NCAA’s documents released in McNair case


On Tuesday morning, the NCAA unsealed hundreds of emails, memos and transcripts that seem to show ill will and bias toward both USC and former running backs coach Todd McNair.

“These recent documents confirm what we’ve believed all along, that we were treated unfairly in this investigation and its penalties,” USC Athletic Director Pat Haden said in a statement on Wednesday. “I think these documents are cause for concern about the NCAA’s own institutional controls.”

The NCAA had battled to keep the documents sealed by claiming that making them public would inhibit the committee’s ability to conduct investigations in the future.

“It should be concerning to all schools that the NCAA didn’t appear to follow its own rules,” Haden said.

McNair sued the NCAA for defamation, and his attorneys argued the emails showed that certain officials tried to influence the infractions committee. California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered the NCAA to release the documents in Feburary.

The emails seem to prove McNair’s case and show why the NCAA was so concerned with keeping the documents sealed. Two non-voting members, Roscoe Howard and Rodney Uphoff, attacked both the Trojans and McNair in the emails. In one email, Uphoff even compared evidence from the Reggie Bush case to the Oklahoma City bombings.

“This evidence in this [Bush] case is, for example, markedly stronger than in the OKC bombing case which was built entirely on circumstantial evidence,” Uphoff wrote, according to CBS Sports.  “In fact, there was no direct evidence that [Terry] Nichols was ever involved in the bombing plot.”

Another infractions committee overseer, Shep Cooper, went as far as calling McNair “a lying, morally bankrupt criminal and a hypocrite of the highest order.”

USC was sanctioned in 2010 for a “lack of institutional control” in cases regarding former football player Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo. The Trojans were handed a  two-year post-season ban and a massive reduction in scholarships over the subsequent four years. Many consider the punishment put on the Trojans to be one of the harshest in history.

The NCAA pinned McNair as one of the main contributors to USC’s mishandling of their star players. The NCAA claimed that McNair “knew or should have known” about Bush’s relationship with potential San Diego agents. McNair ended up losing his job at USC in 2010 and has not worked for another team or college since.

In voice memos released as part of the sealed documents, Uphoff harshly criticized USC’s hiring of Lane Kiffin following the departure of Pete Carroll.

“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,” Uphoff wrote. “They need a wake-up call that doing things the wrong way will have serious consequences.”

Some members of the committee, including Britton Banowsky and Eleanor Myers, were skeptical about the case, especially against McNair.

“It is challenging for me to make the finding when there is no allegation that he personally was involved in any rules violations, or even had specific knowledge of any,” Banowsky wrote.

The NCAA released more than 500 pages of documents on Tuesday. A decision regarding McNair’s defamation lawsuit should come within few months.

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