Lessons Learned- USC Sanctions Edition

This is a follow up of the USC Sanctions reflections from yesterday.

Onward… and sticking with our theme:

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the lessons learned in Heritage Hall– we won’t know what, if any, changes will occur within the administration of Southern Cal’s athletic program for months. To be honest, based on the response of the fans and former coaches, I’m not sure we’re anywhere near the Kubler-Ross stages; there’s been so much denial, it’s difficult to separate “normal” from “grief processing”.

Nope, this is going to be my back to school essay: “Things I Learned by Staring at a Car Wreck“. Here goes:

• The NCAA Is Not Impotent. A lot of folks, your humble correspondent included, were certain that USC would get off with minimal sanctioning, given that they are the top TV revenue draw west of Denver (although that may be changing). Instead, they responded in a serious way to serious allegations of the rules that make college football a level playing field.  If Miles Brand wasn’t dead, I’d buy him a tasty beverage. We’ll just have to make due.
• The NCAA Is Not Perfect. Actually, I knew this already, but the SC investigation solidified it. Things that could be better:

1. No subpoena power meant that it had to beg and dig to find out what went down, especially challenging when certain student athletes buy off the people who are making accusations. I’m looking at you, number one.
2. There’s still stuff that this report didn’t cover- Joe McKnight’s ride, anyone?
3. “Swift justice” isn’t swift. Because of the above, stuff like this takes time… a lot of time. This situation lasted longer than the Civil War.
4. “Swift justice” isn’t exactly justice. Wait, this deserves it’s own bullet…

• I feel bad for Seantrel Henderson. (Ok, maybe Seantrel in particular should have known what was going on, but what about the other members of the 2010 class?) He and the rest of the current members of the Trojan team had nothing to do with this and are now reaping the whirlwind, while the persons responsible move on to other jobs.  I don’t disagree with the sanctions; “lack of institutional control” and “repeat offender” status means that the response should be significant. It’s just a pity that there’s no way to respond more directly to the good folks who got you into this mess.  Actually, I’d be really interested to see an institution file a civil suit in these matters- say, Southern Cal sues Reggie Bush or Tim Floyd for lost revenue from bowl appearances and such. Lawyer-type readers; is this possible?
• You can’t please everyone. Obviously, this was going to piss Trojan fans off. What’s been interesting for me is to see the response from other fans; calling for the SMU death penalty, a TV ban, Lane Kiffin to be publicly flogged, USC song-girls cell numbers released to the public, etc. Or, on the other side, Oklahoma fans clamoring for their national championship trophy now that the Orange Bowl win has been vacated. Sooners, be honest- if you did get a trophy, it’d only be the precursor to being on probation within a year or two. And Irish fans? No dice on the Bush Push game– as far as the record books and I are concerned, there were two losers on the field that night.
• Michigan is doing it right. It hurt to write that. As much as I’m enjoying the fiasco up north and looking forward to August’s meeting with the NCAA, I have to acknowledge that they are being as up front and forthright about this as they possibly can be. Represents the conference well, given the circumstances.
• This is not the end of the world. Everyone has been saying that these are the most significant sanctions since Alabama was punished in 2002. Alabama… where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah; they just won a national title, only eight years after “Armageddon”. Trojan fahs, as much as I hate to admit this- your team will be back.

OK, that’s about enough of that… We’ll keep you updated as things develop; I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a new AD at Southern Cal within the coming months.

But now I’ve got to go back to helping NorCal Buckeye look for a USC jersey with #1 on it so we can get “Student Athlete” across the nameplate.

Tomorrow- How are Los Angelenos responding?