NCAA Football

Surprise? NCAA Comes Down Hard On USC Football

Thought the NCAA would let USC football off easy following an investigation involving alleged improper benefits given to Reggie Bush while he played football for the school? You wouldn’t be alone – but you would be wrong.

Last night, ESPN’s Bruce Feldman tweeted that USC would be banned from postseason play for two years, lose an unspecified number of scholarships, and be hit with various other penalties. The Los Angeles Times later reported the Trojans will lose at least 20 scholarships (UPDATE: the official number is 30), and ESPN said the program will also have to forfeit wins from at least its 2004 national championship season.

Clearly, the NCAA wanted to show people they weren’t messing around with USC, and silence any doubts they would take it easy on such a big-name program. And the sanctions certainly don’t reflect well on USC’s overall athletic program, which also sanctioned itself earlier this year over violations committed in the recruitment of former basketball player O.J. Mayo, under old coach Tim Floyd.

The news will also undoubtedly raise more questions about former USC, and current Seattle Seahawks, head coach Pete Carroll. When he left USC for the NFL in January, some wondered: is he getting out because he’s afraid of being hit with a stiff penalty by the NCAA? The Seahawks said they weren’t worried, but the apparent sanctions sure look like a cause for concern.

The most likely scenario regarding Carroll’s move is that he genuinely wanted to prove he could hack it in the pros, and a good opportunity to do so in Seattle presented itself. (His $6.5 million/year salary with the Seahawks, a more than $2 million raise over his already-astronomical USC compensation, probably didn’t hurt either.) However, Carroll did show signs of frustration with the off-field aspects of the college game, even happily noting that “there’s no compliance office” in the NFL when he took the Seahawks job. He was happy to just be able to focus on football, and the NCAA investigation must have played a part in that.

Either way, he’s gone now, but the sanctions remain, and just made new coach Lane Kiffin’s job significantly tougher. Kiffin will probably still win because he’s a great recruiter, but with fewer scholarships, he won’t be able to work as much of his magic, and the postseason ban won’t help win over top players in the coming years. Yes, the NCAA has spoken on USC. And the message was louder than many would have ever imagined.

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