What has happened at USC in the past week is an indictment of big time NCAA sports. USC put its own basketball team on probation due to the investigation of O.J. Mayo who is in the NBA now. To me, if the NCAA is set up so that people would comply with the rules and punish those that don't, then why are the current team and current coach the only ones being punished when they have nothing to do with the wrong doing? Mayo is earning millions in the NBA and his coach Tim Floyd can apply for any coaching job. The current players are being sanctioned. It is totally unfair.
Of course the basketball team is being offered up as a sacrificial lamb by USC to prevent or decrease the punishment by the NCAA to the football team. It is interesting that the Reggie Bush case has been going on for 3 years and the NCAA and USC have not finished the investigation. Yet the Mayo case is resolved so fast. Meanwhile Bush is making millions in the NFL and Joe McNight, another footballer under investigation, has declared for the NFL draft. If they are found guilty, there is nothing the NCAA can do to them as they don't care about their eligibility.
Now Pete Carroll is going to the NFL. Again the NCAA can't do anything if Carroll had known about Bush and McNight. The new coach and current players are the ones who will get the penalty, if there are any. The NCAA has to make a deal with the NBA and NFL such that they would suspend the players and coaches involved if they turn pro. It is unlikely that the NBA and NFL will go along with this. Given that, why do we need the NCAA at all? We should just declare big time college teams semi-pros. We should just declare the champion of the Ivy League, where there are no athletic scolarships and the players are qualified students, the real college champions.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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There isn't a whole lot the pro teams could do to punish these coaches and players for what they did in college. I'm surprised that there haven't been any lawsuits from the universities to recoup the lost income from any sanctions.
ReplyDeleteHowever since the schools profited from these illegal activities in the first place maybe they should get what they deserve.
I find it funny that a guy like Pete Caroll who was featured on 60 Minutes and painted as some kind of savior. CBS showed him driving through South Central and helping all these kids there.
Now that he's gone to Seattle does that mean he's not going to go out to the hood and hang with the boys?
As far as USC hiring Lane Kiffin. Wow. Great coaching mind but probably one of the most immature SOBs in college football right now. I forget how young he is so I guess I can forgive him on some of his decisions but to leave a program after 14 months is just a bad move. Plus the NCAA will probably come down on USC so he'll have to coach through that period.
-LBOAYM
I don't understand why people think Kiffin is a great coach. His record with a bad team, Oakland, was bad as expected. His record with a mediocre team, Tennessee, was mediocre as expected. He didn't make either team better or worse. He will do a lot better with USC simply because he inherits better talent and there are better talent in the area for him to recruit. Plus he was on probation at Tennessee and that doesn't seem like a guy you want to hire if you are worry about getting sanction.
ReplyDeleteMike Garrett wants Kiffin to hire Norm Chow. This is awkward for Kiffin as Chow left USC because Carroll wanted to given more offensive coordination responsibility to Kiffin. I wrote in the past that I think Chow is a much better coach than Kiffin. I think if Chow leaves UCLA for more money at USC, I would be disappointed in him. He should stay at UCLA to try to beat Kiffin and USC with less talent. I don't blame him though, if he uses the USC rumors to get more money from UCLA.
I actually think that Kiffin has a great feel for the game. His Tennessee teams were pretty competitive and I think his energy is his greatest asset. In Oakland he was handcuffed with having Al Davis as his owner. I am convinced that as long as Davis is at Oakland and Ford is in Detroit, those teams will be bottom feeders. I also think that Kiffin's dad is a good coach. And we know that defense wins games.
ReplyDeleteWill they be successful at USC? Remains to be scene though I hear that recruits really like him which says a lot about today's recruits.
If the NCAA doesn't throw the book at USC, I would expect USC to remain near the top because Kiffin will get away with a lot of shady practices. I don't know if he can operate well if he can't "cheat".
I am glad that Norm Chow didn't go to USC. UCLA has a chance to maybe close the gap now but who knows if Neuheisel can do it.
I wanted Chow to interview for the job here but he was not what the administration was looking for (ie, Spartan past, midwest ties, etc.). Plus his age has always hurt him in getting a head coaching gig, which is too bad.
It would have been interesting to see Mariucci take that USC job. He's in the mold of Caroll and might have done well there, though I think he would not have liked the recruiting, but I suppose the school recruits itself.
-LBOAYM