More on the (outrageous) NCAA sanctions against USC

I hate to linger on the NCAA sanctions because everything is still very much in the air until the USC appeal is heard. But the more I investigate and the more commentary I read and the more evidence I see it has become infuriatingly clear that the NCAA did a hatchet job. Throughout the report from the Infractions Committee there mountains of weak evidence, untrustworthy witnesses and assumptions up the yin yang.


Here are some things you should look if you want to truly understand how outrageous the NCAA's investigation and conclusions are:


1) Two youtube videos looking at the transcript of Lloyd Lake's testimony to the NCAA. They detail discrepancies in Lake's testimony and how the NCAA asked leading questions to get the information skewed how they wanted it (and even helped him out a couple of times).






2) The 169 page response that USC submitted to the NCAA back in December, 2009. Keep in mind that this was given to the NCAA before the sanctions were revealed and even before the hearing on infractions in February. Yes, it's long, but at the very least it's worth reading the first few pages and skimming the rest.


If you don't want to do that here's a quick excerpt:

In accusing student-athlete I and student-athlete 2 (and their families) of accepting impermissible benefits, the Staff has accepted at face value the allegations of the primary accusers, and summarily dismissed the explanations of the accused. This wholesale acceptance is unjustified, as the evidence supporting many of the allegations is corroborated by little or no testimony or documentation. 

The main accuser against USC and student-athlete l, agency partner A, has an extensive criminal record with multiple felony convictions, as well as a financial motive to provide a sensational story that damages USC. These facts are relevant in weighing his credibility. Some of agency partner A's most serious accusations are affirmatively disproved by the testimony of other witnesses and documentary evidence.

3) An interesting comment (from someone I can only assume is a lawyer) on the NCAA ruling and USC's strategy for appeal: 

Posted by DB on June 11, 2010 01:23 PM at Trojanwire.com 

I am astounded by the lack of evidence standards employed by the NCAA and I strongly believe that SC has the ability to use the CA Courts to get the major sanctions set aside if the appeal process excepts hearsay in support of sanctions. In fact on the pages 5 & 6 of the SC reply doc they bring up their right to due process which SC asserts was denied to it the by the NCAA. It is important to understand that the NCAA rules do not (can not) supersede state or federal law and SC sited Cason v. Glass Bottle Blowers Association of U.S. and Canada, 37 Cal.2dl34,143-144 as case law whereby this has already been adjudicated and established that associations must abide by Fair Process.

If a CA court rules that SC was denied due process it can invalidate the NCAA sanctions.

Another critical issue is the use of “Hearsay” as evidence which is essentially the basis of SC response to the NCAA assertions that Lake and others acted with the knowledge SC i.e. McNeal. As you will see below in the case of Tarkanian he asserted that he was denied due process and that the enforcement case was built on hearsay. While the NCAA has the right to discipline it was ruled that hearsay evidence was not admissible in infraction cases.

Can SC prove that the evidenced used to support major sanctions and a lack of institutional control meets the hearsay standard? If it can any sanctions based on that standard will have to be dismissed by law.

SC can get an injunction against the NCAA until the appeal process and court findings have been completed. SC can use the courts to rule on hearsay aspects of NCAA claims and if the courts rule that factual evidence does not support certain NCAA findings it can force the NCAA to set aside those rulings.

Essentially, SC can boil this down to those two issues and because there is already long standing case law they don’t have to litigate the whole case. SC can ask the CA courts to rule on due process and the hearsay standard.

I believe SC has already signaled to the NCAA that they will follow this path……

Just months before the 1976–77 season, the NCAA placed UNLV on two years' probation for "questionable practices." Although the alleged violations dated back to 1971—before Tarkanian became coach—the NCAA pressured UNLV into suspending Tarkanian as coach for two years. Tarkanian sued, claiming the suspension violated his right to due process. In September 1977, a Nevada judge issued an injunction which reinstated Tarkanian as coach. The case eventually made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in 1988 that the NCAA had the right to discipline its member schools, but required that due process be followed—effectively upholding the original 1977 injunction.[2]

In the decade between the original suspension and the Supreme Court ruling, it was revealed that the NCAA's enforcement process was stacked heavily in the NCAA's favor—so heavily, in fact, that it created a perception that there was no due process. The enforcement staff was allowed to build cases on hearsay, and shared few of their findings with the targeted school. The resulting negative publicity led the NCAA to institute a clearer separation between the enforcement staff and the infractions committee, as well as a system for appeals. Also, hearsay evidence was no longer admissible in infractions cases.[3]

4) An excerpt from the Congressional Hearing on the NCAA Infractions Committee (brought to my attention by BonesMcCoy on WeAreSC.com:

