The bomb hit USC, Garrett gone, Reggie Bush's Trophy goes back

[Southpaw]

I wondered how long Garrett would last as AD. Now we know. Replaced with Pat Haden, (PR move ?????) and will return Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy.

Haden to become new USC AD



ESPN.com news services

USC will replace athletic director Mike Garrett with former Trojans quarterback Pat Haden and return the Heisman Trophy won by Reggie Bush in 1995, university president-elect C.L. Max Nikias announced Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Haden would succeed Garrett on Aug. 3.

Garrett has been under fire since USC was hit with numerous NCAA sanctions and a finding of "lack of institutional control" after lengthy investigations into benefits received by Bush and former basketball player O.J. Mayo.

Nikias also announced a number of changes within and related to the athletic department, naming new officials in charge of compliance with NCAA rules. And he said the university would take down murals featuring Bush and Mayo at the Galen Center, Heritage Hall and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

"The Trojan Family honors and respects the USC sporting careers of those persons whose actions did not compromise their athletic program or the opportunities of future USC student-athletes," Nikias said.

He said USC would return the Heisman won by Bush in 2005 to the Heisman Trophy Trust next month.

Bush still has his own Heisman Trophy. The Heisman Trust has not taken any action against Bush or made any request to have him return his copy of the trophy.

USC football faces a two-year bowl ban, loss of scholarships and the vacating of wins. The university has appealed several of the sanctions, saying they were "too severe" and "inconsistent with precedent." In the meantime, the program has lost a number of highly-sought recruits, who were allowed to leave when the sanctions were imposed.

The basketball program, in a series of self-imposed sanctions, vacated wins, gave back NCAA tournament earnings and banned itself from postseason play last season.

Hailing USC's athletic heritage as an important part of the school's history and student life, Nikias said the university is determined to strengthen that heritage. "USC ... will seek to excel in the coming years in a manner that is consistent with the highest values of the academy," he said.

He also thanked Garrett for his 17 years of service, calling him "a tireless advocate of USC athletics." Garrett had his own highly successful career as a Trojans running back, earning All-American honors two seasons and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1965.

"He will always be held in the highest esteem by all Trojans, not only for his exploits on the playing field but as a leader, mentor, teacher and a driving force behind USC's student-athletics," Nikias said.

Haden is currently an analyst for Notre Dame football on NBC. A Rhodes Scholar, he quarterbacked the Trojans to three Rose Bowls before playing in the NFL for the Rams from 1976-81. He is also a general partner in Riordan, Lewis & Haden, a private equity firm.

Haden will step down from the USC Board of Trustees to accept the appointment and will report directly to the president's office. Nikias said. He will also be appointed to the faculty of the school's business and communications schools.

Nikias also named David M. Roberts as vice president for athletic compliance and promoted Ellen Ferris, formerly the associate provoist for athletic compliance, to associate vice president for athletic compliance.

"There will be a close collaboration" between the compliance office, the provost's office and the atheltic department, Nikias said.

 

[Mulli]

No more Charlie Weis, and now, no more Haden on Notre Dame broadcasts!!!!!!

Woot!!

 

[Russ Smith]

There's an internal memo out from the guy who made this happen at USC.

I have to say if it's all true it's a pretty sweeping change. It also makes it hard to understand how USC could appeal the NCAA ruling now, you can't deny in essence you lacked institutional control and then make such sweeping changes to add IC. Making such changes is an admission you lacked IC before IMHO?

Here's a link to the PDF with the changes, USC internal memo.



http://uscnews.usc.edu/Announcement.President.elect.Nikias.pdf

 

[hafey]

Lots of casualties in any regime change, even if it is coming from within. The Aug. 3rd date is significant as that is the day Nikias becomes president.

 

[Russ Smith]

Interesting we got back from a weeks fishing in Loreto last night. On the way back from the airport to Glendale to pick up our car, we drive by the Galen Center where USC basketball games are held. On the big LED board out in front they were advertising for upcoming USC football games and to my amazement one of the ads showed Reggie Bush catching a football.

It's been weeks now since the NCAA ordered them to remove everything connected to Bush and Mayo, is it really that hard for them to delete a picture of Bush from an LED scoreboard it's just software delete the picture?

 

[Southpaw]

Yahoo!

Report: Reggie Bush to Be Stripped of Heisman


Sep 7, 12:44 PM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) -Yahoo! sports is reporting that 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush is expected to be stripped of the award by the end of the month

The former Southern Cal running back would become the first player in the 75-year history of the award to have the Heisman Trophy taken away. The report also says the award would be left vacant for '05.

The NCAA found major violations in USC's football program and levied serious sanctions against the school in June.

The website on Tuesday cited two anonymous sources close to the Heisman Trophy Trust, who say the group's investigation is almost complete and would agree with the NCAA's finding that Bush was ineligible during the '05 season.

Bush now plays for the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

 

[Russ Smith]

Yahoo!

Yeah they said it was unprecedented and apparently they already contacted Vince Young who told them he was not interested in being named the winner after the fact and I have to agree with him too much time has passed.

