ESPN's Andy Katz: The consensus was that recent actions by Floyd showed a move was imminent

That is a bit surprising...what moves would those be. It was reported I think by Wolf that Floyd's attorney was seen on campus the couple of weeks. That would indicate negotiations for a buy-out, I really don't see any other reason for his attorney to be there do you? But what other moves is Katz alluding to?

With the amount of silence coming out of HH I don't think anyone was really surprised that this was the end game.

Katz does a pretty good job of compiling a lot of questions that were bound to be asked but probably are not going to be answered. Some of these fall into the area of a conspiracy theory but most are legit.

On Tuesday night, ESPN.com reached out to a variety of sources throughout the NBA and college basketball who were close to Floyd. The consensus was that recent actions by Floyd showed a move was imminent after allegations that he paid money to a man who steered O.J. Mayo to the Trojans.

• By making the decision to resign, did Floyd get a negotiated settlement from USC? If he had stayed on and been fired before an NCAA hearing, he might have been able to be compensated much in the same way former Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien was when he wasn't given his due process based on the wording in his contract.

• Floyd is out as USC coach despite the fact that none of the allegations against him have turned into charges by the NCAA. Why did he choose to quit instead of stand up and face any possible charges?

• How much will the NCAA look at Floyd as a sacrificial lamb in the wake of a major investigation that involves football and basketball? Was this move pushed by USC so that when it's in front of the committee on infractions it can show that it took corrective action to avoid a charge of lack of institutional control?

• Why was USC so willing to grant signee Noel Johnson his release from his national letter of intent without a fight? Floyd and athletic director Mike Garrett didn't make an attempt to hold Johnson to his letter. A number of sources were stunned that USC didn't balk at releasing Johnson's NLI.

You bet Floyd is being "sacrificed" but he did it to himself. If USC had to hire Glazer to to help them navigate through this then it would not surprise if this was one of the moves that was at the top of the list to show the NCAA that USC takes the charges seriously. It would also not surprise me if this move is also part of a bigger plan to protect the golden goose that USC football. Critics can say what they want, but the Bush Mess has dragged on for three years now with no resolution in sight. The Mayo Mess gave the NCAA leverage and SC saw that especially after the Floyd golden handshake allegation rose its ugly head so SC had to act. With their lack of closure on the Bush mess the NCAA, as it would appear to many, has very little to pin on SC. Mayo gave them the ability to go after the Lack of Institutional Control angle. That is a bigger stick and it gets peoples attention.

I have a hard time seeing that one stick because they can't prove SC knew anything about Bush's parents.

The chess pieces are definitely moving, we don't usually get to see this up close but because the situations are so high profile it is very difficult to keep everything under wraps.