Pat Haden's take on the SI Agent Story
by Paragon SC on Oct 13, 2010 1:35 PM PDT
in General NCAA
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PrintUSC AD Pat Haden offers up his thoughts on agents paying players...
"This is another example of the insidiousness of unscrupulous agents and why it is important that USC and all schools be especially vigilant to the misdeeds of outsiders."
"At USC, in light of the NCAA penalties we've received due to the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo situations, we have already stepped up our NCAA compliance efforts drastically in terms of education and enforcement, and we plan to continue to strengthen those efforts."
Haden goes on to say that USC will take a leadership role in working with the NCAA to address the issue.
Look, the horse has already left the barn, I understand that USC has to play they game as they work on their appeal to reduce the sanctions but until the NCAA works hand in hand with their member institutions instead of laying out vague guidelines while at the same time being antagonistic towards member institutions who get caught in the crossfire I don't see much changing.
The NCAA up to this point hasn't been willing to take on the various pro leagues and the predatory agents that represent their members to protect their brand so what makes you think they are going to start today. Heck Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels aren't even real agents so outside of suing them how do you attack this?
I am not even going to talk about the NCAA's own culpability in their shoddy handling of this case to make it stick against 'SC. That is a whole other nightmare.
There are laws on the books in numerous states that are hardly if ever in enforced...so to me schools are pretty powerless to address the goings on away from their property.
It is certainly one thing to punish 'SC for the various lapses in compliance sighted in the report and 'SC is culpable there, but until the players and agents who are at the root of the problem are punished this is window dressing in my eyes but I understand why Haden is saying what he has to say.
Anyway, just a few thoughts...
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The more I think about it...
…the more I think Mike Garrett was right.
There is no way that USC deserves to lose 30 schollies and 2 bowls for what Bush and Mayo did. It was unprecedented. It was a whale hunt.
Sadly, USC’s penalites were also payback for:
1. USC destroying the elite teams of every other major conference in the nation
2. Pulling elite recruits out of the backyards of major programs across the country
3. Establishing a “dynasty” that rivaled the legacy of other great programs of the ages
4. Winning 3 Heisman trophies in 4 years
USC simply made everyone else feel inferior. So the NCAA was used as a tool by some of its member institutions to accomplish off the field what they couldn’t accomplish on the field. And to tell you the truth….knowing how badly we hurt those bastards really makes me happy! USC will be back soon enough. Fight On!
I'm sure
that our punishment had more to do with the fact that we defended ourselves instead of falling on our sword, bending over, and being contrite.
Agree, Mike Garrett's hubris/stiff arm strategy bit us in the ass
I do like that Pat is “playing the game”. It’s the smart strategy.
You can't put sanctions on the fkn endzone! Bowls are for salad!
I agree that Garrett's management of the athletic department
contibuted to making penalties worse than USC otherwise deserved.
However, It’s hard to argue:
1. The violations should determine the penalties
2. USC had a right to defend itself
If you argue that the penalties are were worse because the NCAA didn’t “like” how USC defended itself, then you are basically agruing that USC got hammered because the COI didn’t “like” USC, not because of the penalties themselves. This is kinda what my original point was. USC’s primary obligation was to cooperate with the investigation, and even the NCAA report concludes that USC met this obligation…even though they may not have ’liked" how USC “cooperated”.
Let’s face it, the COI was already loaded with people who didn’t “like” USC. And the NCAA was already loaded with member schools that didn’t “like” USC. Do you think any of the SEC schools liked the way USC dismantled Auburn and Arkansas twice each…got a ticket to the BCS over undefeated Auburn in 2004…or got a split NC with LSU in 2003? I’d say not. That gives Paul Dee 12 schools that will support anything he does to USC as long as it’s bad. Ditto with the Big 12 and a few buttwhippings to OU. And how many Rose Bowls can the Big 10 hope to win with a dominant USC? Buckeye Nation is standing tall again because thhey got to play Oregon instead of USC last year. And what about the Pac-10 schools that watched USC play in the Rose Bowl for 7 straight years? The list goes on…
I’m not trying to be paranoid here…just to say that there was ample reason for the COI to harbor a malicious agenda against USC, and there was widespread sentiment throughout college football that the penalties couldn’t be severe enough…no matter what the actual violations were.
I think Haden is handling this the right way, though I question whether it will be of any help for USC.
The COI
was looking for us to self impose punishments on ourselves. We elected to not admit any wrong doing, and see what they came up without any admission of guilt. The result is that everything that Lake said was taken as 100% truth, and it came back and bit us in the butt. I do believe that they went loco on us. I’m not saying that USC did nothing wrong, it just seems like the punishment didn’t fit the crime here.
I'm not going to get into a long reply right now, but...
there are some striking similarities between the UF/Tank Black scandal that occurred 1996-98 at Florida (but came to resolution in 2000-1) and the Reggie Bush violations which occured 4-5 years after the NCAA ruled in Florida’s favor. I can assure you that the things that then UF AD Jeremy foloye said were astonishingly similar to the things that USC/Garrett said about Bush. Yet…the NCAA opted to eat out of UF’s lap, but hammer USC with a 5 year investigation and crippling sanctions.
