Putting Sam Gilbert behind us

The LA Times today published a story with the highlights of Rick Neuheisel's contract with ucla. There are a variety of performance incentives and perks, all of which seem well chosen, and then this :

Neuheisel will not be eligible for performance bonuses if the program is put on NCAA probation and must return previous bonuses if the team is "subsequently sanctioned for NCAA violations in which coach was directly involved, that coach facilitated, condoned, or ignored about coach knew or reasonably should have known."

You know, bruins often say that USC fans should just drop the guff about Sam Gilbert - it was a long time ago, he wasn't doing anything untoward by the standards of the time, etc., etc. I think they may be on to something.

More specifically, I think that ucla has just created an enormous incentive for shenanigans by Trojans to interfere with Neuheisel's various bonuses. After all, if we're as unprincipled and corrupt as certain members of the ucla community would have others believe, then we must have some expertise in this area - right?

So if you've got any creative ideas - and paying for player's parents' rent etc., is off the table, it's too obvious - drop them in the comments*.

*Just in case the no-humor brigade is reading this, we are not suggesting that anyone actually commit any NCAA violations with ucla student athletes. That would be wrong, and we do not countenance any such thing or accept any liability for the actions of people who are no more subtle than Lake or Guillory.