I wanted to offer up just a couple of thoughts on the past 12 hours of the news cycle.
We really don't just what is in the report that will be announced today at 12pm PDT. The rumored sanctions would indicate a couple of things to me. And it ain't pretty!
1) That the NCAA tagged us with "Lack of Institutional Control".
2) That it is possible that someone at USC knew or should have known. This is of course a significant call and the penalty is reflecting that.
3) They may have more on the program than we publicly know. More is sure to come out at today's press conference...
Please understand this and let it sink in...
This is just the beginning.
Getting the report takes one weight off of our shoulders.
But once we see what is in the report we are back at the starting gate. This report will only produce more questions. There will be a lot of anger and frustration directed in a lot of different directions. Some will be at Pete Carroll, some at Mike Garrett and even more still towards Reggie Bush and his family.
OJ Mayo and Tim Floyd will also feel some of the angst out there as well.
I am not really concerned about hoops. Don't get me wrong, I want the team to do well but the sport just isn't my thing to follow religiously. If there is more in store for the hoops program WRT further sanctions to me it is just background noise. Obviously, any more damage to the hoops program only hurts 'SC as a whole but if I never saw another basketball game it would not matter.
I am not concerned about what other fan bases say or think. They can say or think what they want as long as they do it elsewhere. Some of it will be funny, some of it will nasty...but what you don't read or hear can't hurt you. So, unless I get a hankerin' for fight I don't plan of keeping up with the Jones'.
This is going to hurt USC but there aren't many programs that can take this sort of hit and survive. USC will survive, they will be back even though the Pac-10 landscape is about to undergo a significant change. USC is a timeless program, they will still get their share of players., While on they are on probation, they will still get a ton of TV exposure...more than just about any other program on the west coast. Other teams will dance on our graves but we have seen this before...when 'SC was down in the 80's and 90's no other Pac-10 team stepped up to be a nationally significant program.
Losing bowl games is significant in terms of money and exposure for the players, but we aren't the first and won't be the last to have this happen. But it is happening to us so it is our turn in the barrel.
'SC is in for some down years but they won't disappear of the face of the map.
Until I see all that the NCAA has on USC I won't be able to definitively know the impact. The "rumored" sanctions indicate that 'SC is going to get hammered...based on some things I have heard off the grid I tend to believe it.
We will find out in just under three hours...