Why is that? Does it have anything to do with the fact that USC was embarrasing elite teams from other conferences while stockpling hardware and recruits from around the nation, while Florida was quietly whipping teams like Swamp College, Everglades Tech, and Ft. Lauderdale Middle School JV? I think you have to at least consider that politics played a major role here. What happened to USC was not a simple matter of truth-seeking and justice running its course. And USC was probably going to be screwed no matter how they handled it. After all, USC self-sanctioned BB and was essentially given no credt for it.
Perhaps I’ll write up a comparison to UF and USC when I have the time.
Rec'd!!!!!!!! And say hello to Fat F_ _ K Dee and Slutty Conboy while we're at it!
And you know what, it makes me happy and it was worth the ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Understanding is a virtue, hard to come by"
J. Airplane
it's just SO surprising
to hear that lots and lots of people are doing the same thing. oh wait, no it isn’t.
FWIW, I think that as long as we’re dealing with a sport that has a LOT of cash floating around (to coaches, extremely expensive facilities, paying LOTS of schollie money for pretty much all other sports, etc.) and that gives very little to players (that scholarship isn’t worth nearly as much when you’re already forced to give something like 20+ hours a week in practice, travel, game, and workout time), and that have plenty of players who are poor or dirt poor… stuff like this is simply going to happen. As long as at least some players think that the system is screwing them, they’re going to screw the system back.
Combining both Paragon's take and TrojanJAG's. . . .
. . . . we’re left with an AD that took the job, which opened up when Mike Garrett got shown the door, knowing full well that- much like our political culture, his job FIRST AND FOREMOST is and was to “schmooze”.
USC has been a dominant brand in all of college sports and to some extent- academics, for a good long time now. So what it all breaks down to being in this day and age for us, is to “play the ‘contrition-game’”. I think that, for the benefit of the appeal, AD Haden is schmoozing and saying all the “proper” things, doing the “proper” things (as far as compliance and contrition), and just going with the political flow. It’s not beneath us to do this, but- some would argue: to what extent?
I happen to be thrilled that the schmoozing is taking place at Heritage Hall. We’re on an uphill-battle with the NCAA’s Board of Appeal, and anything we can do to further our cause in the appeal that would make us look better (than we were under Garrett)- AD Haden is carrying it out. And he’s doing it with flying-colors!
As both JAG and MrPacTen have commented: we’ve been hit with unprecedented sanctions and for what? For not being able to be in full-compliance with NCAA bylaws that are near impossible to avoid- given the reign of all-universe athletes we’ve recruited over the past 10 years.
"Fun fact: My grandma actually had 7 carries for 79 yards and one TD last year against Stanford. The (Oregon Ducks) spread option just works like that, but it helped that she’s pretty scrappy" (JShufelt- Addicted to Quack)
I think we will be lucky if
we get 10 schollies back, and have only 1 year bowl ban.
We can deal with a 20 scholarship reduction. I hope the NCAA comes to their senses, but I don’t think it will happen.
Lucky?
Blessed would be more accurate. I just don’t see them giving anything back
_________________________________________________________________________
"You can't sanction heart, and you can't sanction the will to win" - USC QB, Matt Barkley
I'm siding with you on this, 100% of the way!
You know, far better than anyone here on CC, what the tenor and strategy is- and has been, with USC as it moves forward with this investigation and subsequent appeal. I’ve been wrong so many times with this entire brouhaha. . . .my head spins at how many times I’ve erred. All, based solely on my limited knowledge and inflated assumptions regarding matters like these.
10 schollies- I’d be thrilled with. 1 year bowl ban, too? I’ll EAT A BUG!
"Fun fact: My grandma actually had 7 carries for 79 yards and one TD last year against Stanford. The (Oregon Ducks) spread option just works like that, but it helped that she’s pretty scrappy" (JShufelt- Addicted to Quack)
by BixBeiderbecke on Oct 13, 2010 8:16 PM PDT up reply actions
You have to wonder....
if any of these recent revelations, the UNC and other Wichard schools, and now Luchs tell-all, is having any effect inside NCAA headquarters. By their move-the-goalposts, legislate on they fly, “new standards” for high profile athletes, 50% of CFB progams have committed violations.
These standards are unenforceable. The agent community is slowly speaking out and telling us that the majority of high round draft picks are being taken care of.
Will the NCAA continue to give a stiff arm to public opinion, common sense, and state and federal law?
You can't put sanctions on the fkn endzone! Bowls are for salad!
It's like that scene from Guide for a Married Man
and Joey Bishop is the NCAA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmnXIN_Rb4
"Understanding is a virtue, hard to come by"
J. Airplane
But the ncaa knows all about the paying agents, becuase the agents pay them to.
I really don’t know why so bad of penalties other than the hate factor for all the dominance, hell I wouldn’t look past the fact that they made sure USC loses to Texas.
I love national championships it make me feel superior to others, my who place has USC stuff everywhere, it's painted red and gold, my car is the same colors my asscrack is bruin blue.
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 14, 2010 10:46 AM PDT reply actions
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