U.S.C. Receives Two-Year Ban and Loses Title

[Scurrilous]

Source: NYTimes

<snip>

"The National Collegiate Athletic Association severely penalized the University of Southern California on Thursday, barring its football team from bowl games for two years and ordering it to vacate its 2004 national championship, citing major violations by the football and men’s basketball programs. The harshest penalties stem from improper benefits given to the Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and the basketball player O. J. Mayo, which the N.C.A.A committee on infractions said struck at the heart of the association’s amateurism principle.

The N.C.A.A. barred the football program from bowl games for the 2010 and 2011 seasons, forced it to vacate all victories in which Bush participated beginning in December 2004 — including the Orange Bowl victory that produced the Trojans’ Bowl Championship Series title in January 2005 — and docked the Trojans 10 scholarships in each of the next three seasons. The university was cited for lack of institutional control.

The announcement was made in a news conference by the committee chairman, Paul Dee of the University of Miami, and the report was made available on the N.C.A.A. Web site.

These were the stiffest penalties given to any university since the N.C.A.A. issued the “death penalty” to the Southern Methodist football program in 1986, shutting it down for two years."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/sports/ncaafootball/11usc.html?src=mv

[Uben]

1. Money buys everything.....almost!

..........unless you get caught! I think harsher penalties are in order for cheating. Two years is not enough. They'll just wait two years, save their monies, and then buy the best team when they get back in. If caught a second time, they should be barred from all NCAA competitions permanently.

[Suich]

2. It's about time!!! n/t

[theHandpuppet]

34. Damn right

They've been getting away with this kind of crap for years, and not just in the football program.

[alp227]

3. The problem with the punishment?

The athletes involved at the time get off scot free. The athletes now get punished for something they didn't do. (Mandatory political allusion: Bush administration messed up the economy for much of the 2000s, and conservatives bash the Obama administration for causing the recession.) NCAA=Naive, Corrupt Arbiters of Achivement.

[KansDem]

4. College athletes should be put on work-study programs.

They could work they're way through college. If they play a 3-hour game, then they should be reimbursed for those 3 hours at the standard w-s hourly rate. Same with practice.

A lot of w-s students pay they way through college...

[wilt the stilt]

5. what fantasy world do you live in n/t

[KansDem]

6. How appropriate...

...coming from someone with your screen name.

"Wilt Chamberlain," no doubt?

I read the biography of this former Jayhawker. Did you know he never like the moniker "Wilt the Stilt?" He preferred "Dipper" but the sports press thought otherwise...

[wilt the stilt]

8. college sports is a profession and has been for years

look at what Calipari did to those"scholarship" athletes when he took over at Kentucky. He fired them. Kids are SOL. Scholarships are for 1 year. Kids are shown the door all the time. why wouldn't they take all they can get.

[wilt the stilt]

11. My son's best friends brother is

the star receiver on USC's team(Brice Butler) and I feel bad for him.

[KansDem]

20. Sorry to hear that

:(

How will this suspension affect current players? I mean, I would imagine it will hamper their careers is they wanted to go on to pro sports...

[wilt the stilt]

22. I think he is screwed

He was redshirted his first year and that means from what I understand is if he transfers he has to sit out a year. His father was a 12 year pro for the Atlanta falcons. He is destined to play in the NFL.

[Threedifferentones]

24. No the ban is not like that.

It is just a ban on bowl game appearances, they will still play a full 12 game schedule, just no chance for a 13th, no matter how well they do. So plenty of chances to show off for the pros.

Having to give up the championship is what will really sting the fans of USC.

It really kills the kids on that team who do not make it to the pros. Not that I feel terribly bad for any football player good enough to go to USC, but they are losing the highlight of their lifelong careers.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Is that in addtion to the scholarship they receive?

[KansDem]

12. I'm not certain...

I used work-study to help me through college (I worked in the library), but I don't know if the program could be used along with scholarships. :shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

28. If work study is included it would probably be based on need.

And I doubt that unless an athlete received less than a full scholarship which most of the them probably do. Then it would be based on need.

Most athletes will receive a full scholarship especially at the major colleges. And not likely to offer less for any of their players they don't want to lose to another school.

[wilt the stilt]

18. here is how it works

each team in D1 gets 85 scholarships to work with per year. The next 3 years USC only gets 75. This hurts as they lose 10 players per year and will have to have walkons help. Working in the library is a joke when USC costs $50,000 per year. So they are at a competitive disadvantage. What really hurts is that they can't compete for the national championship as they can't go to a bowl so blue chip athletes won't want to go there.

