Haden meets with NCAA, discusses football sanctions
USC Athletic Director Pat Haden and Vice President for Athletic Compliance Dave Roberts met with National Collegiate Athletic Association President Mark Emmert Wednesday following the NCAA’s announcement that it would reduce sanctions against Penn State.
“After learning of the NCAA’s actions on Tuesday regarding Penn State and the lessening of the sanctions that were imposed on that institution, when viewed in the context of the events that have shaken intercollegiate athletics over the past year, we felt compelled to discuss USC’s sanctions in a new light,” Haden said in a statement.
The Penn State sanctions, which were instated as a consequence of the scandal surrounding former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, previously capped the university’s 2014 student-athlete scholarships to 65 scholarships. However, the NCAA announced Tuesday that the scholarship cap would be increased to 75 scholarships in 2014, 80 in 2015 and return to the full allotment of 85 scholarships by 2016, according to ESPN.
The meetings focused on enforcement and sanction issues, specifically in regards to how to come up with fair solutions for both USC and the NCAA community.
“After candid discussions, the NCAA asked us to provide additional information and indicated it would study our suggestions,” Haden said.
USC’s sanctions came as a result of the 2010 Reggie Bush case, and reduced the total football scholarship limit from 85 scholarships to 75 annual scholarships. However, Haden noted that football players who were injured or transferred left the Trojans with less than 60 recruited scholarship student-athletes.
“I believe the penalties imposed on our football program in 2010 were unprecedented and inconsistent with NCAA precedent in prior cases,” Haden said. “Since the Committee on Infractions issued its sanctions in 2010, USC has been held up as a model and praised for its integrity and commitment to compliance, a fact often mentioned by the NCAA itself.”
Follow Jordyn on Twitter @jojoholmey
Follow Yasmeen on Twitter @YasmeenSerhan
The NCAA Nazis imposed outrageous sanctions on USC. No one associated with USC knew anything about the infractions – it was one student and his parents and no one else from USC was involved. So the NCAAs solution for something that USC knew nothing about was to try their best to destroy the preeminent college football program in the nation and to deny 30 young people a college education? In addition to that, their solution also was to punish a group of current USC football player who were about 8 to 10 years old when the infractions occurred. The NCAA is a criminal enterprise. A bunch of 300 lb. college linemen ought to go into NCAA HQ and kick the sh*t out of them.