Arizona State dropped men's tennis, men's swimming and men's tennis today. Lisa Love, the ASU athletic director, was the women's volleyball coach and associate athletic director at USC for many years.
This was not her finest hour. She is seen as attacking men's sports right on the heels of attacking the ASU cheerleaders.
Maybe USC swim coach Dave Salo can poach some ASU swimmers for his flailing program.
Another comment from NCAA president Myles Brand.
``We are not the cops on the corner. The schools themselves have the responsibility to follow the rules and that means, and includes, separating agents from interfering with student-athletes."
I think it is worth noting how unusual it is for the NCAA to speak publicly about a case and today president Myles Brand commented about the O.J. Mayo situation.
``Our enforcement division has new information and as a matter of fact, when we have new
information on any case, we will investigate,'' Brand said.
It seems to me the fact the allegations aired on ESPN have forced the NCAA to be much more public about this case.
We're going to answer every question that was posted in the Weekend Forum.
Here's a commentary I wrote on the basketball program in the wake of the O.J. Mayo investigation.
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_9239882
USC just released this statement on O.J. Mayo.
``We are in contact with the NCAA and the Pac-10 and are working with
both in a cooperative investigation to review these new allegations.''
``The allegations of improper benefits received by O.J. Mayo before and during his enrollment at the University of Southern California -- as outlined in ESPN's May 11, 2008, segment of 'Outside the Lines'--are new to the NCAA.
``This information was not available when the NCAA examined Mr. Mayo's academic and amateurism status prior to his collegiate enrollment, and we will review the information in conjunction with the institution and the Pac-10 Conference.''
One of you asked what I knew about junior college defensive lineman Hebron Fangupo, who attends Mt. SAC. I didn't know anything, but with a name like that, I had to look into it. USC is showing a lot of interest in him and expected to visit Mt. SAC this week to actually take a look at him.
Taylor Mays, Brian Cushing, Kevin Ellison, Fili Moala and Rey Maualuga were named to the Nagurski Award watch list today.
ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi did a chat with fans today about O.J. Mayo. Here's what she said about what USC should have known.
``That (Rodney) Guillory created problems for USC in the past with his involvement in the suspension of former USC guard Jeff Trepagnier should have raised a huge red flag. Also, according to (Tim) Floyd, he never recruited Mayo, yet Guillory presented one of the very top recruits in the country to him on a silver platter, by going into his office two summers ago and saying, OJ wants to play for you, but he wouldn't give Floyd his cell phone number, O.J. would call Floyd.
``Guillory claimed that he was O.J.'s friend and that he was sent there by O.J. ''to check Floyd out.'' That, again, should be a signal that you should be hyper-vigilant in making sure that nothing untoward is going on while Mayo's at your program.''
These answers are sponsored by Roman Meal bread, which never loses institutional control.
Who knew O.J. Mayo turning pro would be a blessing in disguise for USC?
That's right, we're back on the air and answering questions.
Most of you never heard of Louis Johnson before Sunday's ESPN story. He was a sportswriter at the Long Beach Press-Telegram for many years and considered an authority on high school basketball, especially in the Long Beach-Compton area. He also worked at the Orange County Register and FoxSports.com.
He quit the Press-Telegram and has been around USC with Rodney Guillory and O.J. Mayo the past two years. He frequently attended pickup games at the Galen Center, USC basketball games, the locker room and was with Mayo on his official campus visit in November, 2006.
No one I spoke to Sunday in media circles was aware that he received a suspended sentence and probation after being charged with selling cocaine.
If you have any questions, and I'm guessing there are more now than before the weekend, scroll down to the Weekend Forum and post them. Please do not post questions here.
O.J. Mayo spoke to ESPN on Sunday night.
``When asked by ESPN.com if he would meet with the NCAA to discuss the allegations, Mayo said, "Of course. I have no problem. I did it before [when he received Lakers tickets] and I'll do it again."
When asked if he was aware of any violations he may have committed, Mayo said, "Not at all."
The USC walk-on video just made it to Deadspin.com, which added its own editorial comments.
http://deadspin.com/389350/douchetastic-usc-walk+on-video-is-neuheisels-gain
Forward Leonard Washington told Rivals.com this weekend in Indiana that he was not committed to USC and was looking at the Hoosiers and several other schools.
Sources close to the situation tell me Washington is still planning to attend USC and will enroll in the summer but likes to ``play around'' when asked about where he will play next season.
Sounds like he will fit right in following the Mayo-Jefferson era.
An alert reader emailed us the list of individual accomplishments on Matt Leinart's Wikipedia profile.
