ESPN investigation of USC is much ado about nothing
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There was a lot of hand-wringing in the halls of USC’s Galen Center the past couple of days.
Buzz over a pending ESPN investigation had the Trojans in a tizzy. Players and coaches argued with each other in multiple languages. Local reporters were thrown out of the locker room.
It was less than a year ago that the four-letter network dropped the O.J. Mayo bombshell. This time, they were working on a story about package deals in high school recruiting -- handing out jobs to parents of talented players and/or scholarships to their less-talented friends.
USC had not one but three such arrangements that allegedly didn’t pass the smell test. It didn’t bode well.
At 6 a.m. Pacific time on Sunday morning, the story ran on ‘Outside the Lines,’ the network’s flagship news magazine.
As a college basketball fan, I was outraged.
How the heck did I get duped into waking up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday?
Seriously -- not cool. What programming exec decided to put their flagship program a full two hours before the Sunday political talk shows? Couldn’t they push it back after a couple more ‘Sports Center’ reruns?
For those sane enough to skip the first airing, you didn’t miss anything. Mixed among examples from Kansas, Memphis, Baylor, and Kansas State were relatively innocuous explanations of USC’s well-known arrangements:
- Daniel Hackett’s dad, Rudy, is on USC’s staff. As the offspring of a university employee, Daniel qualifies for free tuition. That means he’s technically a walk-on for the Trojans and doesn’t take up a scholarship (the limit is 13 in men’s basketball).
- USC commit Dwayne Polee Jr.’s dad is also on staff. If he becomes a Trojan the school will not count him against that NCAA scholarship limit either.
The only ‘news’ was that the NCAA claimed to be unaware of these scholarship arrangements until it was asked about them by ESPN. A committee will look into the matter. (USC must be terrified. Wasn’t a committee looking into Reggie Bush too? Or was that O.J. Mayo?)
USC Coach Tim Floyd maintains that the school’s compliance office, the Pac-10, and the NCAA all approved of Rudy Hackett’s hiring three years ago. Even if they hadn’t, it’s evidently not against any rules unless there’s a stipulated quid-pro-quo. Suspicious? Sure. Illegal? Hardly.
The Trojans’ third ‘arrangement,’ involving Percy Miller and DeMar DeRozan, was only mentioned in passing. DeRozan was one of the top prospects in America last year, and Miller was his best friend -- and best known as rapper Lil’ Romeo. Both got scholarships to USC, but ESPN didn’t even flush out the fact that it was Miller’s only scholarship offer from a D-I program.
All together, it was a good piece, it was a fair piece, and it was not worth the hubbub it caused at USC. Broadcaster Billy Packer and shoe guru Sonny Vaccaro both gave analysis that made a lot of sense. Vaccaro also stood up as a character reference for Rudy Hackett and Dwayne Polee Sr.
The unintentional highlight of the program was St. Joseph Coach Phil Martelli, who has either lost his marbles or was desperate for the spotlight. Asked if he was ever approached about package deals, Martelli claimed that potential assistant coach hires with geographic recruiting expertise made his ‘skin crawl.’ It made me yawn.
Martelli also insisted that all coaches should self-police. Good luck.
And good night. Time to go back to bed.
-- Adam Rose