With this past weekend’s leaked emails from former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, not only is it clear that the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal is far from going away, but it also solidifies that Joe Paterno’s legacy is not just forever tarnished–it is forever disgraced.

Not only does the Penn State PR nightmare continue for the university and the entire athletic department, but now it could be facing possible NCAA sanctions for a complete and utter lack of institutional control.

Whether or not the NCAA will go after Penn State is yet to be determined, but as ESPN’s Colin Cowherd pointed out on his Monday radio show, the NCAA would seem awfully hypocritical if they don’t.  It was the NCAA, after all, that hammered USC a couple of years ago because former running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush’s parents took money and gifts from the program.

The NCAA made an example of USC because of their lack of control, stripping them of multiple scholarships and they deemed them ineligible to compete in bowl games the last two seasons.

So, if putting up parents of a player in a home closer to campus, so they can be closer to their son is lack of control, all eyes will be on the NCAA in the coming weeks to see their take on top administrators, including the former president, AD and Paterno for allowing a sexual predator to stay on the streets and have access to Penn State facilities (which is where a number of the Sandusky’s victims were assaulted).

The recent emails released to the public show that not only was Paterno and other top school officials aware of Sandusky’s bizarre behavior, but they also were going to turn Sandusky over to Child Welfare Services, based on former grad assistant Mike McQueary’s account of Sandusky molesting a young boy in the Penn State shower room in 2001.

Instead of getting Sandusky off the street and preventing him from hurting more children, the decision was ultimately made by the Penn State brass to brush the incident under the rug to preserve the Joe Paterno…I mean, Penn State brand.

USC never knowingly allowed a sexual predator to roam free among society, and they certainly didn’t give him the keys to their facilities to lure young boys, but that didn’t prevent the NCAA from arrogantly flexing their muscles to show the world what happens when your program doesn’t police itself to their satisfaction.

The NCAA backed themselves into quite a corner, and as more and more information from the Penn State scandal continues to leak, and former officials, including Curley and former president Graham Spanier face possible jail time, the sports world will be watching and waiting to see how the powers that be in the NCAA will react to an actual lack of institutional control.

photo courtesy of abcnews.com

What do the following players have in common? Reggie Bush, Terelle Pryor, Mariuce Clarett, Peter Warrick, Maurikce Pouncey, Cam Newton, Rhett Bomar, Lawrence Phillips and to make it interesting – O.J Mayo

Interestingly, they all have several things in common – they were all prized recruits – all, except Mayo, touched or have been within a win of the national championship trophy and all have or will leave their team in worse shape than when they arrived.

I’m sure you expect this diatribe to steer towards the familiar road of “The Case For Paying College Players” but it won’t. In fact, you can’t. The nuances of college sports and what make them great is exactly what prevents you from doing so. The fact remains however, a super star athlete, especially a superstar football player, at the college level is more often the fuse that ignites a negative PR bomb more than a “get over the hump to greatness” one.

Is USC better or worse off because of Reggie Bush? (google images)

I recently finished reading Tarnished Heisman – How Reggie Bush Turned His Last Year At USC to a Six Figure Job and got to thinking, do I really want my favorite team to get a player like that? The quick answers is yes. All college football fans are glued to their TV and computer for national signing day. Short of our bowl game, it’s the biggest day of the year.

What ranking we achieve by the recruitment review services is as much of a bragging point with our rivals as our record and/or bowl game finish. With each star that our recruits receive, more hope springs for the following 4 years. A thought out answer tells us a different story however.

Are USC fans glad that Reggie Bush is considered a Trojan? Will his number be retired? When you thought of Auburn a year ago, what came to mind versus what you think of now? ( Crimson Tide fans please refrain from answering this one – you skew my point ) Is it coincidence that post Bush, USC have lost their dominance? If so, what about Phillips at Nebraska? What about Pouncey at Florida? Clarett at OSU? What about the glaring post Warrick years at FSU?

Don’t get me wrong, there are several superstars that are never caught up in these media storms – Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, etc. But if you look at the averages, you can’t deny that the greatest teams are typified by a crescendo of winning years leading to utter dominance, then severe drop off.

