Answer Thursday! (Part 3)

More, more questions. And answers. Remember post-practice updates are first filed on twitter.com/InsideUSC.

Q: sureshot said:
Not to be a whiny little (you know what) but are there any journalists investigating the way the NCAA handled the Reggie Bush case? It seems like this would be a great opportunity for a journalist to get a lot of publicity and make some serious coin by publishing an expose style book on the apparent incongruities between the way the NCAA handled this case and the way it’s handled other cases.

Also (I know your policy is a strict one question per person deal, but this is more of an aside) – do you know offhand how the freedom of information act pertains to obtaining grades/degrees at a public school. If, say someone wanted to investigate Vince Young’s academic career at Texas, could one examine his grades, or would that be considered “personal”? I know that the FOIA covers public employees (Athletic Directors’ emails, for instance) but I’m not sure how it relates to students.

A: I haven’t heard if anyone is specifically investigating this but if anyone does hear, let me know. I do know the NCAA is extremely unresponsive. I asked a simple question this week regarding USC’s probation penalties and was told by the NCAA to direct my question to USC. Well who came up with the penalties? USC or the NCAA. They make themselves intentionally unresponsive and it leads to the feeling that something is amiss in their decision making.

A student’s grades are not available under the FOIA due to federal privacy amendments.

Q: gilligan said:
Mr. Wolf, how will the current NCAA investigation on UNC, South Carolina and Georgia impact USC’s appeal? The NCAA penalized USC for Bush accepting money and based on this decision it looks like UNC is in serious trouble considering that Coach Blake was on the payroll of one of the accuser’s company and multiple players were influenced by outside boosters/agents. Thank you in advance.

A: I think the appeal will be influenced by all of this. If the NCAA does not act the same with North Carolina, it will seem biased against USC. The key will be, however, whether the NCAA decides the North Carolina case before it decides USC’s appeal.
I give USC a sliver of hope at the appeal now simply because of Pat Haden and Max Nikias’ efforts to create a relationship with the organization.