Be honest...
Who didn't see this coming?
This is exactly what I expected.
Lets start with a laugh!
I chuckle at articles like these, I mean really? The NCAA missed a chance to make a big statement? The NCAA already made their statement. That crime pays....a coach can lie (Tressel, gets Show Cause) or not remember/lie (Kelly, gets Show Cause) or have repeated instances of academic fraud (UNC) and the respective programs can walk when compared to USC for having done less.
Last time I read the report none of USC's coaches were cited for breaking rules that resulted in a show cause.
Even supposed experts like Stewart Mandel were way off the mark.
Anyone theorizing Oregon is going to get a slap on the wrist tomorrow is nuts. Won't be USC-esque, but will be significant. Because ...
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 25, 2013
… Third-party recruiters is one of the NCAA's biggest concerns. Lyles, classified as a booster, gave recruits gifts. And furthermore …
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 25, 2013
… it comes at a time when the industry is questioning NCAA enforcement's backbone. Oregon may actually pay for the Miami screwup.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 25, 2013
I love that last one...
We haven't even got to Miami yet....that will be the icing on the cake.
Remind me not to ask Mandel to pick my Lotto numbers in the future.
I am hardly mad at Oregon. In fact I am glad they got off. No school should EVER go through what USC has gone through.
Oregon played it perfectly and did exactly what USC should have done...hire an expert to walk them through it.
You know where this is going so buckle up...
When you see the results of the last few NCAA major infraction cases that were supposedly going to be the crimes of the century you see that those respective schools used every tool available to them.
Contrast that to USC, who buried their heads in the sand.
Mike Garrett is an easy target but don't forget Haden and Nikias were on the BoT. Only a fool could not have known what was coming. Don't buy into all the talk that USC was shocked when the penalties were announced, they knew the knives were out. A number of higher ups had to know that 'SC was screwed when the official charges were announced before the COI met.
All those law degrees and no one saw that the NCAA was lining USC up for a mortar strike.
Ha! Sure they didn't know.
By the time USC knew what the NCAA was going for it was too late for USC to change course. I mean Pat Haden could have got on USC's private jet and met with the NCAA and said the same things he said about the NCAA before the appeal.
I stand firm on my claim that USC let this go because discovery cuts both ways. Compliance falls under the Provost who was Nikias. USC has too much on the line right now to fight over lost money or the football programs reputation. And they sure as hell don't care about wins or trophies.
I get that, so what not just come out and say it?
And I can guarantee if those McNair documents are released the regime won't do anything about that either.
The NCAA's constant changing how they punish schools is a bitter pill to swallow, but it is clear all those other programs went to school on how USC handled it.
"Fair minded people" my ass!
There will never be another punishment like USC was hit with. All you have to do is look at tOSU, UNC and now UO. USC wasn't hit because they broke the rules...they were hit because they were arrogant and/or ignorant. And it went all the way to the top.
I know some will disagree vehemently with this (not shocking), but I only care about football. I have been transparent on that. I don't have the same attachment to the school that many of you have, so I can't feel the same pride that all of the good things that the school as a whole have done of late. Trying to wave that flag for me would not be genuine.
But here is where the rubber meets the road.
Pat Haden said USC was going to start "winning the right way"...that definition is wide ranging.
If USC is "winning the right way" then how come USC ranks 9th in APR in the Pac-12 while UCLA ranks 2nd?
The same UCLA that just won an NCAA Title in Baseball....with our former pitching coach.
Let that sink in for a moment........