It’s not because the teams can’t replace the talent, it’s because of the shock wave felt once their gone, both from a media standpoint and a game plan standpoint. You never wondered if Bush was going to get his yards every game but when Joe McNight took over the starting RB job ( McNight was also the #1 recruit in the nation when he came out of high school)

I doubt the other team had a defense, blitz package and spy designed specifically for him from the first play of the game. Players like these draw attention from the opposing defensive coordinator just as much as they do from ESPN‘s Game Day. The fact is, superstars make the other players around them better just as hitters benefit from batting behind Pujols, Cris Carter benefitted from the arrival of Randy Moss and (insert Jordan / Pippen, Kobe / Shaq, Magic / Jabbar reference here)

Adding to the headaches of departed stars are the pitfalls they often fall in to while at their university. All the aforementioned players had significant stories of misconduct to explain away, some of which added to the challenge of replacing them because of the imposed NCAA sanctions.

Replacing a star is hard enough, replacing a controversial star is impossible. Without Bush, USC would likely have won their national championship behind Lendale White and the stable of running backs they enjoyed. With Bush, they lost scholarships , the best recruiter in the pacific time zone, a Heisman Trophy, a percentage of their fans and the respect of college fans across the country. (They got Lane Kiffin back though!)

Lastly – We all know how much the NCAA hates cheaters…once their caught. ( Pre-conviction, the NCAA is rather fond of the revenues brought in by top-tier teams that dominate) Their unrelenting pursuit of improper benefits is second only to John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted in regards to “hunting down the bad guys.”

The NCAA is this strict because anything less than severe punishment of any impropriety is a swing in the direction of college football being a business ( which it is) and they can’t have that. By trumpeting the “passion of the game” and purity of college athletics” their coffers stay full while they 18-22 year olds kill each other in the weight room and on the field for the glorious payment of free tuition, room and board and food. And for the really good teams, there are goodie bags of portable DVD players and sweatshirts at the bowl game but you better not sell them or you’ll be expelled!

I root for my favorite college team with true passion and live and die with the scoreboard on Saturdays in the fall. I, as much as any fan, have my favorite players on the team and they are often the players scoring the most points, making the most tackles and featured in an expose by Erin Andrews.

With that said, I fear the day that my team gets a true top-level player that can change the outcome of a game by himself. The more media attention we receive, first place recruiting votes we garner and appearances at the Heisman ceremony we have, the closer we are to the dark days of “rebuilding.” Can you hear me post Gino Toretta Miami fans? Ok, ok…post Charles Woodson Michigan fans…no? Post Peyton Manning Tennessee fans?

With the recent news of several college football players, including former Florida offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey and UNC potential All-American DT Marvin Austin taking part in a party in Miami that was hosted (or at least partially financed) by a sports agent, it made me wonder why we are not hearing more about the truly guilty party–the sports agency responsible for the party itself.

In nearly every case in which money, suits, hotels and plane tickets are illegally given to amateur athletes, the agents or “runners” for the sports agencies that dispense the money and gifts are not even an after thought.  We instead criticize the 18-22 year old who often comes from little to no money, for accepting these gifts.

While I am not making a case for these student-athletes to accept money and gifts while they are supposed to be protecting their amateur status, the media and the NCAA are too enthralled with what is truly the secondary issue.

What is happening to the agencies and individuals who are guilty of a range of illegal activities including fraud, bribery and at least in the case of Reggie Bush, extortion.  In Bush’s well-documented case, his parents allegedly moved into a beautiful, furnished home in the Los Angeles area that was financed by a sports agency.

While Reggie Bush is still facing the music from his USC days, sports agents like Mike Ornstein are a mere afterthought when it comes to any wrong-doing (google images)

The major reason the entire story was leaked is because Bush spurned that particular agency and signed with another one at the conclusion of his NCAA career.  Do the names Michael Michaels, Lloyd Lake and Mike Ornstein ring a bell?  How many times have their names been mentioned in the past six months, which has been loaded with media coverage on Bush, USC and the scandal involved?  That’s because the media and the NCAA are not talking about them.  Their focus, rather, has been on the student-athletes.  If Michaels, Lake and Ornstein have been mentioned at  all, I must have missed it, and given the website I write for, I follow college sports as much as anyone.

Still wondering who those individuals are?  They are the marketing agents from two separate sports agencies that tried to woo Bush into signing with them.  Michaels and Lake did so by financing Bush’s family’s living quarters, among other things.

