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USC insider speaks out about Tim Floyd and O.J. Mayo

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

USC has a strict policy against commenting on active investigations, so we won’t hear anything official about Louis Johnson‘s recent allegations that basketball coach Tim Floyd gave cash to Rodney Guillory, one of O.J. Mayo’s handlers.

But we’ve got the next best thing thanks to a tip from Conquest Chronicles, a blog closely monitoring the situation.

Chris Penrose, a former Trojan basketball walk-on from 2003 to 2007 (Floyd began joined USC in 2005), is a writer for WeAreSC.com and posted his initial reactions to the allegations:

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The date that was given for Coach Floyd personally handing money to RG conflicts with a practice that we had before we caught a flight to Tucson to play U of A the next day.

I dont think any college basketball coach in the country would meet an advisor of a recruit to give them money in a public, well documented place like BH [Beverly Hills].

I was Coach’s right hand man during my senior year with all our new recruits (since I was going to be a GA [Graduate Assistant] with the team the next year), I knew all the ins and outs of O’s recruitment. There was nothing that we or the university itself did that was illegal AT ALL!!!

It’s tough to say if the travel schedule ruled out a morning rendezvous, but maybe there’s proof in USC’s travel records. It would be nice if somebody produces a paper trail ... the team’s schedules, somebody’s cellphone or credit card bills ... something. In the meantime, Penrose says, ‘This entire thing is comical.’

-- Adam Rose

Photo: USC’s Chris Penrose as a senior. He doesn’t buy Louis Johnson’s allegations against coach Tim Floyd involving Rodney Guillory and O.J. Mayo. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

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