21 Jun
USC and Sanctions
I think that the penalties were very harsh considering the evidence. The question was did USC know or should have known. Maybe they should have known when they saw Reggie’s parents at the bowl games staying in expensive hotels…the NCAA says that high profile athlete’s require that much more attention but has always said that every athlete should be treated the same. I will point out that although USC gets compared to Miami and Alabama in punishment…those schools involved boosters which are directly tied to the school. Charles Woodson who won the Heisman at Michigan..and Chris Webber who played basketball at UM admitted in court under oath that they took over 300k in payments from boosters while at UM..the punishment was not even close to USC.
However, in the end I think it was USC arrogance that did them in. Garrett’s comments just typified USC attitude towards the NCAA investigation…They thought and acted as though they were above the law…this really tarnishes Pete’s stay at USC…did he know? I don’t know but his move to the NFL looks very suspicious. Reggie gets a new car and registers it with USC compliance and no one asks where he got it. Joe Mcknight gets a new car from a dealer who registers the domain joemcknight.com…this time USC sits the player out as they figure out where and how he got the car…Pete on the other hand insists…he plays in the bowl game…practically calls out Mike Garrett in the post game interview. Pete says he knew nothing of the Micheal’s and Lake’s deals and yet he requests 10 internships at the new company…did he know??? maybe not…but to me it seems maybe he did not want to know..so he closed his eyes to the obvious..USC basketball has issues with Rodney Gilroy in the past and when the #1 HS basketball player comes knocking at USC with Rodney in tow…you would think that would send out HUGE red flags…Yes…I realize I just contradicted my opening statements..I am not sure how I feel about the sanctions and Pete…I feel terrible with the kids…I felt terrible for Taylor Mays,Matt Barkley, Stephon Johnson, Allen Bradford and Arron Corp before this because I feel Pete really did them a dis-service this past season…now I feel for all the current players who were in junior high when this all happened….Was it worth it?? Yes because it was an awesome time and Pete showed what can happen…I just wish I had more respect for Pete…in the end the standard continues to be McKay..Thanks for the memories Pete..USC football will recover…sooner than most people think…Fight On!!!