108th Congress - Judiciary Committee Hearing on NCAA and failure to implement placement of independent judges as arbiters

These are notes from a house committee hearing in the US Congress on NCAA hypocrisy in the rules enforcement process. Most specifically, the US Congress was investigating:

"the NCAA has failed to take action on several recommendations of its own 1991 study, most notably, those relating to the hiring of independent judges to hear infractions cases and the opening of these proceedings to all. This hearing will examine those recommendations and the NCAA's decisions not to implement them. We will also examine the investigated individual's role in the process and their ability to participate fully in it. And we will examine the NCAA's restitution rule, which punishes member institutions in the event that student-athlete initiated litigation is ever resolved in favor of the NCAA"

_______________

From Page 117

II. IS IT REALLY A COOPERATIVE AND COLLEGIAL PROCESS

I directly disagree with Roberts's contention that David Price, current NCAA Vice President for Enforcement, and his investigative staff are people who ''do not act out of animus, bias, or any personal vendettas.'' This is a point I made very strongly in my oral statement. In my direct and indirect experience ''in the trenches'' of college athletics for almost 20 years, my experience has been exactly the opposite. In what is supposed to be a cooperative and collegial process in reality could not be more adversarial and caustic. The enforcement staff is made up of mostly very inexperienced, low paid investigators who have an overwhelming amount of work. Many of them are thrust in hostile situations with the mantra to vigorously and sometimes viciously put down any type of resistance or defense to charges by the NCAA. Many times institutions just acquiesce to this pressure and put up little or no defense, lest they get blackballed by the investigators or the Committee itself for being uncooperative. The scales are heavily tipped in the enforcement staffs' favor and it simply is not fair or constitutional when you are not allowed to provide an effective defense. There is a better way.

To be fair, it is very difficult to really get to the bottom of things when you have limited power and the institutions are doing anything to protect their interests. Still, I believe the mistakes the enforcement staff and COI make are far more numerous that Potuto and Roberts state and many times I believe it is intentional. This intentional behavior is based on previous relationships, power of those getting investigated, potential vendettas, and quid pro quo. Examples like this add to the dysfunctional and imperfect nature of the process. Due to that I do not believe the process is remarkably accurate as Roberts attests. I only think it is reasonably accurate and I strongly believe that enforcement and the COI have tremendous incentive to pursue false or trumped up charges to protect the very aforementioned interests. Since the Committee is primarily made up of institutional staff members, the conflict of interest and potential for tampering is to much too high to ignore and it is ludicrous to think that it has never happened.

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III. RECOMMENDATIONS

...

I heartily endorse Representative Spencer Bachus' of Alabama efforts to finally lift the ''shroud of secrecy'' on this patently unfair and unconstitutional process. The old saying is true, ''If you cannot regulate yourselves, then the government will.'' Perhaps this is an area where government intervention absolutely needs to happen, and probably will, unless changes are made.

In this area, the NCAA has been literally begging for a congressional inquiry for over a decade. Institutions and affected individuals are not going to stand for the process as is. Sunshine is desperately needed on the process and the NCAA is so knee deep in litigation challenging it that it can no longer go unnoticed. There have been significant changes regarding NCAA enforcement since Congress last reviewed it in the 1991 spawning from the Lee Report. Some of the more notable changes included the creation of the Infractions Appeals Committee, tape recording interviews, and putting outside of the association individuals on the Committee on Infractions and the Infractions Appeals Committee. Even with these developments, there are still significant changes that must happen to ensure this process operates with integrity and respect for all individuals and institutions.

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Granted, the enforcement and infractions process is grounded in administrative law, not constitutional law. However, when dealing with institutions, reputations, and careers, constitutional due process and protections must apply or the government must make sure it happens. It cannot be reduced to blood sport when talking about someone's life and career. This is unfortunately usually done just to satisfy those who want a fall guy, while the one's really responsible continue to flaunt the integrity of higher education by cheating just win games.

It is an issue of fundamental fairness that all are guaranteed as citizens of America. The specter of NCAA investigations and sanctions can have far reaching negative effects on individuals and institutions involved. Therefore, past allegations and proven facts concerning the enforcement process including potential conflict of interest, use of secret witnesses, manufacturing evidence, and threatening employees of member schools during NCAA investigations and hearings are not keeping with the high values and integrity of intercollegiate athletics. A process that investigates itself presents on its face a major conflict of interest especially in the high stakes world of college sports. It is time to change it to provide fairness for everyone involved, including the enforcement staff and COI.