2004
Heisman Trophy Winner
Rose Bowl MVP
Walter Camp Award "
2005
Orange Bowl MVP
Unitas Award
Finalist for Heisman Trophy
2006
Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Males 2006
ESPN Hottest Male Athlete of the Year
People Magazine 100 Most Beautiful People
2007
Nothing
Some things in USC's favor regarding the O.J. Mayo:
The NCAA did an eligibility check on Mayo before it certified him through the NCAA Clearinghouse.
USC's compliance office also banned Rodney Guillory from receiving tickets to its home games.
Some things not in USC's favor:
Guillory and Louis Johnson, who blew the whistle and went to ESPN, were regular fixtures in the USC locker room at the Galen Center the year before Mayo enrolled.
Guillory had his run of the basketball facilities and Tim Floyd personally informed him when the compliance office denied the tickets.
``Tim Floyd was heartbroken,'' Guillory told me.
None of this is to say USC will or will not be penalized. The first day is always the worst day to make predictions, but that will not stop fans, of course.
Also, the investigations done before Mayo enrolled did not have any of the documentation provided by Johnson to ESPN. So the NCAA will renew its look into Mayo.
Here's a detailed version of ESPN's story on O.J. Mayo. I'll have some observations later today. The story does not implicate USC in any wrongdoing, but an NCAA investigation will no doubt make that determination. And it's worth mentioning that Rodney Guillory, the person implicated in the ESPN story, was frequently in contact with USC coach Tim Floyd and other USC officials.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3389049
The baseball team lost to Cal State Northridge 5-4 today to drop to 22-26 overall. The teams wrap up their two-game series Sunday at USC. The Trojans might need make the NCAA Tournament if they win their final eight games.
Davon Jefferson is working out at a local high school with the Lopez twins from Stanford and Oregon center Marty Leunen, among others. We hear Jefferson was initially out of shape because he did not do anything for about six weeks after USC was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN is going to air the results of a four-month investigation looking into the relationship between O.J. Mayo and his mentor, Rodney Guillory.
http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2008/05/a_closer_look_a.html
Time to break in these new servers with the return of the Weekend Forum. One question per person.
Here's the last batch of questions, with some good ones posed on Walk-ongate.
Which recruit will make an impact next season?
Of course, another recruiting question.
We also simulcast our answers on CaesarTV.com.
Here we go. A question on a proposed street brawl involving Petros Papadakis and myself. But we're on the same team.
The poll on the Lexus Gauntlet was fairly one-sided. Most of you didn't care. Now if it were the Roman Meal Gauntlet or the CaesarTV.com Gauntlet, I might feel differently.
See what happens when the servers work. We answer more questions.
Incoming freshman forward Leonard Washington is expected to enroll for the second summer session in late June.
Let's see how the USC and Florida football teams compared academically the past three semesters.
USC
Fall 2007 2.36
Spring 2.40
Fall 2006 2.43
Florida
Fall 2007 2.81
Spring 2007 2.77
Fall 2006 2.72
Sources: USC, Florida.
We already mentioned Rick Neuheisel's use of the USC walk-on video with recruits. Now we hear from some high school coaches that USC is wondering how long UCLA's dream-team coaching staff (i.e. Norm Chow) will be together.
May is always a wonderful month for recruiting stories.
The NFL and college football football are apparently increasing in popularity in Denmark. A Danish journalist asked me today what NFL player I would compare Rey Maualuga to.
So I turn to you for that answer. Who would you compare Maualuga to?
With NCAA rules preventing Caesar from going out to high schools this month, he decided to take a vacation. I guess that means no web-cam chats like Alabama coach Nick Saban did with a recruit. As I've previously written, Saban is the cause of this new rule in the first place.
O.J. Mayo sitting courtside at the Lakers-Jazz game. This time it was not an NCAA violation.
For two straight Open Forums I received the same question from readers claiming the NFL Network said offensive lineman Drew Radovich was not drafted by an NFL team due to "character concerns" and "off the field issues."
I'm going to assume the readers are right about what the NFL Network said. That aside, I feel it's worth repeating that Drew Radovich did not have any issues before the draft. I have heard about off the field issues for a USC player but it was not Drew Radovich. So I think it's a case of mistaken identity.
Davon Jefferson's completed two of his three final exams so far. Remember he needs to only pass six units this semester for USC to avoid any APR penalties.
Another recruit just confirmed that UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel pushed the USC walk-on video for its negative connotations. It's now an official trend. The link to the video can be found on Monday's posts.
Here's are USC basketball's Academic Progress Rate scores since the inception of the APR. Remember, that 925 is the minimum score to avoid penalities.
Year 1: 771
Year 2: 915
Year 3: 959
Year 4: 804
USC will officially unveil the return of the Lexus Gauntlet, the ugliest trophy in sports, on Tuesday, May 13, at 1 p.m.
Arkansas joined the Top 10 in spring football game attendance with 40,200 attending the scrimmage. Just under 1.5 million fans attended spring games in 2008.