A Giant Problem For USC
By author
A Giant Friday dedicated to USC:
Good morning to you all on a wonderful Friday, unless you are Reggie Bush, Pete Carroll, Lane Kiffin, or have any affiliation with USC. The NCAA came down hard on USC yesterday, with a two year post-season ban (no bowl games, no national championships), stripping the program of 30 scholarships over 3 years, and vacating 14 victories from December 2004 through the 2005 season. Ouch! Looks like the big boy has finally been spanked. The punishment handed down to USC is especially damning even though Pete Carroll and Tim Floyd (the two coaches presiding over the football and basketball programs during that time) have both left the university (interesting timing Pete, very interesting). And we thought the never-ending investigation into Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo would prove fruitless given the amount of time elapsed and the lack of recent media coverage. Not a good Friday in Trojan land for sure. And, lots of people are smiling today in Tennessee where Lane Kiffin left the program in the middle of the night in a not so professional fashion to pursue his dream job at USC. I would love to be a fly in the wall in Lane Kiffin’s office this morning.
But, back to Pete Carroll, who is now the face of the Seattle Seahawks franchise. Can you say “teflon coach?” Perhaps Pete is able to move forward and not look back while he tries to bring the Seahawks back to respectability, but his legacy is tainted and more punishment could still be handed down, including vacating a Pac-10 Championship, a BCS Championship, and Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy. Talk about embarrassing.
Cheaters never win Pete, never. And, I am not buying what Pete Carroll is selling, i.e., he had no knowledge of these infractions and his program cooperated fully with investigators. To be fair, Reggie Bush’s assertion that he has complied and cooperated fully with the NCAA’s investigation is a complete farce. Carroll and Bush are two peas in a pod on this one and they are getting what they deserve. Some would the say the same thing for Lane Kiffin as well.
At least Kiffin has an opportunity to build-up the program from the sanctions, but without the same scholarship amount as all of the other Pac-10 schools, not to mention the likely realignment of the Pac-10 which could bring in big, bad Texas, USC is looking more vulnerable than ever. Good luck Lane, and to the rest of us, Stay Blue!