I believe that I convey workable solutions to a problem that has gone on far too long and one that needs to be fixed for college sports to survive in some semblance of an educational activity. The process as is does not allow for the real violations or violators to be uncovered. It is a mere facade to make believe that true enforcement is happening. However, it can be fixed. There are several modest and simple proposals that can upgrade this process, provide fundamental fairness, due process, and ensure that the bad actors that deserve to be punished are punished. Some of the suggestions for improvement I respectfully submit to the Constitutional Sub-Committee are:

...

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6. Make all hearings public, open to the media, to include public disclosure of hearing transcripts. If the NCAA feels they are doing it right, a little ''sunshine'' will just add needed credibility to what is now nothing more than a cloak and dagger ultra secretive process. Potuto's contention that public hearings would damage the process and hurt individuals is simply a smokescreen to protect the ''on the cheap'' get it done quick process that exists now.

...

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I do not share the optimism that Potuto and to a lesser extent Roberts have. I believe there are many more false positives and wrongful convictions via institutionalized scapegoating and sanctioned situational morality i.e. what some people do is permissible but what others do is not—even if it is the same thing. It is time to administer justice in a fair and equitable manner that ensures all, even the lowest common denominators, are protected under the constitution. I fully realize that nothing is ever perfect (although Potuto refuses to believe there is even the slightest flaw. She claims there is only miscommunication), but the current process is far from acceptable or even reasonable.

Before this NCAA report was released and the sanctions handed down, I maintained that based on the evidence USC would receive minor penalties because I believed the NCAA would rule with fairness and justice. I know now that I was wrong. Not in my assertion that the university deserved only minor sanctions, but in my belief in the NCAA. I will not make the same mistake again and I can only hope that USC takes the fight straight to the heart of the NCAA. This travesty of justice cannot be allowed to stand.

The 1928 USC Trojans: Forging a Dynasty

Throughout the summer I will be posting a series on USC teams and players of the past. The first is a profile of the 1928 USC football team.


            Long before Matt Leinart first tossed a football or Marcus Allen began weaving through defenses or the likes of John McKay and Pete Carroll showed up on the practice field, another legendary coach was laying the foundation for the more than 80 years of USC football excellence that would follow.

            Howard Jones’ 1928 Trojans were the first of USC’s 11 national championship teams, but probably the least well known today. After all, how many of even the most devoted USC fans know the names or stories of Don Williams, Russ Saunders, Jesse Hibbs, Marshall Duffield or Lloyd Thomas?

            Those are their names. This is their story.

            Since arriving at USC in 1925, Howard Jones had led the Trojans to a series of fairly successful seasons. In his first season USC tied for third place in the Pacific Coast Conference and improved to second place in 1926. By 1927 the Trojans tied for first place with an 8-1-1 record and only a 13-13 tie with Stanford kept them from playing in the Rose Bowl that year.

            The ‘28 team was talented and experienced, but had enough question marks before and throughout the season for observers to wonder exactly how high their ceiling was.

            The biggest question, which needed to be answered quickly if the team were to have any national aspirations, was who would step into the shoes of departed captain and quarterback Morley Drury, “The Noblest Trojan of Them All.”

“The Noblest Trojan of Them All”

            If you thought replacing Matt Leinart was tough, following the legend of future Hall of Famer Morley Drury may have been harder. The All-American, captain and 3-year football letterman handled just about every duty on the field including running, passing, punting, tackling and blocking. He also lettered in water polo, ice hockey and basketball during his USC career. In 1927 he rushed for an ungodly (for the time) 1,163 yards becoming USC’s first 1,000-yard rusher, a feat that would not be repeated in Southern California for 38 years until Heisman winner Mike Garrett led the nation with 1440 yards rushing in 1965. Drury was so beloved that in his final game in a USC uniform, the Trojan faithful at the Coliseum gave him a 10-minute standing ovation.

            The competition came down to two players. Junior Russ Saunders was a bruising runner who used his size to bowl over defenders. On the other hand, senior Don Williams relied on a combination of power, speed and agility to elude pursuers, but having sat out the previous season with a chipped bone in his back there were concerns about his toughness and durability.

            Still, it was Williams who stood out in preseason practices and won the starting job causing one observer to note that he “hits the line like a ton of dynamite and whizzes around end like a runaway engine.”

            The nickname would stick and “Dynamite Don” Williams solidified his selection in a September scrimmage against the San Diego Navy football team by “slipp[ing] through the Navy line, whirl[ing] around the Navy ends and gallop[ing] past Navy tacklers.”

            With the All-American tackle Jesse Hibbs anchoring a veteran offensive line, a talented backfield helmed by Williams and rounded out with Russ Saunders moved to fullback and senior Lloyd Thomas at halfback, the Trojans looked primed for a promising season.