Will be interesting to see what if any impact any of this has on Bush' image, so far people seem to think who cares that was years ago.

 

[hafey]

Good for Vince Young. He didn't earn the Heisman and he shouldn't accept. Props to him.

 

[overseascardfan]

Good for Vince Young. He didn't earn the Heisman and he shouldn't accept. Props to him.

Oh he earned it with that Fiesta Bowl performance, single handedly winning that game for TEX. He just did not want to be an asterisk and I can't say I blame him.

 

[Southpaw]

Reggie Bush seems to suffer from a very common affliction for some sports athletes. He has a difficult time telling the truth or accepting responsibility. Plenty of others who suffer from this malady.

Reggie Bush: Heisman Matter 'Out of My Hands'


Sep 8, 1:55 PM (ET)

METAIRIE, La. (AP) - Reggie Bush says whether he is stripped of his Heisman trophy is out of his hands and that his play on the field in college speaks for itself.

Bush says he "cannot confirm or deny" whether he's met with anyone from the Heisman Trust and has had no comment on a Yahoo! report that says he could be stripped of the award by the end of the month.

Bush says he hasn't even thought about whether he'd actually return the trophy if asked and stresses that his focus is on the New Orleans Saints' season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.

The NCAA found major violations in USC's football program and levied serious sanctions against the school in June. The Trojans have dissociated themselves completely from Bush.

 

[Russ Smith]

Reggie Bush seems to suffer from a very common affliction for some sports athletes. He has a difficult time telling the truth or accepting responsibility. Plenty of others who suffer from this malady.

Part of the problem is a lot of people, not just USC fans, actually think punishing USC for Bush and Mayo is wrong, they punished kids who did nothing wrong. But when you point out they can't really touch Bush or Mayo, the answer is well it's old news anyways what's the point, it happened, move on.

That sort of letting it slide approach to what those 2 did just ensures other kids in the same situation will do the same thing Bush and Mayo did, take the money and run.

Lots of people blame the NCAA for this mess but the reality is both Mayo and Bush knew they were violating the rules, they figured they wouldn't get caught and now that they did, they're just pretending nothing happened.

 

[Southpaw]

Part of the problem is a lot of people, not just USC fans, actually think punishing USC for Bush and Mayo is wrong, they punished kids who did nothing wrong. But when you point out they can't really touch Bush or Mayo, the answer is well it's old news anyways what's the point, it happened, move on.

That sort of letting it slide approach to what those 2 did just ensures other kids in the same situation will do the same thing Bush and Mayo did, take the money and run.

Lots of people blame the NCAA for this mess but the reality is both Mayo and Bush knew they were violating the rules, they figured they wouldn't get caught and now that they did, they're just pretending nothing happened.

On Outside the Lines. today, the subject was discussed. The point was raised that Bush was the "one" they went after, but there were plenty of equally guilty players on that team. Leinart was even mentioned.

 

[Russ Smith]

On Outside the Lines. today, the subject was discussed. The point was raised that Bush was the "one" they went after, but there were plenty of equally guilty players on that team. Leinart was even mentioned.

Yeah but that was only because they had people giving them(the NCAA) the proof they needed to nail Bush. If they'd had an agent willing to go on record that he gave Winston Justice and his family a vacation shortly after he reneged on a verbal to UCLA and signed with USC, they would have gone after Justice(and that apparently did happen his very poor family took a very expensive vacation shortly after he picked SC).

Bush was the target because Michaels and the other guy gave them the evidence they needed.

It's the same reason the NCAA got Mayo, because Johnson gave them everything they needed. I think most people assume Beasley took even more money than Mayo, but nobody came forward with proof. Rose only got caught because of a fairly routine practice where they monitor standardized tests(ETS does not the NCAA) to see if there's anything unusual with high profile athletes. I posted this at the time, Mayo's test score was flagged not because it was high, but because he didn't take it at his local test site, he took his same day same place as Beasley did, both scores were flagged because where they took it was unusual. Rose is from Chicago but took his(the one he qualified on) in Detroit, so it got flagged and they then felt they uncovered information that someone else took his test.

The reason they don't go after everyone is they go after the easy ones, the ones they have the best chance of getting because of available info.

 

[overseascardfan]

On Outside the Lines. today, the subject was discussed. The point was raised that Bush was the "one" they went after, but there were plenty of equally guilty players on that team. Leinart was even mentioned.

IIRC, the deal with Leinart was that he had to live off campus because his celebrity was getting too big at USC. But what got him in the spotlight was because I believe it was either Dwayne Jarret or Mike Williams was staying with him in his upscale apartment which Leinart's father was paying the rent but Jarrett and Leinart were supposedly splitting the rent, how were they doing that without jobs?

 

[Russ Smith]

IIRC, the deal with Leinart was that he had to live off campus because his celebrity was getting too big at USC. But what got him in the spotlight was because I believe it was either Dwayne Jarret or Mike Williams was staying with him in his upscale apartment which Leinart's father was paying the rent but Jarrett and Leinart were supposedly splitting the rent, how were they doing that without jobs?

