake, one of two jilted partners in a failed business venture who has sued Bush over nearly $300,000 in gifts he claims the running back never returned; Bob DeMartino, a memorabilia dealer who reportedly provided e-mails and eyewitness accounts of Bush's arrangements with eventual marketing representative Mike Ornstein, whom Yahoo! revealed to have given "loans" and other perks to Bush and his family; and, in a surprise twist, Bush himself, who, after declining for years to cooperate with investigators, reportedly met with the NCAA last summer.

Among the NCAA rules Bush may have broken is bylaw 12.3.1.2, which deems an athlete "ineligible if he or she accepts benefits from agents or marketing representatives"; bylaw 12.3.1.1, which says a player is deemed ineligible if he "enters into a verbal or written agreement with an agent for representation in future professional sports negotiations"; and bylaw 12.1.2.1.6, which prohibits "preferential treatment, benefits or services because of the individual's athletic reputation."

The standard recourse for a team that's found to have used an ineligible athlete is to vacate wins from the season in question. For USC, that would likely strike the 12 victories from Bush's 2005 Heisman season fromthe record books. Should investigators find that Bush began receiving benefits a year earlier, the school would stand to lose an additional 13 victories from its 2004 BCS championship season.

...
As for potential implications that may face new coach Lane Kiffin's program going forward, much will depend on whether the committee finds fault with coaches or school officials for failing to prevent violations. There has been no firm evidence to date showing USC coaches or administrators knew of Bush's alleged benefits. However, Yahoo! reported that Lake and his business partner Michael Michaels twice visited the Trojans' locker room after games, and that running backs coach Todd McNair knew of their relationship with Bush. Perhaps most damaging, school officials cleared Bush to intern for Ornstein, a dubious figure convicted in 1995 in a scheme to defraud the NFL.

Taken alone, those allegations hardly paint USC as a rogue operation. But remember, the committee will be reviewing findings regarding all aspects of the football and basketball programs.

It seems pretty clear-cut that school officials were negligent in regards to Mayo and his known relationship with Rodney Guillory, a figure who'd run into NCAA trouble before (hence, the self-imposed sanctions). And while the Bush matter has garnered the lion's share of attention on the football side, it's possible the committee will also review other, more minor improprieties under Carroll, such as the allegations last year that he employed a consultant, former NFL assistant coach Pete Rodriguez, as a de facto special teams coach; or that a former player crossed the line in urging recruits to attend the school during school-sponsored recruiting functions hosted at the Greek restaurant he owns.

Taken together, the committee will determine whether school officials exhibited a "lack of institutional control," or the less serious "failure to monitor," in its oversight of the programs. It seems somewhat inevitable at this point that the Trojans will be put on probation, and possible Kiffin's program will be docked a few scholarships. But a postseason ban like the one imposed on the basketball team would require more concrete evidence of direct wrongdoing by USC employees than has been alleged thus far.
​


​
Cont'd...
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
If it is going to be 8-10 weeks until this process is concluded, how exactly is Sentreal Henderson going to wait until a decision on sanctions is made before he signs a letter of intent? That's an April 1 deadline, right?
 
Upvote 0
BuckeyeNation27;1662146; said:
good. they've been rushing this decision. it's nice to see they're going to let this hectic pace settle and figure things out over time.
Click to expand...

NCAA perception:

Q5_A1_1.jpg


Reality:

snail3free_450x300.jpg
 
Upvote 0
While USC officials sat with NCAA investigators Thursday, former Trojan star Reggie bush was taking in the Olympics in Vancouver. "There are attorneys, there are lawsuits, there are all those things that keep you from being able to talk," Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, said during a promotional stop at a sponsor's office in Vancouver, adding, "I've tried to do everything I can, on my part, to help USC out." When asked for details about how he helped USC, Bush said, "I can't really speak on that because of pending things, but I've done everything I can and I will defend 'SC until the day I die. . . . That's just because I felt USC was so good to me. . . . I am USC and I represent USC." USC representatives spent more than eight hours in a hotel ballroom fielding questions from the 10-member infractions committee. The hearing, scheduled to continue through Saturday, is the culmination of a nearly four-year investigation that included allegations that Bush and former Trojans basketball player O.J. Mayo received extra benefits while competing for the Trojans.
Los Angeles Times

