So, now the feds are going to look into the Mayo mess
Anthony Salerno, Johnson's Los Angeles-based attorney, said the scope of the various agencies' investigation is still unclear.
No complaints here, maybe this sort of scrutiny will make guys like Guillory think twice before doing this sort of thing. Regardless of what happens to SC having the feds sniff around will hopefully show the collective brain trust of the NCAA that until they find a way to enforce the rules or make the players responsible for these actions.
What I like about it is that a paper trail could now be established that could hopefully show lawmakers that they need to finally enforce or stiffen the laws already on the books. Another great thing is that guys like Lloyd Lake won’t be able to play the sorts of games that he has been playing with his lawsuit with Bush. Bush isn’t necessarily clean but if the feds are going to dig into these sorts of accusations it could prove more of a deterrent than weak laws or no possible punishment at all once a player gives up his eligibility.
I am unapologetic on this, schools being left to hold the bag after these guys leave hurts a lot of people if sanctions are handed down. Its not just the players but the potential money lost due to a lack of T.V. time or ticket sales when a program takes a hit is bad for the tax base and people can lose jobs. Those repercussions are often forgotten about or even ignored but they are just as devastating. I am pretty certain that outside of the stupidity of letting Guillory around the program that SC didn’t know what was going on. Of course if someone had merely spoke up about Guillory we may have never been in this situation to begin with.
Having almost gone through my interview with the DOJ on a business matter I can tell you that these guys need to buckle up because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. They deserve it!
Clarification:
I have seen elsewhere where the thought process is that with the Feds now involved that SC will finally get hammered. People need to understand one thing here; SC is not implicated in this. I am sure Mayo will have to answer some questions and he should. That’s a good thing, as it will either clear him or it won’t. Bix made a great point in his comment, Johnson coming forward could quite possibly bring him into the investigation as well and that’s a good thing too he shouldn’t be allowed to profit from a book if he was a part of the conspiracy form the start.
If SC is culpable then they deserve what they get. I have said before that it’s hard not to think that some at SC ignored the warning signs when they knew about Guillory from the Trepagnier incident in 2000 so how could they not have been wary.
The other good thing with the Feds sniffing around is that this mess won’t drag out for 2 years like the Bush mess has.