            Indeed the season got off to a promising start as USC took a 21-0 halftime lead in their first game against the Utah State Aggies.

            The Aggies, however, would not give up easily. Star halfback Theron Smart returned the second half kickoff 85 yards for a score and then added another on a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Call to cut the Trojan lead in half.

            The USC offense responded in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs from Williams and Saunders to put the game out of reach.

            A 51-yard pick six by Lloyd Thomas in the closing seconds was icing on the 40-12 win.

           Thomas, a halfback the size of a lineman who was described by the Los Angeles Herald as “always a bulwark of defense in the backfield and a slashing interference runner (blocker),” would again display impressive defensive skill in the Trojans next game, this time in a more meaningful setting.

*----------*----------*

            In fact, it was a defensive struggle on both sides when USC met Oregon State in the Coliseum before a crowd of 51,000 (quite large for the time).

            The Trojans recovered a fumble at the Oregon State 36 early in the first quarter. Led by exceptional blocking from Jesse Hibbs, who had been moved to right end to counter the Beavers size at defensive tackle, USC marched down and scored on 12-yard run from Don Williams.

            The Oregon State defense stiffened going forward though and kept the Trojans from reaching the end zone again in the first half.

            With the offense struggling, the USC defense did more than enough to protect the lead. The Beavers were held scoreless and never crossed the USC 30 yard line.

            Oregon State’s best scoring chance came as talented back Howard Maple took a USC kickoff and burst through the Trojan coverage unit, leaving defenders in the dust. It looked like a turning point in the game for the Beavers and a surefire score for Maple who was “rated as the fleetest runner in the great Northwest.”

            Enter Lloyd Thomas.

            “All of a sudden, out from nowhere, came the bulging form of Lloyd Thomas, galloping along in hot pursuit of the fleet Maple,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Sure, Thomas got him – brought him down with a crash on the Trojan 43.”

            The Trojan defense would complete the shutout and with two scores in the second half, USC won 19-0.

            Things would not get any easier for the Trojans though as the next week the men of Troy would play what the Los Angeles Times said was “as tough a game as they will be called upon to play this year.”

*----------*----------*

            The Saint Mary’s Gaels were coming off a successful 1927 campaign under head coach Slip Madagin and the week before had challenged an excellent Cal team in a 7-0 loss.

            Lloyd Thomas started at quarterback in place of Don Williams, but with the absence of injured offensive linemen Jesse Hibbs and Charlie Boren the USC offense was in shambles.

            Thomas’ performance didn’t help matters either. The halfback turned quarterback also handled punting duties three times in the first quarter. He averaged 6 yards per punt.

            Even with the excellent field position, the Gaels were held scoreless by the USC defense and Thomas found an opportunity to redeem himself with a 60-yard scoring drive at the end of the first quarter.         

            In the second quarter Howard Jones turned to benched quarterback “Dynamite Don” Williams to ignite the men of Troy, not as a passer or rusher, but as a punter.

            In 2008 UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel spoke the words that would become infamous among USC fans: “Punting is winning.”

            What Neuheisel didn’t realize when he uttered the phrase was that those words may have applied to a game played by his rivals nearly 90 years before.

            Williams put on a clinic with his quick kicks, surpassing 50 yards several times and keeping Saint Mary’s pinned deep in their own territory for the entirety of the second quarter.

            But the game was not yet over.

            The Gaels’ Fred Stennett scored on a short touchdown run late in the third quarter to tie the game 6-6.

            Soon after, “Dynamite Don” Williams, newly reinstated as the starter, put on another clinic, this time in more traditional football skills.

            He took a sweep to the left and turned it into a 31-yard gain. Then he hit Thomas with an 18-yard pass to the goal line. Finally, to complete the trifecta, Williams caught a pass of his own from Thomas in a crowd of defenders for the go-ahead touchdown.

            Still he wasn’t finished.

            In the fourth quarter Williams led a 50-yard scoring drive, doing most of the rushing himself, to end the game 19-6.

           Writers at the time were in agreement that Williams “was the spark that galvanized the USC football eleven into action…because of his direction and his personal accomplishments without which there’s no telling what might have happened.”

           As for Williams’ kicks, USC assistant coach Leo Calland would go on to say that they “decided the outcome of the game.”

*----------*----------*

            The outcome of the Trojans’ next game was mired in controversy and mystery.

            It was a battle of unbeatens as USC traveled to UC Berkley for their one and only road game of the season. Despite that the Trojans were heavy favorites going in. On paper they outmatched the Bears in every way. But one very important aspect favored the home team.

            In the classic 2005 contest between USC and Notre Dame, Irish head coach Charlie Weiss famously instructed his groundskeepers to let the grass at Notre Dame Stadium grow long in an attempt to slow the speedy Trojan skill players.