Entire article: Pete Carroll, USC's Mike Garrett meet with NCAA panel - latimes.com

Yes, Reggie certainly took... err...I mean... did everything he could.....:biggrin:
 
Upvote 0
With respect to others who feel differently, I'm not a fan of the "USC will get slapped on the wrist while Ohio State was so mercilessly persecuted."

One of the great outcomes of the NCAA camp out in Columbus was that we were cleared of everything, except the O'Brien violations which we discovered, notified the NCAA of and fired the coach for so fast we violated his contract.

The constant refrain of the Ohio State haters--whether Michigan fans or the loathsome rodent-like creatures who inhabit the various Fredo boards--is that Ohio State was given a free pass because of their money and power. "Ohio State really is corrupt, but the NCAA was too afraid to do anything about it," is their mindless refrain. The defense to that is how is Ohio State soooo powerful when the NCAA has dropped major violation penalties over the past 20 years on Notre Dame, Michigan, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama? What makes us different that the NCAA was willing to whitewash our transgressions?

I know it's taken some time, but I believe that was largely the result of Reggie Bush being able to tell a subpoena-less NCAA to go fuck itself after he was in the NFL. The civil suit essentially gave the NCAA a backdoor route to get his sworn testimony on the matter, and now we come to this. I want to be optimistic for the sole reason that if USC gets off Scot free, then it completely undermines Ohio State's defense of the accusations that were leveled against its program.
 
Upvote 0
"I've tried to do everything I can, on my part, to help USC out."

When asked for details about how he helped USC, Bush said, "I can't really speak on that because of pending things, but I've done everything I can and I will defend 'SC until the day I die. . . . That's just because I felt USC was so good to me. . . . I am USC and I represent USC."
Click to expand...

How about you just worry about telling the truth you ignorant piece of shit!
 
Upvote 0
ORD_Buckeye;1662314; said:
With respect to others who feel differently, I'm not a fan of the "USC will get slapped on the wrist while Ohio State was so mercilessly persecuted."

One of the great outcomes of the NCAA camp out in Columbus was that we were cleared of everything, except the O'Brien violations which we discovered, notified the NCAA of and fired the coach for so fast we violated his contract.

The constant refrain of the Ohio State haters--whether Michigan fans or the loathsome rodent-like creatures who inhabit the various Fredo boards--is that Ohio State was given a free pass because of their money and power. "Ohio State really is corrupt, but the NCAA was too afraid to do anything about it," is their mindless refrain. The defense to that is how is Ohio State soooo powerful when the NCAA has dropped major violation penalties over the past 20 years on Notre Dame, Michigan, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama? What makes us different that the NCAA was willing to whitewash our transgressions?

I know it's taken some time, but I believe that was largely the result of Reggie Bush being able to tell a subpoena-less NCAA to go [censored] itself after he was in the NFL. The civil suit essentially gave the NCAA a backdoor route to get his sworn testimony on the matter, and now we come to this. I want to be optimistic for the sole reason that if USC gets off Scot free, then it completely undermines Ohio State's defense of the accusations that were leveled against its program.
Click to expand...


I bang the drum not about how we were treated by the NCAA but about how we were treated by the media. I take no solace in the fact that maybe espin learned something from how they handled Ohio State back in the Clarett years. They learned from the Ohio State coverage so that's why they have been SILENT about USC? They were all over Ohio State like hair on a gorilla. They drove Andy Geiger into the ground (figuratively, but I bet he would tell you that ordeal took a year or two off of his life).

