The Boiling Point: On Munir McClain, and how USC’s lack of transparency is the tip of the iceberg

Well, I said it in the first column and here we are: Another scandal has found its way to the USC campus. Maybe I predicted it — but can something really be predicted when history almost guarantees it?

I’m talking about USC sophomore wide receiver Munir McClain’s suspension from the team amid an FBI investigation into an unemployment claim he made this summer. But, the scandal is not the fact that he filed — from the look of things, he properly filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits for his sneaker reselling service. USC is at fault for not presuming McClain innocent until proven guilty. 

The Los Angeles Times focused on the Office of Professionalism and Ethics’ role in its investigation. The fact that USC has to have an independent workforce to handle complaints and possible legal issues is a whole other story, but the supposed benefit of such a task force is its ability to give students and student-athletes “procedural protections” to resume their respective roles at USC while under investigation. 

McClain has been completely shut out of these procedural rights. His mother, Shanrika “Shan” McClain, claims neither the University nor any of the coaching staff has offered a complete explanation as to what qualified her son for suspension. 

It’s been over a month since the McClain family has gotten any updates. With Munir’s brother, redshirt sophomore linebacker Abdul-Malik McClain, still on the roster heading into the first game day, the McClain family is now torn between fighting for one son’s proper due process and another’s opportunity to compete. 

The McClains deserve the presumption of innocence on behalf of both USC and the Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General. McClain may very well qualify for benefits from the Employment Development Department of California as a full-time student and owner of a sneaker reselling business. The Department of Labor clarified its qualifications for students in April to include those who work part-time, and a misfiling would ultimately be the state office’s error in not reviewing correctly — not the young man looking for income in his own right. 

McClain’s filing reflects the void the NCAA threw its players into when the pandemic shuttered its operations. While government unemployment assistance is outside of NCAA jurisdiction, the association does heavily monitor and restrict the types of employment athletes can pursue. At the end of the day, even a minimum wage job can prove a headache for both the student-athlete and employer who must regularly confirm they are not benefiting directly from their student-athlete status. 

In an unsteady job market, that type of applicant isn’t appealing, and in the middle of a pandemic hitting the average American with terrifying financial uncertainty, McClain took advantage of the relief the association refuses to give to the thousands of athletes who need it. Many student-athletes are struggling to make ends meet during a pandemic, and the NCAA refusing to even bend the rules in extraordinary circumstances is telling of its indifference to those student-athletes.

Shame on USC for not having the guts to stick up for one of its own or giving McClain the bare minimum of a transparent due process before suspension. Our University should have the spine to back its students for capitalizing on available resources in a stability-shattering pandemic. 

So yeah, a USC scandal was guaranteed. 

But USC football throwing one of its own players under the bus for clean hands PR? That wasn’t even on the betting board. 

Taylor Mills is a sophomore writing about the NCAA. She is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan. Her column, “The Boiling Point,” runs every other Friday.