On Tuesday, the NCAA released 500 pages of documents - including some damning internal dialogue - related to the Reggie Bush investigation as part of a defamation lawsuit involving former Trojans running backs coach Todd McNair. The documents revealed those involved stepping well beyond the bounds of normal investigation protocol - including value judgments on the program’s hiring of Lane Kiffin as head coach.
Said committee member Rodney Uphoff (via the Los Angeles Times):
“Paul Dee was brought in at Miami to clean up a program with serious problems. USC has responded to its problems by bringing in Lane Kiffin,” committee member Rodney Uphoff wrote in an undated memo to other members of the group. “They need a wake-up call that doing things the wrong way will have serious consequences.”
Mind you, Lane Kiffin was hired as USC’s head coach in 2010, a full five years after Bush last played for the Trojans. The Trojan community long argued that the school’s response to the allegations - and mainly the actions of former athletic director Mike Garrett - dictated the investigation, not whether or not Bush actually violated NCAA rules.
And it appears they may have been right.
USC released a statement Wednesday expressing disappointment in the NCAA’s handling of the investigation:
After an initial review of this first set of documents unsealed by the court in the McNair v. NCAA lawsuit, it is evident that the content confirms bias against McNair and USC by and on behalf of the NCAA and its Committee on Infractions. We are extremely disappointed and dismayed at the way the NCAA investigated, judged and penalized our university throughout this process. USC hopes that the transparency in this case will ultimately lead to review and changes so that all member institutions receive the fair and impartial treatment they deserve.
It seems likely that there are additional documents that will come to light. Once USC has had the opportunity to review all of the documents unsealed by the court, we will determine what further action is appropriate.
Added athletic director Pat Haden: “These recent documents confirm what we’ve believed all along, that we were treated unfairly in this investigation and its penalties. I think these documents are cause for concern about the NCAA’s own institutional controls. It should be concerning to all schools that the NCAA didn’t appear to follow its own rules.”
We are now nearly a full decade removed from Bush’s Heisman Trophy exceptionally good 2005 season. Somehow, someway this case will still be in the news when Bush’s kids go to college.
