Should USC file a lawsuit against Lloyd and Michael Michaels...among others

Lots of chatter out there on what think USC should or plans to do once they have the appeal out of the way. Regardless of the outcome.

Suing those who were at the root of this mess is not out of the question. SC has been down this road before in 1995 when they sued agent Robert Caron.    

Caron, 37, a sports star at Ventura High and Ventura College, has been the focus of a widening scandal involving his year-old sports agency.

NCAA and Pacific 10 Conference investigators last week questioned three USC players--Shawn Walters, Israel Ifeanyi and Errick Herrin--about their relationship with Caron. A ledger obtained by The Times showed that Walters was given about $15,900 for airline tickets, pocket money and other items. Ifeanyi and Herrin allegedly were given beepers and some other small items.

UCLA's Donnie Edwards and about eight other players from five other schools also were linked to Caron, who denied he payed any players.

Heh, I forgot that Donnie Edwards was rumored to be linked to Caron...

This lawsuit also brought forth the Miller-Ayala Athlete Agents Act in 1996. This is a law on the books in the state of California specifically dealing with an agent(s) tampering with amateur athletes. I do not think this is a bad idea. With sanctions having been handed down USC is facing the loss of millions of dollars and because of that 'SC has a right and responsibility to not let this go unchecked.

Why not?

It is not like SC is going to get punished any more if other information comes out...at least not much worse. The NCAA's penalty against USC is a modern day death penalty so what is there to lose?

I call it the don't mess with us response.

It would have been nice if SC had been this aggressive in addressing this when the charges originally came to light but that is in the past...we are where we are.

I highly doubt that with all the other issues facing the state of California that they are really interested in pursuing this.

It is also clear that the NCAA has no interest in protecting their member institutions from the likes of Michaels, Lake and Guillory. They want the schools to be the first line of defense with little or no guidance with regards to just how to investigate the friends, family and friends of family...you know that little known issue of a constitutional right to privacy.

'SC should also go after Bill Duffy Associates and the Sycuan Indian Tribe in San Diego that put up the seed money for New Era. I doubt they sue Reggie or O.J. but it would not bother me if they went after Reggie's parents as well. After all it was because of LaMar Griffin's greed that got us here. I mean, what's Reggie going to do, disown us?

People may not like that message but 'SC is taking the brunt of this because of the actions of others outside of the program. This does not absolve 'SC of the other findings in the report. They should have paid better attention. The compliance office was obviously asleep at the switch in a number of areas. McNair not speaking up or at least inquiring WRT Bush's relationship with Lake is on the institution as well.

At this point 'SC's guilt is immaterial to me. We would all agree that the NCAA  clearly went off the reservation in the punishment they meted out But that is a separate issue that will be dealt with on appeal. 'SC now needs to "go to the mattresses" on this. If the NCAA isn't going to protect their members then SC will just have to do it on their own. 'SC has an uphill battle with their appeal and I am not necessarily sure what if anything would be accomplished by suing the NCAA...outside of years of legal wrangling and legal fees.