When Bush chose Ornstein instead of them, Michaels and Lake promptly sued Bush.  The grounds on which the law suit existed is beyond hysterical.  Basically, Michaels and Lake improperly paid a college athlete and his family and extorted them so that Bush would sign with their agency.  When that didn’t happen, they tried to take Bush to court.  I don’t exactly have any sympathy for them.  The only way Michaels and Lake could be more corrupt is if the money they were providing the Bush family was laundered from a drug lord.

Ornstein and his associates allegedly provided suits, hotel stays and weekly payments of $1500 to the Bush family, and he was caught on tape saying the gifts given to Bush and his family were “loans.”  Ornstein also claimed that he had no knowledge that these “loans” were a violation of NCAA rules and guidelines.

I never went to law school, and I have not gone through any of the certification requirements to be a sports agent, but even I know that when you pay an athlete based on his or her talents, you can call it whatever you want…an I.O.U. a loan or anything else; that effectively makes that athlete a professional because he/she is getting paid in some capacity because of performance on the field or court.

Still, some way, somehow, all of the attention in the NCAA investigation has Bush, USC and the coaching staff as the unethical and repulsive individuals that either accepted gifts or turned a blind eye to it.  All the negative attention focused on what truly is the result of a huge problem.  Unfortunately, our focus has not been on the cause of the problem.

When the NCAA unleashed their stiff sanctions against USC, they simply acknowledged the symptom and not the individuals who are really the corrupt ones.

I’m sick of hearing about what the NCAA plans to do to make an example of USC.  What are we doing to the agents providing all of these gifts and temptations, all the while, knowing they are engaging in illegal activity?  I don’t care how ethical you are–if you come from a poverty-stricken community and you are twenty years old, and someone offers your family a better place to live and some spending cash, you would be a hypocrite to say you wouldn’t at least consider it.

For Bush, his credibility is shot and his family is embarrassed.  For Pouncey, his Florida team may be forced to forfeit their Sugar Bowl victory and potentially lose scholarships, and for Austin, it is being reported that he will likely be suspended for his entire senior season, which could cost him millions of dollars in the NFL Draft next spring.

The agents, on the other hand, will quietly wait until this latest scandal blows over, and they will attempt to buy their next new crop of young clients.  And they will face limited to no consequences for ruining the lives of these young athletes.  The example that needs to be set should be targeted at the agencies who allow this to happen.

Orstein, Michaels and Lake should be banned from attending Pop Warner football games, let alone high school and college games after the level of unprofessionalism and lack of ethics they have shown.  A second violation from an agency should be grounds to shut the agency down all together.

Unfortunately, unless something drastically changes, the NCAA and the media will continue to hold our 18-22-year old athletes to an extraordinarily higher standard of character, ethics and integrity than the grown men and women who are giving their all to deceive and compromise the student-athletes we should be protecting.

This article is an attempt to shed more light on the actual crooked individuals and plead for stiffer, more stringent penalties for the corruption.  So far, the media and NCAA have failed miserably.

This morning, multiple media outlets are reporting that the NCAA will be cracking down hard on USC for rules violations over the past several years.  The major allegations involve Reggie Bush in the football program, and OJ Mayo from his years on the Trojan basketball team.  The sanctions that are reportedly being imposed will include the football program missing the post-season for the next two seasons and losing up to 20 scholarships.

Pete Carroll will watch from afar as his former players pay for violations during his tenure (google images)

In anticipation of the NCAA crackdown, the USC basketball program has already begun imposing their own sanctions, which has included reduction in scholarships and barring themselves from the NCAA and NIT post-season tournaments.

The big problem of these sanctions that the individuals involved in the violations are gone.  At the conclusion of last year’s college football season and it was apparent that the program would be disciplined in some capacity, former head coach Pete Carroll caught a flight to Seattle and promptly accepted a new gig with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. 

Last summer, amid countless allegations of recruiting violations, former head basketball coach Tim Floyd resigned, claiming he had just “lot enthusiasm for his job.”  The two athletes who have been the center of the violations, Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo are long gone as well, making their money in the NFL and NBA.

