But I don’t think it would worsen USC’s situation. I think the self-imposed sanctions was a huge help in USC’s case and the NCAA will probably add a few penalties. I’m holding my breath for the Bush case. I read on USC’s rivals site that the Bush case was just “a small chapter” in the hearings. I think a reduce in scholarships is ultimately what we’re leaning on with that regard.

In addition attending will be:
Steven Sample, USC president
Mike Garrett, athletic director
Pete Carroll, former football coach
Lane Kiffin, current football coach
Todd McNair, running backs coach
Todd Dickey, senior vice president for administration
Ellen Ferris, associate provost for athletic compliance
Noel Ragsdale, faculty athletic representative
Larry Scott, Pac-10 Commissioner
This is the USC/Pac-10 All-Stars

How soon does he take the jacket off?

FWIW, I agree that Timmy and USC will likely point fingers at each other. But, I cannot fault the guy for fighting to clear his name. I still believe he did nothing wrong. Did you read the one quote from compliance to Timmy re: Mayo, “It would be wrong of us NOT to recruit Mayo if we can’t prove that he has had agent dealings….” paraphrasing there. USC encouraged Timmy to go after Mayo!

On another note, I was really interested in faculty athletics rep Ragsdale, who was also in this position DURING the Guillory-Trepagnier situation. Check her Bio!!! She is a bad ass. Harvard undergrad and ON THE NCAA APPEALS Committee. Of course, she will certainly have to recuse herself if USC appeals. USC certainly is sending in the big guns. How much would you pay to be able to sit in on these hearings? Wow.

http://lawweb.usc.edu/who/faculty/directory/contactinfo.cfm?detailid=241

The recruiting of OJ Mayo isn’t the issue here. I mean, even if you consider the fact that (as spoken through countless interviews in the media) Ron Guillory was/is OJ Mayo’s mentor and advisor way before stepping on the USC campus- the fact of the matter is, Mayo’s recruiting (process, screening, and official acceptance) was vetted intensively by USC and the NCAA. And although Guillory was part of the Trepagnier-affair in which USC was hit with basketball sanctions some years prior to coming back into the USC-scene with OJ Mayo, his ability to officially interact and communicate with member NCAA intstitutions nationwide was already approved by the NCAA. In other words, he was “clean” and his situation- as it applies to recruits and student/athletes, was “water under the bridge” as far as they were concerned. (as well- AD Mike Garrett was more than likely holding similar sentiments regarding Guillory. maybe Garrett was willing to give Guillory a 2nd chance). Further, Tim Floyd more than likely had been briefed on Guillory regarding the Trepagnier affair and what had happened to USC- but because Coach Floyd had no direct contact with Guillory prior to taking the phone call that – supposedly, OJ Mayo instructed Guillory to initiate, I’ll bet Coach Floyd was also willing to overlook Guillory’s past association/dealings with USC and allow Guillory to redeem himself by doing things by the book this time around with OJ.

More importantly though, no matter what Guillory was responsible for in the Trepagnier affair- at the time of OJ Mayo’s decision to attend university-level basketball play/education- Ron Guillory was so imbedded with the Mayo family that OJ himself looked up to Guillory as not just his mentor/advisor- but as his step-father. As OJ’s biological father was AWOL and living life as a small-time criminal/drug addict and had absolutey no (or very little) contact with OJ Mayo, his mother (who was raising OJ all by herself), or any other member of the Mayo family. As a teenager, every boy and girl need a father-figure AND mother-figure to help guide and shape their ever-changing character and minds as they go from youth to young-adult. In other words, Guillory being associated with OJ May “the recruit” was secondary to the fact that he was OJ Mayo’s step-father, primarily.

And then the USC/Guillory twain meets up, yet again.

We still don’t truly know whether Louis Johnson’s assertion regarding Coach Floyd paying Ron Guillory cash is truthful or not? If it is true, then Guillory didn’t change one bit since the Trepagnier affair. If false, and Guillory or Coach Floyd can completely refute those claims with factual and detailed information that can be verified- then the NCAA, Garrett, Floyd, and USC Compliance dodged a bullet and were right in giving Guillory a second chance. The recruiting of OJ Mayo wouldn’t be a part of this polemic. As it really shouldn’t be in the first place because OJ, as a student/athlete HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING WRONG and he was a model-s/a for the one year that he played and attended. I’m proud of OJ Mayo. The student, athlete, and person.

I feel the same way about Coach Tim Floyd. Now if he’s guilty however, that will change.

AD Garrett? My problems with him are mainly with his infantile disposition regarding communicating with Trojan coaches, faculty, athletes, students, and fans. He has A COMMUNICATION PROBLEM. He makes unusual decisions (former Coach Gillespie and former Coach Trakh) and it seems he’s only out for himself. He’s displeasing as a person, unpleasant as a leader, and majorly disappointing as a communicator in the most high profile and top position that deals with communicating with the media, faculty, coaches & players, students, and more importantly- the fans.

If we didn’t have ever have OJ Mayo in a Trojan uniform (remember, Coach Floyd didn’t “recruit” OJ Mayo, OJ Mayo recruited USC by way of Guillory. OJ WANTED to be a Trojan, Coach Floyd never offered and never spent a dime on his recruitment until that fatefull telephone call from Guillory that august day/night)- we wouldn’t be talking about 3 post season appearances, quality recruiting classes (basketball), and closing gaps with the stronger teams in the PAC 10.

The NCAA signed off on Mayo. They knew about Guillory’s involvement, and they cleared him. Mike Garrett knew every aspect of Mayo’s recruitment, and he greenlit the process. The NCAA, Garrett, and Floyd all should have took one look at Guillory and turned away from Mayo. Now it all came back to bite them in the butt and they collectively seem to be throwing their hands up and claiming innocence. It seems like the NCAA is getting on their hight horse and asking why he was allowed near the program, even though they cleared Mayo to play. Garrett threw Floyd under the bus, and would like nothing other than to blame the whole giant mess on Floyd, but he allowed Mayo to be a Trojan, and he knew more about Guillory’s past with Trepangnier than Floyd would have. Then you have Floyd who has a grab the player, and ask questions later attitude when it comes to possible NCAA rules being broken.

Guillory was a giant red flag. No one even looked at that flag until Johnson blew his self-serving whistle. Now everyone including Floyd is scrambling to say that it wasn’t their fault. The funny thing is, there isn’t a whole lot of physical evidence that Floyd or Mayo did anything wrong. The only tangible thing is the television set, which probably cost $1000 which isn’t completely out of the realm of affordable for a student athlete. Every time I saw Mayo on, or around campus, he was riding a bike, dressed in USC warmups.

I wonder if Mike Garret made a mistake by throwing Floyd under the bus, instead of asking him if Johnson’s allegations, and standing behind Floyd when Floyd proclaimed his innocence. If Floyd is innocent, I hope he rubs Garrett’s face in the truth, even if it means USC takes a harder hit.

Plus if all is good about TF why would this make the NCaa hit the team with any wrong doing. So what in the heck is todays team doing on any sanctions and no post ban, did USC find something and they are reporting. Another thing as soon as I found out that Mayo (that big Prick) broke Danny’s Jaw, I wanted him out.

I don’t think the grab the player, ask questions later characterization is quite accurate. At least according to Timmy’s comments. I’m not going to look for the quote, but Timmy said something like, “Our compliance told me that we would be wrong not to offer OJ a scholie if we could not find any improper agent dealings.” I think Tim, USC, and the NCAA did a thorough review of OJ’s amateur status. They asked the questions, but found OJ clean.

The error seems to be our compliance and AD’s attitude of not erring on the side of conservatism. A willingness to take chances. A blind eye to Guillory’s past. Guillory should have been persona non grata at USC. However, the NCAA rule that deems an agent’s runner to be a booster is complete and total BS.

that he knew that there were questions that were going to be asked about Mayo, but until more was known, it would be irresponsible not to recruit him.

Thats where I got the “Recruit first, ask questions later”