Scott Wolf: "USC was aware of the risks associated with Guillory"

by Ajax on May 13, 2008 9:36 AM PDT Comment 13 comments

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

USC knew Guillory's reputation from 2000, when the NCAA identified him as a runner for an agent and said he illegally provided airfare to former USC guard Jeff Trepagnier. The compliance office was so scared that it banned Guillory from receiving Mayo' s tickets to home games.

But the basketball office was a different story.

This is where Floyd perplexed even some of his admirers. After Guillory told the Daily News that Floyd was "heartbroken" over the ticket ban, Floyd claimed he never spoke to Guillory.

This is the same Guillory who was practically allowed to live in the USC basketball offices, had his run of the school's basketball facilities last summer and accompanied Mayo on his official and unofficial campus visits.

There can be no denial of the cozy relationship, all in the name of securing the player billed as the best in USC history.

A few more examples of that relationship: When USC point guard Angelo Johnson became eligible, Guillory told the Daily News first because he said Floyd told him. If you watched Guillory escape an ESPN reporter during Sunday's report, he does it by slipping into the basketball offices.

USC was aware of the risks associated with Guillory. But that is the business of basketball these days. The potential for winning outweighs character or ethical risks.

Emphasis added throughout. Read Wolf's whole article here. I'll throw this part in just for comedy:

Rap star Romeo Miller gets a scholarship despite the fact no other college offered him one because he is best friends with blue-chip recruit DeMar Derozan. It's a package deal, but Floyd denies it.

ROFL at the gap closers. Is there a more pathetic, desperate excuse for an athletic program in all of the NCAA? As for the NCAA coming down on Southern Cal, here is what we know:

1. OJ took money from a BDA bag man before and during his time at Southern Cal.

2. While attending Southern Cal, OJ could be seen around campus wearing expensive clothes and shoes, and had a flat screen TV in his on-campus dorm room.

3. The bag man, Guillory, was implicated in a previous inappropriate agent-student athlete relationship.

4. Southern Cal's basketball offices provided Guillory, the previous offender who was known to Southern Cal's compliance office, unfettered access to the basketball program.

5. Mayo immediately signed with BDA after declaring.

What more does the NCAA need to know to prove that Southern Cal knew or should have known that OJ was getting paid?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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The Romeo situation

would be comedic if it wasn’t so repulsive. This is a kid who presumably never has to work a day in his life, and he is shilling for an athletic scholarship? i would be more understanding if he used his friendship to get himself a spot on the team. (why not work out with a Div. II Basketball program while receiving great front row seats and trips provided to the games?) But the idea that he is taking $$ from far more deserving athletes, as well as handicapping his team’s ability to sign a player just blows me away.

GO SC! Go right down the Toilet!

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on May 13, 2008 10:07 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

You've got it all wrong.

You see, Lil’ Romeo is the victim here. If the LAT report is correct, then DeRozan is getting cold feet:

DeMar DeRozan, USC’s star basketball recruit, may consider another college if the Trojans face severe sanctions by the NCAA over illegal extra benefits allegedly received by O.J. Mayo.
DeRozan’s father and older half-brother said today that the Compton High star, one of the nation’s top-rated high school players, would consider requesting a release from the scholarship he accepted from USC in November.

And, if DeRozan goes, then poor Lil’ Romeo college basketball career is ov-er. How can Lil’ Romeo possibly expect to find another D-I coach shameless enough to accept him in a package deal despite his complete lack of abilities? So sad.

by Menelaus on May 13, 2008 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i agree

with the whole little romeo scholarship situation. he’s from a rich family, he should be declining the scholarship so the money could go toward another player who actually needs the financial help.

in terms of this whole Mayo thing, the red flag raised for me waaaaaay back when he simply committed to USC. for all that we bash each other, both sides without bias should admit that USC basketball getting OJ Mayo last season was as absurd as if UCLA football got Terrelle Pryor hot off the heels of a lousy KD season. eyebrows would be raised, and the school pulling that talent, regardless of a tarnished reputation with athletes and benefits, should be smart enough to hover a magnifying glass over the player throughout his tenure.

by deepdish on May 13, 2008 11:38 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The Pryor example is a perfect comparison

Why would the best (at least most hyped) player in the country want to play his 1 year at that festering shit hole known as Southern Cal?

Oh yeah, his agent, errrrr, advisor, wanted him at Southern Cal.

by Ajax on May 13, 2008 11:51 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Red flags

Who were the only other coaches besides Timmeh who were interested in Mayo: Huggy Bear & Calamari.

by bluestreet on May 13, 2008 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't you see?!

Bringing in Lil’ Romeo was all part of Timmeh’s genius master plan!

I mean, we all know, that he full damn well knew who Guillory was, that Juice Deuce was on the take, and that this whole thing would come back and blow up.

Timmeh brought in shady players, like Duh-von and OJ2, in a one-time shot at tournament glory. U$C’s hail mary play, hoping two ~~professional~~ amateur athletes like OJ2 and Duh-von could take them all the way before the national media caught wind of all the shady backdealings.

Obviously, the part about actually winning something failed. But now, knowing the heat would come, Timmeh brought in the one guy who could save U$C basketball: Lil’ Romeo!

You see, since the NCAA is going to have to do something to his actual players, he knows no one will ever want to go to Galen to watch an IM team get crushed twice a week. But ha! Here is where Timmeh showed his genius.

You see, Lil’ Romeo will keep Galen full every home game.

Full of screaming, teenage girls. To U$C, revenue is revenue.

Hahahahahahahaha. Bet Timmeh wish he beat Trent to Baton Rogue now.

by norcald503 on May 13, 2008 12:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

LSU?

I really thought Timmeh had the inside track and then the job went to Johnson. Did LSU know something was about to blow up?

sjh

by Class of 66 on May 13, 2008 1:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who knows?

