Another side to the story around USC sanctions
I know most people’s reactions to the sanctions levied upon USC range from “they finally got what they deserve” to all out jubilation, especially up here in Pac-10/Husky country. ESPN’s Jay Bilas has written a really good article showing the other side of how the investigation and penalties went down. The findings produced by the NCAA are sketchy at best and while the Trojan football program probably does deserve some punishment, which it had already self-imposed, what was brought down on them was probably a bit too harsh. Especially since I am not one of those people who believes a coach does or should know every single thing that happens in the lives of every person associated with his team. Aside from the revelations and views from Bilas on the matter, and the legendary coach he compares Carroll to, there are two things that I found suprising and deplorable.
Which one of these coaches doesn't belong?
First off, did you know that through all these investigations into USC athletics, that former basketball coach Tim Floyd was found to be not found guilty of anything? I don’t know what to think about that. My first reaction, was “are you effing crazy!?” He seemed like one of the biggest slime bags ever. By my memory, weren’t there reports that he personally was seen handing money to OJ Mayo’s agent/handler? Weren’t basketball, not football violations the first and main thing that USC admitted too and punished themselves for a year ago? I was and still am baffled. If you think about it though, if the “evidence that the NCAA had against Floyd was so flimsy as to be nonexistent”, as Bilas’ article says, then how was this fair to Floyd? He lost his job over this. He’s basically blacklisted in college basketball at this point, regulated to never being anything more than an assistant coach in the NBA (not that that is so bad). I may not have liked the guy, but is a great college coach. Hell, that’s part of why I hated him. I’m a Husky fan, he was at USC, and building a great program that threatened our basketball power. If he had sucked, I not only would not have hated him, I probably would have been a fan and hoped that he stayed at USC forever (think Paul Wolff). The NCAA basically ruined or at least significantly hurt this guy’s life over nothing. I might hate him in the sports world, but in the real world, I don’t think anyone deserves that.
Then there was the second mini revelation I had from the article. Did you know “…that the chair of the Committee on Infractions that slammed USC is Paul Dee, the former athletic director at Miami? Dee was in charge of the Miami program when the Hurricanes’ football team was hit with some of the most severe sanctions in NCAA history.” You’ve got to be kidding me. As Bilas goes on to say, “Why is Dee, who presided over a cheating and scandalous program by NCAA standards, allowed to chair the Committee on Infractions, which sits in judgment of other programs?” I have no idea myself. That’s like putting Nixon in charge of the Senate ethics committee.
Check out the article. I really think it will be worth your time (and hopefully this was too): http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog?name=bilas_jay&id=5345541
