In Mid-2006 a bunch of reports came out citing that Reggie Bush took money while playing at USC. Well finally after a
federal investigation those reports came true. Nearly $280,000 in cash, rent and gifts was allegedly given to Bush and his family by a group New Era Sports & Entertainment who was trying to make Bush their first client. Honestly this really comes of no surprise at all to me. No, I don't think Pete Carrol and USC runs a dirty program, but usually when reports like this one comes out, they tend to be true. Next question is, what will the NCAA do about this?
I am torn on the punishment part of this matter. If the NCAA does anything the will most likely strip Bush of his 2005 Heisman Trophy and strip USC of their 2004 BCS Championship, but will that really deter athletes from doing this again? I don't think so. USC will pay the penalty for something that Reggie Bush did, and to my best knowledge they did not know anything about it. That doesn't make it any better, but it is what it is. If the NCAA gets any harsher they will end up penalizing players who did not even play with Bush, but in my opinion that needs done.
There is too much uncertainty going on now with recruiting and athletes receiving special benefits while being an amateur athlete. Recruiting is a huge business and schools know that; 17 and 18 year old kids are becoming superstars overnight because of sites like Rivals.com and Scout.com. They expect the red carpet rolled out for them when they take official visits to schools they are considering. And for the most part all the schools do bring out all the stops. USC has taken recruits to hang out with Snoop Dogg, other schools such as Penn State will bring in former athletes like Larry Johnson or Tamba Hali to pitch their schools. As long as it is within the rules this is fine, but when these kids read about situations like this they have to wonder how they can get their hands on some money.
Who can blame the kid? They know even if they do get caught they won't get in any real trouble. Look at Rhett Bomar, he took a lot more money for a job that should've been given to him, but he's still playing football in the NCAA. Yeah it is for a lower level school, but he still has his NFL dreams alive. The NCAA needs to look at situations like this and set a precedent. Take away scholarships from the school in question, that way next time maybe they will police their players a little better. Rules were broken and there needs to be a punishment handed out because if the NCAA sits on their hands this will happen again and again.
If USC did know about this, they could have turned him in and therefore saving themselves from a penalty. Just like Stoops did with Bomar. There is nothing we can do as fans but sit and wait. But we all know what will happen, they will get a slap on the wrist. This is USC, not TCU. If it were a school will a small national following we would see a harsh punishment, but we all know the NCAA doesn't have the guts to do anything to one of the most beloved schools in the country. Most of us believe that they don't have it right by not having a playoff, but hopefully they can get this right by putting out this little flame before it becomes a full blown forest fire.