           The 1928 Bears did Weiss one better. They didn’t bother with grass at all.

            Cal’s football field was barren, just a patch of dirt with a thin layer of sand on top.

            And it was wet.

            Never mind that it had not rained that week in Berkley, as the Los Angeles Herald put it “just how it got wet is one of those intriguing mysteries. One version is that there was a slight precipitation, limited by some strange meteorological freak, to the confines of the memorial stadium.”

            And it was ravaged.

            Though the reason for that particular issue was no mystery. The Cal freshmen and scout teams had played a game on the field just before the Trojans and Bears took the field leaving the surface in dismal condition.

            Leading up to the game, sportswriter Jack James wrote that “California has no ball carrier to compare with ‘Dynamite Don’ Williams. That boy is a whole ball club in himself.” Cal might not have had a player to compare with Williams, but they found an answer for him.

           His quickness and agility, the most important aspects of his play, hindered by the muddy field, the Trojan quarterback was abused by the Cal defense.

           “If ever a ball carrier was marked for slaughter, Don Williams was that unfortunate,” the Los Angeles Herald commented. “He took terrific punishment and battering told on him.”

            With Williams “too busy protecting himself in the clinches to inspire anyone,” it fell to sophomore quarterback Marshall Duffield to rally the troops.

            The year before Duffield starred on the USC freshman team and there was a sense that he had enough talent to one day lead the Trojans to great heights. Harry Culver, a writer for the Los Angeles Herald said that “when you see a blonde, baby-faced but sturdy gridder hurtling off tackle, tossing perfect spirals or booting the ball with an air of nonchalance, that’ll be Duffield.

            Duffield, along with Russ Saunders, led USC to its best scoring chance with four minutes left in the game, making it to the Cal 20 yard line. However, the young quarterback threw a costly interception and the Trojans left Berkley with a frustrating and disappointing 0-0 tie.

            Howard Jones had only one thing to say about the circumstances of the game: “I would not care to make a statement about the situation.”

            The men of Troy carried the hangover through to their next game against Occidental College. In a game they should have won handily, the Trojans struggled mightily in the first half before finally pulling away in the second for an unexpectedly tough 19-0 victory.

*----------*----------*

            Although USC was glad to be done with a torturous October, the month of November promised no solace for the men of Troy who were set to meet Glenn “Pop” Warner’s Stanford Indians, a team considered the “strongest all-around material” Warner had fielded in his five years as head coach and the same team that had kept the Trojans out of the Rose Bowl the year before.

            At the same time, USC assistant coach Leo Calland wrote a column in the Los Angeles Herald proclaiming that “results so far this season leave no doubt that the team representing USC is the weakest Coach Howard Jones has assembled since coming to Los Angeles. It will take a supreme will to win.”

            Whether such a statement was Jones and Calland taking a page from former USC coach “Gloomy Gus” Henderson’s book on downplaying the team’s chance of success is open to debate. However, they were not alone in such sentiment. Sportswriter Harry Culver believed that the Trojans were “outclassed in every department of the game on paper.”

            Stanford’s squad had a 10-pound per man weight advantage and Jones had never beaten a Warner coached team in his career.

           “The USC Trojans have but one way left to win – through sheer fight,” Culver wrote.

            Stanford dominated early. But the USC defense, “outclassed” as they may have been, was not lacking in “sheer fight.” Four times in the first half the Cardinal reached the USC 10 yard line. And four times the Trojan defense held them scoreless.

            Then, on the final play of the half, Stanford quarterback Biff Hoffman dropped back to pass as Chuck Smalling raced past the USC secondary. Hoffman launched a bomb to the uncovered Smalling, who was so far ahead of the defense that no Trojan was near him. He caught the ball in stride and, with a stretch of empty field before him, was off to the races.

            In the stands, 80,000 of the Trojan faithful looked on in horror.

            Enter Lloyd Thomas.

            In a scene of glorious déjà vu “Lloyd Thomas fought his way out from a mass of players and took off in pursuit. It looked almost hopeless to those in the stands but Thomas had other ideas,” Los Angeles Times writer Braven Dyer wrote. “Finally, just when it appeared that Lloyd would never catch his foe, the Trojan halfback lurched forward, wrapped his powerful arms about Smalling’s legs and brought him down with a thud on the 10 yard line.”
           For the second time that season Thomas had improbably and singlehandedly prevented a sure touchdown and just as with Oregon State “that was the play that took most of the steam out of the Big Red steam roller, for Stanford was never dangerous after that.”
            In 1989, writing in the College Football Historical Society’s newsletter, Ray Schmidt would call it “the most important play in USC’s history.”