As the NCAA makes an example of USC, there is one problem with the sanctions–the guilty or corrupt individuals who caused this mess are suffering zero consequences.  The ones who are being punished are the current athletes, who came to USC with the hopes and dreams of winning on the largest of stages.  And those dreams will be stolen because of mistakes that other people (people who are long-gone now) made.  

At least new recruits will get the opportunity to weigh whether or not they want to go to a program that will not have an opportunity to generate a full recruiting class and compete for a national championship.  The others who are already enrolled do not have that luxury.  They will instead be held hostage for the next two years because of lack of ethics from four individuals who managed to pack up and leave before the storm hit.

In this case, the NCAA had to react and show that these violations will not be tolerated, but it is a shame that we are in a society that passes the buck so easily and so quickly.  It would be refreshing to see someone other than a bunch of 18-22 year olds who were not involved in the actions from the last decade step up and accept the consequences for what they have done.

College FootBlog would like your feedback.  Is the NCAA right?  What other alternative sanctions could there be?

Monte Kiffin will once again be roaming the sidelines with his son in 2010 (google images)

Even with the numerous allegations of possible violations from the NCAA, combined with the departure of legendary recruiter Pete Carroll, the USC Trojans still put one of the top (if not the top) recruiting classes in the country a few weeks ago.

Carroll was as good of a defensive mind that USC had ever seen, but with all due respect, Carroll does not have an entire defensive scheme named after him.

Enter Monte Kiffin, who created the “Tampa 2″ defense during his tenure as defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The acquisition of his son, Lane Kiffin as the head coach was not nearly as impactful as Monte as the defensive coordinator.

If there were any questions of whether or not the elder Kiffin could translate his success to the college level, there is no doubt now.  Monte’s defense at the University of Tennessee was not only one of the best in the SEC, it was among the nation’s elite, ranking 22nd in total defense and 12th overall against the pass.

Despite the loss of several key starters on defense, including four-year starter and projected first round draft pick Taylor Mays, the Trojans have plenty of talent and depth for Kiffin to work with.

The inexperience and injuries to the linebacker corps really hurt the Trojans last year, and let’s face it–they placed three linebackers in the first day of the last year’s NFL Draft.  Even with the plethora of athletes that USC has, replacing three NFL players (all of whom saw significant playing time as rookies).

If there was a silver lining to the departure of Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Rey Maualuga did allow Chris Galippo, Devon Kennard and Malcolm Smith to get valuable experience last season.  If they can stay healthy, especially at linebacker, look for the Southern Cal defense to very good in 2010, but they could be downright scary in 2011, after the Kiffins have two recruiting classes under their belts.

When it’s all said and done, it could be Monte, not Lane, that puts USC back in the hunt for a Pac 10 title and a National Championship.

Being born in 1990, I’ve only been able to witness a fraction of the greatest moments in college sports. Whether it was Florida winning both a football and basketball national championship in 2006 or Michael Vick single-handedly carrying Virginia Tech to a national championship against Florida State, college sports have been very good the last twenty years.

Something over the last twenty years that I have not jumped onto the bandwagon for was the media monster, Tim Tebow. No, he did not ask for all the national attention on a daily basis. No, he did not ask for his name to pop-up on top of the Google suggested list only after typing in the letters: t-i-m. And no, he definitely didn’t ask for his perfect background to become a national conversation; maybe he did ask for that one just a little bit. Nevertheless, Tim Tebow is viewed as the greatest thing to put on a helmet since, well, ever.

It’s the last thing that I don’t agree with on this topic. Don’t get me wrong Tim Tebow played the game consistently better than anyone I’ve seen. I just feel that if ESPN cared enough to indulge themselves into Charles Woodsen’s, Vince Young’s or even Michael Vick’s life, they may have had a different story to tell. Below is my, Nick Gacos’, list of the top five players of his lifetime ever to call themselves grid-iron student-athletes.

