what happened to ncaa investigation of

What Happened to the NCAA Investigation of USC?

What Happened to the NCAA Investigation of USC?

by Anony Mous

It was in April of last year when word spread through college football

that Reggie Bush's family had been living in a $757,000 house rent

free. As soon as this was revealed the family moved, Bush denied any

knowledge, and everyone at USC got really quiet. Would USC have to

forfeit games? Would Bush have to forfeit his Heisman? What about all

the money from a BCS Bowl game appearance? Would it hurt Reggie Bush's

draft position? The week before the NFL Draft this story dominated the

news and did so until the NFL Draft happened. Then in the talk of

draft grades and rookie performances the Bush story disappeared from

the news. Other than an exhaustive investigation by Yahoo Sports which

was released in September 2006 (Yahoo! Investigation) nothing has

really been said or done about it. (Editor's note: This article was

drafted but not posted prior to the further Yahoo! story on this

matter appearing today Audio Tapes Linked To Bush).

This investigation clearly identifies 9 times, including the infamous

"house", where Reggie or someone in his family received money from two

marketing companies competing for Reggie's business. All told the

money received by Bush and his family totals over $100,000. If this is

true, then USC played the 2005 season with an ineligible player.

During this same time, Dwayne Jarrett was also accepting benefits, yet

he was not even suspended one game. The NCAA rulebook clearly states

that all games should be forfeited along with all TV and Bowl money

being returned.

All parties were given the option to comment on the article and must

chose to decline comment. Notably, USC released a statement saying

they couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation, yet the NCAA had

this to say, ""Now that certain individuals have spoken publicly, we

hope they will now speak with the NCAA." Clearly, the NCAA had not

done much work between April and September. In almost 6 months the

NCAA had yet to talk to anyone who might know anything about this

situation. As we near the end of January, still nothing has been said

or done by the NCAA in regards to resolving this matter. The NCAA

continues to destroy its credibility with the obvious double standard

in which it operates. Who knows why the NCAA drops the hammer on one

school and lets another off with a free pass? SMU's case is clearly

documented and that school has never recovered. University of

Washington fans remember when the hammer fell on them in 1993 and

2004, and Alabama fans remember the same fate from 2001. Similar cases

exist in college basketball where both Michigan and OSU have forfeited

Final Four appearances. In the past 3 years we've seen Ohio State

dodge a number of bullets and now USC appears to be following suit.