But think about what we knew at the time the position came open until when Trent was hired. We were already suspicious of Timmeh’s program (with stellar “student” athletes like OJ2 and Duh-von). Then Timmeh brought in DeRozan by giving a scholarship to his hanger-on.

I’m willing to bet the people making these decisions at LSU know a lot more than we do. They know fellow ADs, coaches, etc. and I’m sure if we knew all of Timmeh’s shady dealings, the folks at LSU knew too.

Given the choice between a shady washed up “coach” (Timmeh) and a guy who not only won a lot of games while hamstrung with one of the toughest admissions standards in college sports but is also a real class act (Trent), who would you pick?

by norcald503 on May 14, 2008 9:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

What needs to happen

The argument that many $C fans are making is that this should shock no one and that it happens all over college sports, not just USC. I don’t refute this fact, but I also cannot confirm it. Those that remember, we had a similar situation a few years ago concerning our star RB Deshaun Foster accepting an SUV as a gift. I said it back at the time that if it is true than heads need to roll, and indeed Coach Toledo was fired soon after, not just for that incident but a plethora of incidents that humiliated our program.

I think USC needs to take the proper steps and fire their AD and Coach Floyd. The fact of the matter was all the evidence pointing towards OJ2 was that something was not right and Floyd ignored ALL of the signs. The NCAA needs to not be spineless in this. Yes, I realize that USC is a real moneymaker for the NCAA, but that does not make it better than the worst D-1 school. The NCAA needs to realize that when it comes to rules, ALL universities are on the same level. That includes us. If something like this were to happen with one of our programs, I would be furious and embarrassed.

With that said, while I am not absolving OJ2 of his involvement, I think that he was put in a situation that made it hard for him to say no. If you are a high school kid and all through your 4 years of high school you have grown adults who represent moneymaking agencies, whispering in your ear about how you are a star and how you deserve to make millions of dollars, what do you think that would do to you? Now imagine that your are being raised by a single mother, and all of a sudden a grown man steps in and acts like a father-figure, giving you all the encouragement on how to become a star, acting like the male figure you should have had all your life. Like I said, OJ2 is accountable for his actions, but Michael Wilbon made an excellent point. OJ2 didn’t steal money from anyone, he didn’t put a gun to someone’s head and rob them. He accepted money from scummy individuals and those that should have pointed him in the right direction (USC Athletics, Tim Floyd) turned their backs on the situation because it was making them better (and richer).

And I also agree that USC should go up to Pete Carroll and say if any of this nonsense occurs (or has occurred), then he is next to go.

I hope gutlessness on the parts of the NCAA and USC Administration doesn’t uphold in this situation.

by SmrtGuy82 on May 13, 2008 1:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I still don't understand the moneymaking part

“Yes, I realize that USC is a real moneymaker for the NCAA, ...” Why is justsc a bigger revenue source for the ncaa than Western Kentucky or Oregon State or any other D-1 school? Or to make it a fairer question, lets assume that every team in the Pac-10 fields teams in as many sports as justsc. If all the schools have the same number of teams in ncaa sanctioned events, why would one team generate more revenue than another? Does the ncaa get a piece of the TV revenues? If that’s so, my guess is that if justsc were given the death penalty, then the next school that got put on TV instead of justsc would generate a comparable amount of revenue.

But I don’t know how the ncaa derives its revenue. If the ncaa were inclined to go easier on justsc because it is a big revenue source (and I’m not including money paid under the table to ncaa investigators to have them find nothing), then something really smells. The ncaa should recuse itself as the investigating body and turn the investigation over to someone totally unbiased, someone who is semi-retired and would have enough time to devote to the investigation, someone who is a lawyer and admitted in California who could file the complaint necessary to enable subpoenas to be issued. Say, you know what? I would be the perfect guy for the job.

But seriously, folks. Why is there an assumption that justsc is a big revenue source for the ncaa? It may well be true, but it doesn’t seem to me that the assumption is necessarily valid.

by Fox 71 on May 13, 2008 3:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

TV Ratings?

I have a feeling people make that statement based on a whole string of assumptions – SC is in one of the largest TV markets, it’s a large school with a lot of alumni all over the country, it’s had a fairly good football program for a lot of years and has a large following, etc. So, the assumption is made that if the NCAA is negotiating a contract for its broadcast rights, they stand to make a lot more by offering up SC in a prime time game than Western Kentucky.

With that said, I don’t see it. Instead of placing SC in a prime time game, is there much of a ratings drop when any of the big programs are in the same game, are playing well and decently ranked that season, etc.? So I’m with you Fox, how is it that SC is such a big source of NET revenue for the NCAA?

by cabz on May 13, 2008 6:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Would someone help cabz and me out?

What is the basis for the assumption that justsc generates a lot of revenue for the ncaa? I don’t know whether it does or not, and have no basis for an opinion either way. We all know that justsc generates a lot of money (not all of the money that they pay their athletes comes from agents—some surely comes from alums, or at least that’s what the inside story was in the mid-sixties). But how does it end up going to the ncaa in such huge amounts that the ncaa would have to stop paying its executives the big bucks if justsc got asked to take an aisle seat in the smoke house?

(By the way – ncaa is in lower case because it deserves to be. As soon as the ncaa loses its infantile genitalia and starts doing its job, then it will be given capital letters.)

by Fox 71 on May 13, 2008 9:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

not exactly sure, but ...

i think the NCAA likes USC’s visibility. when USC is successful, its large fanbase travels well, and their games are televised in primo time slots. it also lands a big time program in bowl games, which again, fills up stadiums anywhere in the country, etc. all of this, i could imagine, translates to revenue in some way or another.

by deepdish on May 14, 2008 6:06 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs