Southern Cal's Wait on Fate Appears Close to An End

LOS ANGELES -- Heritage Hall, which houses the University of Southern California athletic department, still looks the same.

It remains situated in the middle of campus and the main lobby continues to feature wall-to-wall items that highlight the Trojans' impressive athletic history.

But in recent weeks, the atmosphere inside Heritage Hall has been a little bit different due to the NCAA's 50-year long (OK, that may not be true but it sure feels that way) investigation into the school's football and basketball programs.

With a ruling expected to be finally released this week, USC seems prepared to be punished for shaky relationships regarding 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush (right) and his family, who allegedly received illegal benefits from start-up sports marketers, and former basketball player O.J. Mayo, who reportedly received cash and other illegal benefits when he played for the Trojans.

What level of punishment? That's been anyone's guess, including Pacific 10 commissioner Larry Scott, who said the league office doesn't have any idea of what the results will be from the NCAA's slow-moving investigation.

This has only added to the tension around Heritage Hall.

"I don't think anyone thought it would take this long," said a longtime USC athletic department employee. "It started out like a little shadow in the corner of the room but has grown into a huge elephant that's hard to ignore no matter what you do."



Share Although former USC football coach Pete Carroll said that he doesn't expect the NCAA to drop the hammer on the Trojans, most people around Heritage Hall don't seem to hold the same confidence. Even Lane Kiffin, who replaced Carroll in January, expects some type of discipline.

In January, USC admitted to cheating within the basketball program and sanctioned itself, including a ban on postseason participation, a reduction of scholarships and vacating all of its wins from 2007-08 season.

But everyone knows the meat of the NCAA probe is connected with the Trojans' football program.

If Kiffin and Co. are hit with the same type of punishment that included vacating victories, returning bowl game money and losing scholarships, that would be a major setback for a program under a new coach and coming off its worst season in nearly a decade.

"That certainly would open the door for other programs in the Pac-10, especially UCLA," ESPN analyst Brian Griese said on College Football Gameday.

So how did USC get to this point?

The Trojans' current problems really did not begin until April 2006, when the Pac-10 opened up a probe into Bush's relationship with Michael Michaels, a would-be sports marketer who owned a San Diego-area home where, according to reports, Bush's mother, brother and stepfather lived.

Shortly after news about Bush broke, USC was forced to deal with questions regarding wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, who was accused of breaking NCAA rules in paying less than half the rent in an apartment he shared with former Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.

In June 2006, the NCAA ruled that Jarrett did enjoy "extra benefits" and he was suspended and then re-instated after he donated $5,352 to a charity of his choice.

USC began to really feel the heat at the start of the 2006 season when Yahoo! Sports reported that Bush took advantage of expensive trips and gifts given to him and his family from an employee of another marketing agent, Michael Ornstein, who later signed Bush as a client. The report also claimed that Carroll and USC running backs coach Todd McNair knew about Bush's questionable relationship with agents during the 2005 season.

In April 2007, many USC supporters hoped the NCAA investigation would go away after Bush reportedly reached a settlement with Michaels for $200,000 to $300,000. Even Bush thought he was done with the probe. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bush told reporters that the NCAA investigation was a "dead subject. That's what it is." But Ron Barker, the Pac-10's associate commissioner of governance and enforcement, said, "This has not gone away by any means."

Six months later, Barker proved right when Lloyd Daniels, Michaels' former partner in a sports marketing firm, met with NCAA officials to discuss allegations that he gave Bush cash and gifts when he played for the Trojans.

That only added to the NCAA's case against USC's football program. Then in May 2008, the Trojans' entire athletics department moved into the picture when Louis Johnson, a former friend of Mayo's, told ESPN that Rodney Guilleroy provided Mayo with cash and gifts when the player was making his college decision.

Over the next four months, more stories were reported about USC basketball coach Tim Floyd (right) and his relationship with Guilleroy, who already had been connected with violation accusations regarding former USC player Jeff Trepagnier.

In April 2009, the NCAA reportedly combined the Bush and Mayo cases into one investigation of USC's entire athletic program. Two months later, Floyd resigned in a one-paragraph letter to athletic director Mike Garrett.

Since then, it's basically been a waiting game for the Trojans.

Although USC has taken action and defended itself in regard to the investigation (last January, the Trojans punished their basketball program for rules violations and in February, USC had a three-day hearing in front of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions), the Trojans realize they are vulnerable to whatever decision is reached.

"Glad it's over," is all Garrett told the LA Times after the NCAA hearing was concluded.

The person with the most at stake regarding the investigation is Garrett, the Trojans' first Heisman Trophy winner whose No. 20 jersey still stands out in the Heritage Hall lobby.

Garrett's opponents would love to see the NCAA rule that USC has had a lack of institutional control since he's been in charge.

They point to the various rule violation accusations and decisions over the years, which include 2001 when the Trojans were placed on two years' probation and had scholarships cut for having tutors write papers for three athletes in the late 1990s.

There have also been a number of negative off-the-field incidents involving USC athletes, from offensive tackle Winston Justice, who was suspended for two semesters after being arrested twice in 2004, to running back Joe McKnight, who sat out the 2009 Emerald Bowl due to questions surrounding his use of a sports utility vehicle.

If the NCAA decides that all of these marks against USC are connected, the Trojans could be looked at as "repeat violators." According to NCAA rules, "an institution shall be considered a 'repeat' violator if the Committee on Infractions finds that a major violation has occurred within five years of the starting date of a major penalty."

That could not only lead to television and postseason bans, but the football program could be forced to forfeit victories from 2003 to 2005.