As previously reported, the sanctions include a two-year postseason ban on the football team and reduction of scholarships. NCAA accepts self-imposed sanctions on basketball program.
UPDATED June 10, 3:45 p.m.: Pete Carroll Responds to NCAA Sanctions on USC Former Basketball Coach Tim Floyd’s lawyer released a statement on Floyd’s behalf, stating that the NCAA did not find any wrongdoing on the part of Floyd or his assistants.
UPDATED June 10, 1:10 p.m.: USC released an announcement in response to the NCAA ruling that it will appeal some of the sanctions handed down by Committee on Infractions. USC’s senior vice president for administration Todd Dickey said, “We acknowledge that violations occurred and we take full responsibility for them. However, we sharply disagree with many of the findings in the NCAA Committee on Infractions Report. Further, we feel the penalties imposed are too severe for the violations identified in the report.”
Todd Dickey, USC Senior Vice President for Administration responds to the NCAA ruling.
Dickey added, “We will accept those sanctions we believe to be consistent with penalties imposed upon other NCAA member institutions found guilty of similar rules infractions. We are hopeful that the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee will agree with our position on appeal, and reduce the penalties.”
“There is a systemic problem facing college athletes today: unscrupulous sports agents and sports marketers,” he stated. “The question is how do we identify them and keep them away from
our student-athletes?”
“We cannot and will not tolerate this. Our program must set the highest standards in the country. USC deserves that and our 640 student-athletes deserve that.”
According to the University’s statement, USC will not comment about specific elements of its position while it is in the appeals process.
University president Steven Sample also released a statement, echoing Dickey’s words.
“While we sharply disagree with many of the conclusions reached by the NCAA Committee on Infractions,” Sample wrote, “the fact is that there were violations, and we must take responsibility for those violations. The process of self-scrutiny must involve everyone close to the university and the athletics department and ask: What went wrong? What should we do differently?”
“We fully intend to have the very best athletics department and athletics compliance program in the country. But let’s not kid ourselves—no amount of resources can guarantee that we can keep every unscrupulous sports agent or marketer away from our student-athletes and their families. All of us at USC will strive to do everything humanly possible to minimize the possibility of infractions occurring in the future. We can do better, we must do better, and we shall do better, but perfect we will never be.”
Football Coach Lane Kiffin, Basketball Coach Kevin O’Neill and Quarterback Matt Barkley respond to the NCAA sanctions
The NCAA formally announced its sanctions on the USC athletic department Thursday, penalizing the football, men’s basketball, and women’s tennis programs for violations that led the collegiate athletics governing body to conclude that the University had a lack of institutional control on its athletic department.
The actions of those individuals found to be acting improperly “threatened the efforts of the NCAA and its member institutions to sponsor and support amateur competition at the collegiate level,” according to the NCAA report.
The NCAA began its investigation into USC four years ago, amid allegations that former Trojan running back Reggie Bush received improper benefits while at USC. The report does not specifically mention Bush or basketball player O.J. Mayo--who was also accused of receiving improper benefits while at USC--but instead refers to “former student-athletes.”
“I have a great love for the University of Southern California,” Bush said in a statement today. “I am disappointed by [Thursday’s] decision and disagree with the NCAA’s findings. If the University decides to appeal, I will continue to cooperate with the NCAA and USC, as I did during the investigation.”
As a result of the NCAA’s ruling, the athletic department will be placed on probation for a period of four years. The football program will be banned from bowl eligibility for the next two seasons, and scholarships will be reduced by ten for each of the next three seasons. The football team will also lose 20 days of recruiting, barring coaches from contacting recruits during that time period.
USC will also forfeit football wins from the 2004 and 2005 seasons, including bowl games.
USC students react to the NCAA sanctions. (Video by Sharareh Drury)
The basketball team will not face major sanctions other than those already self-imposed by the University last year. These included the loss of postseason eligibility last season and the reduction of one scholarship for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. However, both the football and basketball programs will ban boosters and other non-university personnel from team charters, practices, camps, and locker rooms.
The women’s tennis team will be asked to forfeit wins by the women’s tennis team between November 2006 and May 2009, including post-season competition. This penalty is a result of a women’s tennis player using an athletics department phone to make more than 100 international phone calls to family members during that period. The calls were valued at more than $7,000.
The University will also pay a $5,000 fine.
The report says that “the general campus environment surrounding the violations troubled the committee,” noting that the University failed to heed clear warning signs of wrongdoing and failed to properly monitor and regulate their athletic programs.
The bulk of the sanctions come as a result of a partnership between two individuals and the family of a former football player, presumably Reggie Bush. The report says that the player and his family received thousands of dollars, a car, housing and travel expenses, and other gifts. When one of the partners called an unnamed assistant coach in 2006 asking for the player to adhere to his agreement with the two individuals, the NCAA reports that the assistant did not take adequate steps to notify compliance staff, and then later misled enforcement staff.
Similar benefits were reportedly given to a former men’s basketball player, generally assumed to be O.J. Mayo. The gifts provided to Mayo included cash, wireless cell phone service, transportation costs, and clothing. According to the report, former head coach Tim Floyd and athletic director Mike Garrett knew about these infractions but did not take steps to monitor recruitment.
The NCAA also says that the USC football program employed an extra coach, who analyzed video of the team and acted as a consultant.
The NCAA says that the lack of cooperation by USC officials, Bush, and Mayo, created difficulties and delays in the investigation.
USC will respond to the allegations in the next hour. ATVN will update this story with more information as soon as it becomes available.