#5 Reggie Bush (Southern California)- I truly believe that Reggie Bush was the first player of our generation to really have the “wow” factor. Matt Leinert probably hasn’t thanked Pete Carroll enough for putting Bush in a number 5 Trojan uniform behind him in the backfield. In just two years Bush ran for 2648 yards and 22 touchdowns. Oh, I almost forgot he made up more than half of the Trojan’s passing game with 80 receptions for 987 yards and 9 more touchdowns. The most impressive thing about Bush as I was gathering stats was his fumble to lost fumble ratio. Zero-Zero. Somehow Bush managed to hang onto the football better than anyone. Maybe that’s why they let him get away with pushing Leinert into the end zone with time expiring to beat Brady Quinn’s Fighting Irish. (Pictured above)

#4 Charles Woodson (Michigan)- Easily my favorite player on the board. If I had to start a college football dynasty around one player, Charles would be my man. Defense, offense and special teams made him a shoe-in for the Heisman Trophy in 1997. Yes, this drynamic player never left the field, but when on offense he could line-up as a tailback or receiver. He made defensive coordinators cringe when they saw number 21 jogging to the huddle. In three years Woodson had 18 interceptions, 31 broken-up passes and 182 tackles, but wait there’s more. He also returned 47 punts for 407 yards and a touchdown. When he didn’t return the ball on special teams, he was busy rushing for 173 yards and two touchdowns to accompany his 25 receptions for 402 yards and three touchdowns. I’d say he is rather dynamic.

#3 Michael Vick (Virginia Tech)- It’s not until I was accepted by Virginia Tech that I began to deeply regret my decision not to watch Hokie Football during the Michael Vick days. Sadly, Michael only played two seasons before signing with saving the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. It was in those two years that VT fans got more than they bargained for. With a 20-1 record as a starter, Vick could make plays with every inch of his body. With a man open downfield, Vick would throw a laser-rocket strike into the bread basket of the receiver. 3,504 yards and 22 touchdowns in two seasons shows the passing game that came with Michael Vick, but as I’ve stated in previous articles, numbers don’t tell the whole story. Watching Vick play was unique because when pressured, Michael would be able to tear defenses down with his legs. It was his 1,318 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground that made number 7, number 7. His longest rush went for 82 yards if you doubted his breakaway speed. If it wasn’t for legal trouble, Vick could have been the first man to pass for 4,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season in the NFL.

#2 Tim Tebow (Florida)- This is probably the first time you’ll ever see Tim Tebow’s name and the following collection of words in the same sentence; “second-greatest”. Actually, this past season’s SEC Conference final standing would agree with me, but that is besides the point. I understand that two national championships, a Heisman and three Heisman finalist selections is extremely impressive, but being an avid watcher of sporting news, I wasn’t able to see the “media-pedestal” that he was put on. I’m not the first person to think this, but just the first to admit it. However, Tebow earns the respect of 100 players due to the fact he stayed in college for all four years. Again, I think this is because he isn’t going to make a great pro and this was his moment (years) to shine. 12,232 total yards from scrimmage and 145 touchdowns is incredible, but I think only good enough to call him the greatest college football player to ever run the option.

#1 Vince Young (Texas)- First off I’d like to save all my readers the time and effort of searching to find the year Young won the Heisman. The year was two-thousand and never. He lost to Reggie Bush in the 2005 poll because I know this was the next thing you went to look up. His 6040 yards passing, 44 touchdowns through the air, 3,127 yards rushing and 37 touchdowns on the ground aren’t what you would expect from the number one on this list. It’s hard to top stats like Tebow’s, but I’m a firm believer in looking beyond the numbers. For those who can’t look past the numbers, here’s some that will make you agree with my decision of putting Vince atop this list. In his two Rose Bowl appearances, Young had 839 yards and 8 touchdowns. How? What? Really? Also, he was 30-2 as a starter. No wonder this guy went 3rd overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. Still not a believer? Vince Young only played two-and-a-half seasons and went to two Rose Bowls (then national championships), winning his final as a junior. Vince Young is truly the best college football player of the last twenty years and was hardly recognized because of such personnel: Reggie Bush, Brady Quinn, and Matt Leinert.

(Honorable mention: Troy Smith, Tim Couch, Carson Palmer, Ken Dorsey)

I could easily see this list being displayed 100 different ways and that is what makes this argument so great. No one is right, yet no one is wrong and the questions never end. Tim Tebow and Vince Young have the numbers to be easy choices for one and two, but it is ultimately up to the writer to pick who he thinks performed better. Despite all the debate, here is something that all journalists can at least agree with:

This debate has given us one of the greatest headaches of the last twenty years.