            A dominating defensive performance in the second half and a Russ Saunders touchdown capped the 10-0 upset.

            “A team is only that good once a season,” the Los Angeles Herald wrote. “The Trojans rose above themselves playing inspired, faultless football.”

            Pop Warner put it another way: “USC was the perfect eleven, or as perfect as football teams can be made. In fact it was the most perfect game of football from a Trojan viewpoint that I have ever seen played.”

            Howard Jones would never lose to Warner again.

*----------*----------*

            The Trojans may have bested the Cardinal, but they still needed to make it through the remainder of November and they would have to do it without the services of “Dynamite Don” Williams who had fallen ill with a severe bout of influenza.

            Once again Howard Jones would turn to the young Marshall Duffield to replace Williams, but this time the sophomore didn’t fail to reach the end zone. He accounted for four touchdowns in a 78-7 drubbing of Arizona. Then he led USC in a hard fought battle with Washington State.

            After a first quarter Cougar fumble resulted in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Russ Saunders to Lloyd Thomas, Duffield scorched the WSU defense with a 75-yard scoring run and the Trojans entered halftime with a 13-6 lead.

            Ted Rohwer returned the second half kickoff to put the Cougars back in the game, but another Washington State fumble, there were five total, was recovered and returned by Francis Tappaan 37 yards for a Trojan touchdown. A short touchdown pass from Saunders to Tappaan later capped the 27-13 victory.

            The next week USC beat Idaho with a dominating performance from Saunders, who rushed for 148 yards, and the return of a healthy Don Williams, who scored a touchdown.

            The Trojans were 8-0-1 and a win over rival Notre Dame in the final game of the season “would give them a heavy claim to national championship honors.”

            The year before USC lost 7-6 in front of 120,000 at Soldier Field, allegedly the largest crowd to ever watch a football game. It was the Trojans only loss that year and Howard Jones had singled out revenge as one of the goals for the 1928 season.

            As the first quarter ticked down, the Trojans marched down the field 67-yards before Russ Saunders scored a goal line touchdown.

            The second quarter belonged to “Dynamite Don” Williams, whose running and passing led a short drive finished with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Marger Apsit.

            Revenge was well in hand in another two plays when Tony Steponovich grabbed an 18-yard pick six to put USC up by three scores.

            A 5-yard pass from Williams to Lawrence McCaslin late in the game all but ended the 27-14 win. It was the first USC win over Notre Dame in the storied rivalry.

            The Trojans had their revenge and the national championship was in reach.

            But USC never got the chance to face undefeated Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl to determine a champion on the field.

            Despite the Trojans having greater claim to a bid, on November 26^th the Rose Bowl Committee invited Cal to play the Yellow Jackets because USC had expressed a desire to spurn the bowl, wanting nothing to do with Les Henry, the committee chairman, and many of the policies he was pushing.

            USC’s official position was that they could not play in the bowl that year because all football games had to be scheduled at least one year in advance.

            Henry responded by offering USC an invitation to play in the Rose Bowl…on January 1, 1930.

            USC rejected the offer and fired back that “post-season games of any nature are against general athletic policy.” Of course, in the same breathe they made sure to state opposition to each of Henry’s policies with which they disagreed.

            Georgia Tech went on to beat Cal in a thrilling Rose Bowl game and finished the season undefeated and untied. However, USC was still rated as the national champions according to the Dickinson system because the Trojans played a more competitive schedule.

            On January 4, 1929 the men of Troy and Coach Howard Jones were awarded the Jack F. Rissman national intercollegiate trophy, the first for the school and the coach at USC.

            At the rally on campus, Dr. Dickinson told the crowd “that even had he taken into consideration the victory of Georgia Tech over California on New Year’s Day that the University of Southern California would have still be rated at the top.”

*----------*----------*

            Since 1928, USC has amassed 11 national championships, seven Heisman Trophies and 34 College Football Hall of Famers. The ’28 squad may not have been the fastest or strongest of the all-time Trojan teams, but they set the stage for the winning tradition that would follow.

            Head coach Howard Jones would coach USC until his untimely death in 1941 from a heart attack. His legacy would include a 121-36-13 record, four national championships, eight conference championships and five Rose Bowl wins in five appearances. He was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame inaugural class of 1951 and joined the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of its own inaugural class.

            In regards to his 1928 squad, when faced with the knowledge that only two of his players were included in the Associated Press All-Pacific Coast Team (Lloyd Thomas and Nate Barrager), he commented that the entire starting lineup at USC that year could have made up the All-Coast eleven.