[AllTooEasy]

13. The problem with your argument...

...is that the scholarship value doesn't come close to the amount of money the institution receives. So Reggie Bussh received $100,000 in tuition, room, board, etc from USC. They made 10s of millions off of him! Employees at non-unionized sweatshops get a better cut!

And don't give me that "education is priceless" BS. En engineering degree from Stanford is priceless. A sports medicine degree from USC only gets you an application to grad school.

Plus, have you played football??? I only played high school and I should have received a 5-figure salary for those hits! I can't imagine PAC-10 football!!!

[KansDem]

16. Yes, I played football...

I was center and bought the "everybody's important on this team" bullshit! :rofl:

Yeah, right..."Everybody's important." How much to centers make compared to running backs?

I just wonder about the practice of paying huge sums of money to athletes to "represent" a school...

[SomeGuyInEagan]

14. I would go a step further and get athletics out of colleges and universities all together.

And I like college football.

But to be honest, I would rather they just strip athletics out completely and either allow them to set up a self-supporting clubs or minor league teams for pro sports. I know that is a "throw the baby out with the bathwater approach" but as someone who has worked at universities I have seen too many "self supporting" athletic programs which are certainly not self supporting, where university resources are re-directed and/or re-prioritized which just happen to benefit the football booster club's parking or the basketball training facility or space for the new stadium.

Not to mention the way the players are used by the system and spit out once injured or at the end of eligibility. With the practice, training, travel and playing demands they have, it is amazing to me that any college athlete gets a degree completed, especially those who play sports which span two semesters like basketball and wrestling.

Just my rant.

[KansDem]

19. I agree with your rant

Return colleges and universities to academics and if the alumni boosters want to get plastered some afternoon, let them go see a game at the local football club...

[Blue_Tires]

7. Pete Carroll: "So long, suckers!!"

[Baclava]

10. ha ha - his bailout comes just in the nick of time

I love the fact Lane Kiffin's smug ass has to reap this shit after he screwed over all his recruits at Tennessee.

p.s.

the real USC is in Carolina - Go COCKS.

[AngryOldDem]

15. Will Bush have to give up the Heisman?

Earlier there was some speculation that he might.

[Scurrilous]

21. No word yet. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

29. If they do they should take it back and keep it. Don't even give it to the second place person.

As the voting might have turned out different because most of the focus was on Bush.

[totodeinhere]

17. As a Washington Huskies fan who hates USC I'm loving it. n/t

[POAS]

30. As an Ohio State fan I'm right there with you!

[goclark]

32. As a USC grad I'm not loving it

We love our Football Team and we love USC! :cry:

I'm sure that USC is not the only school that has done this but USC is punished. That's fair. our cross town rivals call USC
" The University of Spoiled Children." I have to admit that title is Fair too.

What USC did is just the tip of the iceberg in college football.
It's a very large iceberg if they really look deeply. I bet they just leave it with USC.

Go Trojans!

[MGKrebs]

23. So who was the 2004 national champ[ion?

Does Oklahoma get to claim it?

[Scurrilous]

27. No one gets it:

"The NCAA’s decision to have the USC football team vacate victories from its national championship season in 2004 could result in the school being stripped of its title under a rule adopted by the Bowl Championship Series in 2007.

However, any such ruling by the BCS, which is independent of the NCAA, would wait until any appeals by the school are exhausted.

"In accordance with the findings released today by the NCAA, the University of Southern California’s 2005 Orange Bowl game victory has been vacated.” BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “We take the integrity of NCAA rules seriously. As a procedural matter, the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee (POC) must meet to formally consider vacating USC’s championship title and the game records. If the POC takes such action, there would be no BCS champion for the 2004-05 season. The POC will meet shortly to discuss this matter.

"In light of USC’s statement that it intends to appeal, we want to make it clear that no action will go into effect until the appeal is heard and decided by the NCAA."

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ys-uscbcs061010

[LiberalFighter]

31. Does USC have to return the money from the game?

I think they should.

[goclark]

33. Thanks for the update nt

[underpants]

25. So Pete Carroll won exactly ZERO National Championships at USC

2004 was the only claim they had even though their PR department claimed three

[IDemo]

26. This has got to leave many Volunteers chuckling

Just sayin'