McKay: USC appeal hearing probably in January


Associate athletic director J.K. McCay told “The Petros and Money,” a sports talk show on KLAC-AM, that the NCAA appeals hearing for USC will “probably” take place sometime in January.

The NCAA’s next scheduled meeting of its Infractions Appeals Committee is set for this week. These meetings occur every other month. The NCAA, however, chooses not to reveal which schools and their cases are on the docket for meetings.

“The NCAA does not release timing or the school schedule for infractions appeals hearings because they are private meetings,” NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn told the Orange County Register. “The school may choose to release that information, but the NCAA national office does not.”

In its appeal, USC asks that certain findings be overturned and penalties lessened. USC filed the appeal to the NCAA on June 25, 15 days after it was sanctioned, asking that its two-year bowl ban be reduced to one year, and that its scholarship penalties be halved from 30 to 15.

If USC’s case were to be heard in mid-to-late January, it would still not guarantee that the committee’s decision would be announced before Feb. 2, National Signing Day. This means that USC coach Lane Kiffin might not know how many scholarships he has to offer at that time.