            Senior halfback Lloyd Thomas was named to the NEA Second Team All-American squad. In recognition of his contributions to the team he won the Davis-Teschke Award, voted on by the varsity lettermen and given to the most inspirational player on the team.

Upon Thomas’ graduation, Howard Jones commented: “He is my idea of an All-American football player. I am convinced that no team in the country the past three years has had a player of more dependability than Lloyd Thomas.”

            Jesse Hibbs, the outstanding senior captain and offensive tackle who garnered All-American honors in 1927 and was the strength behind the Trojan running game, was once again named an All-American by the New York Sun, NEA and Walter Eckersall. In 1999 he was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

            “Dynamite Don” Williams, the electrifying senior quarterback and emotional spark of the team, received All-American honors from the NANA and Third Team honors from the New York World Telegram.

            Junior center Nate Barrager, a key member of the offensive line, was named to the Second Team of both the Associated Press and New York World Telegram. He would go on to captain the 1929 Rose Bowl winning squad. In 2003 he was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

            Fullback Russ Saunders, who contributed greatly to the success of the ’28 team, led the 1929 Trojans in rushing yards and scoring as a senior, won the Davis-Teschke Award that year and was named Player of the Game in the 1930 Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1994 and the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He was immortalized in 1930 as one of the models for the Tommy Trojan statue.

            End Francis Tappaan eventually won All-American honors during his senior season in 1929. He rejoined Howard Jones and the Trojans as an assistant coach from 1931-32. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

            Sophomore quarterback Marshall Duffield would indeed reach great heights at USC as he logged All-Conference honors as a junior and senior and led the 1929 team to the Rose Bowl. He still ranks as one of USC’s all-time leaders in total offense and rushing yards. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

            Other members on the 1928 team to be inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame include Jess Hill (halfback), Jess Mortensen (halfback), Willis O. Hunter (assistant coach, Athletic Director), and Jeff Cravath (assistant coach).

Rule #109: Governing bodies will always find a way to mess things up

I’m going to be blunt: The NCAA sanctions against USC are egregious, ridiculous, and atrocious.

I could go on with plenty more adjectives but in the end I would just be listing every word in the thesaurus that coincides with just plain BAD.

That’s not to say USC should not be punished.

There is no denying that the USC compliance office and Athletic Director Mike Garrett in particular made mistakes.

Could USC have done a better job monitoring Reggie Bush? Of course.

Should USC have been more diligent in baring Rodney Guillory from involvement with Trojan Athletics? Most certainly (In fact, Mike Garrett should lose his job for ever allowing that man near campus).

But given the content of the newly released NCAA report there is absolutely no reason USC should have received the penalties it has.

The two-year bowl ban, the reduction of 30 scholarships over three years, the four years of probation and the vacation of victories (including the 2005 BCS national championship) is as close as any school will come to receiving the “death penalty” in this era.

Quite frankly, the punishment does not fit the crime and an analysis of the charges and the evidence shows very clearly that the NCAA was not concerned with fairness when it was drafting this report.

Even if the worst of what USC is accused of is true, the precedent set by sanctions against other universities do not support the excessive penalties USC faces.

The NCAA was on a witch hunt and after a five year investigation they bended the facts to fit their assumptions. With the rabid college football establishment screaming for blood, they disregarded the burden of proof and slammed their hammer down with reckless force.

On what basis?

The word of a convicted felon and a man who willfully tampered with a USC student athlete.

Leading into the release of this report, it was clear to the more sane observers in college football that with the information available to the public the worst that USC could face were minor penalties. In order for the NCAA to rightfully impose major sanctions there would have to be a smoking gun, a damning piece of evidence that would bury USC that no one was aware of.

With the entirety of the NCAA’s findings now available, one thing is clear.

There is no smoking gun.

In fact, there is very little actual evidence at all and certainly none to warrant the excessive penalties handed down.

The closest thing the NCAA has to the all-important smoking gun is the testimony of a USC assistant coach assumed to be running backs coach Todd McNair.

They say they caught him in a lie and maybe they did. But as with most of this case, their evidence is circumstantial at best.

Lloyd Lake, the convicted felon who willfully tampered with a USC student, claimed that he called McNair at 1:34 a.m. on January 8, 2006 and told him to convince Reggie Bush to either honor his commitment to the would-be agent or reimburse him for everything. It is the earliest time Lake claims that McNair would have known about Bush’s violations (days after Reggie’s final game in a Trojan uniform).

McNair claimed that he could not recall such a call and that he had never spoken to Lloyd Lake in his life.

So Lake produced a phone record that proved a call occurred and that it lasted two minutes and 23 seconds. 

McNair says he doesn’t know how the two could have discussed such a weighty subject in the time it would take to order pizza.