It was Jarrett and that was one of the events that made people wonder if the NCAA was just going to let USC continue to break rules with no punishment. Leinart's dad was paying the rent(he's quite wealthy), but jarrett was living there and was required to pay market rent under NCAA rules. He didn't, and when caught finally the NCAA essentially let Jarrett repay the money to avoid the suspension, even a lot of USC fans wondered precisely where Jarrett got the money to repay it given they were mostly under the impression his family wasn't particularly well off.

Jarrett never missed a game over it, let him pay it back with no suspension.

 

[Southpaw]

Sure thing Reggie. Not your fault. Not guilty. You are the only one saying anything remotely equal to that stance. You probably thought you would never get caught.

Updated: September 17, 2010, 3:19 AM ET
Reggie Bush: No admission of guilt


METAIRIE, La. -- Reggie Bush said Thursday that his decision to relinquish his Heisman Trophy is "not an admission of guilt," just the best way to end the controversy.

"It's me showing respect to the Heisman Trophy itself and to the people who came before me and the people coming after," Bush said after New Orleans Saints practice. "I just felt like it was the best thing to do, the most respectful thing to do because obviously I do respect the Heisman. I do respect all the things it stands for."

Bush said he thought returning the award was the best way to move forward.

"I felt just to kind of silence all the talk around it, all the negativity around it -- I felt like this would be the best decision to do right now so I could focus," he said.

Bush was the landslide winner of the Heisman following a highlight-filled 2005 season in which he piled up 2,890 all-purpose yards and helped lead USC to the BCS national title game, which the Trojans lost to Texas.....

Bush said he consulted family and some associates before forfeiting the Heisman, a move some of those close to him opposed.

"My mom and dad didn't want me to give it back," Bush said. "That's just the motherly and fatherly nature of parents. They understand it at the end of the day. They understand I'm a grown man and I've got to make my own decisions and this is a learning experience for me and anybody else coming after me. ... All I can do is grow stronger from here.".....


....While not admitting to anything in the report, Bush has said he regrets that his actions in some way led to sanctions against USC and caused controversy around his title of Heisman winner.

"I'm not happy this happened," Bush said. "This is just a part of life. This is a part of growing pains and becoming more mature. You learn. You grow. You get better. You get stronger and hopefully you never make those same mistakes again.

"How do I clear my name? I don't know. I'm not sure. This is the first time I've been in this situation," Bush added. "I've obviously got to brainstorm and get together with my team and see what we can do. I'm here to lend a helping hand to USC and any time they need me and any time I can do something to help them, they know I'm just a phone call away."

Bush said he hopes putting the matter behind him allows him to focus more on things like helping the Saints defend their 2009 championship.

"All I can do is focus on the future and move ahead and move on with my life and try to continue to help the New Orleans Saints win games, every year, year in and year out and be a constant contender in this league," Bush said.

Bush said he also wants to start a program to help high school and college athletes deal with the pressures and temptations that come when their ability provides them celebrity and fame before they've turned pro.

"You're still a kid, but you're still asked to make adult decisions," Bush said, alluding to a handful of college teams -- including North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina -- dealing with probes into whether their players had improper contact with agents.

"Whatever the NCAA has, whatever programs they have, aren't working and it needs to be changed. If it's not changed, it's going to continue and it hasn't stopped yet," Bush said. "It's going to continue year after year after year and you're going to see kids be ineligible. You're going to see great athletes missing their junior and senior year and seasons because the system doesn't work.

"Obviously something has to be changed. You've got universities making millions of dollars off these kids and they don't get paid. The majority of college athletes who come in on scholarship come in [with] nothing. That's where you have a problem. You're making all this money off these kids and you're giving them crumbs and then you're surrounding these kids with money and telling them not to touch it," he said.


Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

 

[Russ Smith]

Sure thing Reggie. Not your fault. Not guilty. You are the only one saying anything remotely equal to that stance. You probably thought you would never get caught.

The dumbest part is where he says he wants to start a program to help other kids deal with the pressure and temptations. You just told us you haven't admitted to doing anything and now you want to set up a program to counsel other kids about what to do when they're in that position? You can't even admit publicly you did anything but you somehow feel qualified to help others?

It's like having an alcoholic who won't admit he's an alcoholic run an AA meeting.

Who knew the self absorbed one in the relationship was Bush, not Kim Kardashian.

 

[Russ Smith]

Charles Barkley weighs in on Bush. He seems to be saying it's ok to take money if its in small amounts and you pay it back. He admits he took money while at Auburn, says he borrowed from 3 agents, just "chump change" for spending money and he paid it back when he turned pro. Said all his friends did it too, same 3 agents, they've been doing it for 30 years.

He didn't outright say it but seems to think that's ok but what Bush did isn't because he took a lot more, and didn't pay it back.

he also said it's different than a school paying you to play there, but IIRC he admitted to that several years ago, he joked that all his friends at Kentucky were getting paid more than he was at Auburn.