The NCAA's report on USC, which is reportedly 67 pages, will be released to the public today at 12:00 P.M. PST.
Stay tuned for more updates.
12:04 - NCAA did find a lack of institutional control regarding USC and also found them to be a "repeat offender."
12:05 - Three sports were involved, football, men's basketball, and women's tennis
12:05 - Case directly stems from agent contact with two players - Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo
12:06 - Per Bryan Fischer of USCFootball.com: OJ Mayo violations: received cash, electronic devices, services, meals, transportation and a TV. Reggie Bush violations: received a vehicle, rent free home for parents, airline tickets, hotel room, cash, limo, furniture, appliance.
12:09 - There was found "a lack of institutional control, impermissible inducements, extra benefits, exceeding coach staff limits, and unethical conduct by an assistant football coach."
12:11 - Exact punishments for USC include four-year probation, vacation of wins in basketball for 2009-2010, 2-year bowl ban for football, women's tennis must vacate wins, and a fine of $5,000.
12:12 - Loss of 30 scholarships over 3 years.
12:12 - USC forced to dissociate from Bush, Mayo, and Rodney Guillory.
12:13 - RB coach Tod McNair barred from recruiting for one year.
12:14 - Wondering what the violations are regarding women's tennis? According to Fischer, they stem from an athlete making $7,000 overseas calls and failure to report violation.
12:17 - Basketball receives a one-year postseason ban, but it was fulfilled last season meaning next year's team is eligible for the postseason.
Update #1: From the Orange County Register
Update #2: From the Los Angeles Times
The actual report can be found here. I've posted a good chunk of the information above, but more details can be found elsewhere.
We'll have more later.
Regarding the football side of things, the problem appears to extend to failures on the part of running backs coach Todd McNair, who ironically, is still on staff. McNair failed to monitor according to report and even presented misinformation:
Further, the assistant football coach knew or should have known that student-athlete 1 and agency partners A and B were engaged in violations that negatively affected student-athlete 1's amateurism status. The assistant football coach provided false and misleading information to the enforcement staff concerning his knowledge of agency partner A's and B's activity and also violated NCAA legislation by signing a document certifying that he had no knowledge of NCAA violations.
- Tim Floyd was not found to have committed a violations. The story of the $1,000 in cash he handed to Mayo is incorrect.
Update #3: USC to appeal NCAA Ruling in regards to its findings involving football
Los Angeles, CA - June 10, 2010 -- The University of Southern California today announced that, after reviewing the NCAA Committee on Infractions report, it will accept some of the penalties imposed by the Committee and it will appeal those penalties it believes are excessive.
The university noted that it is pleased that the NCAA determined that USC's self-imposed penalties on men's basketball and women's tennis were sufficient, and that the NCAA imposed no further sanctions.
"We acknowledge that violations occurred and we take full responsibility for them. However, we sharply disagree with many of the findings in the NCAA Committee on Infractions Report. Further, we feel the penalties imposed are too severe for the violations identified in the report," said Todd Dickey, USC's senior vice president for administration.
Dickey added, "We will accept those sanctions we believe to be consistent with penalties imposed upon other NCAA member institutions found guilty of similar rules infractions. We are hopeful that the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee will agree with our position on appeal, and reduce the penalties."
Update #4: Ted Miller of ESPN makes some interesting points.
Here's what Paul Dee, chair of the committee on infractions, had to say about whether violations surrounding a star player are worse than violations surrounding a scrub: "High profile players demand high profile compliance."
So Dee is saying that Bush's status -- he won the 2005 Heisman Trophy -- which was described in detail in the NCAA report without the use of his name (he's referred to as Student-Athlete 1), provoked a harsher penalty.
Also, one other notable point: The NCAA report didn't cite former coach Pete Carroll for any violations.
So, if Carroll washes out with the Seattle Seahawks, he's free to return to college football.
USC is going to appeal these sanctions, as I previously stated so expect them to use this as the basis of the appeal. They're going to contend that the penalties are"excessive." That's how it'll work.
In their defense, they'll likely contend the idea that Bush's high-profile status makes them somehow more culpable. Expect an argument along the lines of "all players are equal no matter how they perform on the field." A violation by Bush is equal to a violation committed by a walk-on receiver.
Also, the fact that Carroll is not cited in the report has to help. Can the NCAA really bring down the hammer if the primary violations were committed by an assistant coach - Todd McNair? I'm not so sure. The appeal process is going to get interesting.
Want more? Follow me on Twitter @Joey_Kaufman