The NCAA sided with Lake despite the fact that there is no recording of the call so the only people who know what was said are McNair and Lake.

Even if you make the assumption that the call did involve a discussion of violations and that McNair did in fact lie to investigators, there is no evidence to prove either.

Yet the NCAA still went ahead with nothing but assumptions and conjecture, deciding to take the word of an untrustworthy felon over the word of an untrustworthy liar.

In fact, the NCAA took the word (and only the word) of the untrustworthy felon quite often in the report:

Committee Rationale – Finding B-1-a-(2) – Impermissible cash payment to student-athlete 1's parents

The institution and the enforcement staff were in disagreement with regard to the facts of this finding. It was the institution's position that there is "no basis upon which to conclude that the facts (of the finding) are substantially correct," citing its belief that the allegation was based solely on statements made by agency partner A, whom the institution contends is not credible. The committee finds that the violation occurred.

As set forth earlier in this report, student-athlete 1's parents did not cooperate with the NCAA's investigation and, therefore, there was no opportunity to review financial records, which could have shed light on this issue. 

Translation: We have no hard evidence that Reggie Bush’s parents received any benefits from Lloyd Lake, but we believe the convicted felon who willfully tampered with a USC student-athlete anyways.

Committee Rationale – Finding B-1-a-(3) – Transportation to 2005 BCS Championship for student-athlete 1's family

The institution and the enforcement staff were in substantial disagreement with regard to the facts of this finding. It was the institution's position that "there is no basis upon which to conclude that (information in the finding) is substantially correct," citing the fact that the information supporting the finding is based on the testimony of agency partner A and the former brother-in-law and that there is no documentation regarding the purchase of the airline tickets. The committee finds that the violation occurred.

As set forth earlier in this report, the committee finds agency partner A credible. Moreover, the committee finds no reason to doubt the veracity of the former brother-in-law. 

Translation: We have no hard evidence that Lloyd Lake or his former brother-in-law paid for plane tickets for Reggie Bush’s family to attend the 2005 Orange Bowl but we believe the convicted felon who willfully tampered with a USC student-athlete anyways. We also believe his former brother-in-law, who “was mindful of not leaving a ‘paper trail’ and insisted the transaction be completed in cash” and would have thus been admitting to willfully aiding in the tampering of a USC student-athlete.

Committee Rationale – Finding B-1-a-(11) – Deposit of cash into student-athlete 1's banking account by agency partner A's former girlfriend

The institution and the enforcement staff were in disagreement with the facts of this finding. The institution's position was that there "is no basis to conclude that (the finding) is substantially correct," pointing to the fact that agency partner A's former girlfriend was not certain of the amount of the deposit and that agency partner A provided no corroborating records. The institution further maintained that there was no information showing that agency partner A's former girlfriend had student-athlete 1's account number, which, the institution contended, she would have needed to make a deposit into his account.

The committee finds that the violation occurred.

In making this finding, the committee relies on information provided by agency partner A and his former girlfriend… 

The committee found it persuasive that neither student-athlete 1 nor the institution could provide an alternative explanation as to how agency partner A's former girlfriend knew that student-athlete 1 banked at Washington Mutual.

Translation: We have no hard evidence that Lloyd Lake’s former girlfriend ever deposited money into Reggie Bush’s account but we believe the convicted felon who willfully tampered with a USC student-athlete anyways. We also believe his former girlfriend (who was only involved because the convicted felon was in prison at the time) who, if these allegations are true, admitted to willfully aiding in the tampering of a USC student-athlete. Furthermore, there is no possible way that the former girlfriend could have ever found out the Reggie Bush banked at Washington Mutual without depositing money into his account, because the name of the place where a person does their banking is one of the most highly guarded secrets a person could have (/sarcasm).

Ultimately, the NCAA has made it clear that despite their insistence that “the actions of these professional agents and their associates…struck at the heart of the NCAA’s Principle of Amateurism,” they are more concerned with continuing a cycle of stringing up scapegoats and punishing the wrong parties than truly tackling the problem of agents tampering with student-athletes.

USC is not innocent and deserves some form of punishment, but a FAIR form of punishment. Too much of the NCAA report is based solely on the word of – say it with me – a convicted felon who willfully tampered with a USC student-athlete, a man whose actions “threatened the efforts of the NCAA and its member institutions to sponsor and support amateur competition at the collegiate level” and violated the very principles the NCAA claims to hold so dear. The same man who will get off scott free despite his crimes.

(special thanks to several members of the WeAreSC.com forum community whose early analysis of NCAA report helped shape this posting, in particular 6DyNasTy6, from whom I gathered some more specific ideas)