I think that's the frustration that you hear from fans squawking about the NCAA. Who gives a good goddamn what the NCAA does, really? What affected Ohio State (and their fans) was the beating they took from the national media. Articles in the magazine, stories on the web site, stories before, during and after their bowl game in 2004. Coach Tressel and Andy Geiger were getting KILLED.

Ohio State got butchered for a $500 handshake and the accusations of a mentally unstable pathological liar. We barely heard anything about Coach O'Brien. Reggie Bush's parents got a house. Joe McKnight was driving a car around campus that wasn't his. 30 or so players have been arrested under Urban Meyer and where is the outcry from the world wide leader? And these aren't just public intox arrests. Oregon's starting backfield is going to be starting in the inmates vs. guards game next fall. Troy Smith took $500 from a random booster, but which program suffered more of a PR hit?

I don't know, maybe I need to let it go. But I will never forget how I and other Ohio State fans felt during that time. Every time I opened the paper or turned on Sportscenter (which I don't do anymore) there was another story about Clarett and the rampant wrongdoing at Ohio State.


Serenity now!

EDIT I just looked back at some of my other posts in this thread. I'm like a fucking broken record.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
ysubuck;1662362; said:
Ohio State got butchered for a $500 handshake and the accusations of a mentally unstable pathological liar. We barely heard anything about Coach O'Brien. Reggie Bush's parents got a house. Joe McKnight was driving a car around campus that wasn't his. 30 or so players have been arrested under Urban Meyer and where is the outcry from the world wide leader? And these aren't just public intox arrests. Oregon's starting backfield is going to be starting in the inmates vs. guards game next fall. Troy Smith took $500 from a random booster, but which program suffered more of a PR hit?
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm naive, but my understanding of the Troy Smith situation is that it wasn't even as nefarious as a $500 handshake, it was an advance for a job that TS didn't realize at the time was a no-show job. At least, I've always heard it that Troy was looking for legit work, and was presented the proverbial 'offer he wasn't allowed to refuse.' Remeber that his indescretion occurred earlier that summer when all indications were that Zwick was going to be the starter.

If Troy hadn't gone off for 386 all purpose yards in The Game in 2004, it wouldn't have been a story.

If anyone gave Scott McMullen $500 in 2002, nobody would have cared.
 
Upvote 0
I've been debating whether to post this, but I guess now that the hearing is underway I guess I'll go ahead and share. This story is ridiculous, but my source is a very, very good one and I don't have any doubts that he's telling the truth and that his information is good.

Apparently Rick Neuheisel went down to San Antonio for the Army All-American Combine with his son, who's a high school junior and a QB prospect. I guess coaches aren't typically allowed because it's a quiet/dead period (no coach-recruit in-person contact) but Neuheisel was allowed to go as a parent.

Apparently the story is that Lane Kiffin, Monte Kiffin, and Ed Orgeron were hanging out in the airport and greeting recruits. The trio heard that a plane from LA was coming in and decided to wait it out in the bathroom just in case it happened to be Neuheisel's flight.

Neuheisel gets into San Antonio from LA and heads into the bathroom at the airport (fairly small airport, only 1 terminal). So who's happens to be hanging out in the bathroom? Why none other than the USC coaching staff.

Neuheisel begrudgingly reported them to the NCAA as any good parent would.

Additionally, someone apparently got video of Orgeron talking to a recruit in the lobby of a hotel.

Needless to say, the NCAA is not happy about these infractions just weeks before USC's hearing and the ruling will not just be a slap on the wrist.
 
Upvote 0
mross34;1662451; said:
Apparently the story is that Lane Kiffin, Monte Kiffin, and Ed Orgeron were hanging out in the airport and greeting recruits. The trio heard that a plane from LA was coming in and decided to wait it out in the bathroom just in case it happened to be Neuheisel's flight.

Neuheisel gets into San Antonio from LA and heads into the bathroom at the airport (fairly small airport, only 1 terminal). So who's happens to be hanging out in the bathroom? Why none other than the USC coaching staff.
Click to expand...

San Antonio's airport only has one toilet? Jesucristo!
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top