More Carroll
Here's another quote from Pete Carroll's interview on HBO's Real Sports, where he said the NCAA should be ``ashamed.''
``Remember that the people that were involved with this didn't want us to know. They were trying to conceal the information. And they did a good enough job where we didn't know. We would have stopped it. That's where the stoppage comes from.
``We made mistakes along the way. But we didn't make mistakes that would take a program down with the facts that they hold-- I would be ashamed for the NCAA."
It appears that Pete didn't get into details, but it comes back to the NCAA setting the wrong dates with respect to when Reggie receive his cheap car ('05 not '04 – the NCAA cost USC a national BCS title) and when the alleged call came to McNair ('06 not '05 – led to the lack of institutional control finding and large sanctions). The whole area with McNair would not uphold in any court, in fact, the evidence (if you can call it that) mostly would not be admitted (i.e. tampered photo and no original, etc., etc., etc.). Without changing the dates the NCAA could not issue serious sanctions. USC had an opportunity to correct the dates and did so. The NCAA ignored the corrections and used the bad dates to draw their conclusions.
Another issue is who the NCAA allowed to determine USC's fate. In a court of law biased jurors are dismissed with cause. NCAA allowed a person highly motivated to see USC receive heavy sanctions. That person is from Notre Dame who has a new coach and an athletic department heavily stressed by alumni who want success. That success has to include changing their fortunes with possibly their biggest rival USC. USC has rolled through them 8 of the past 9 times they met. Without crippling USC they have little chance of being considered successful by the alumni. A second NCAA fact finder was from Miami who was first in line to get Henderson should USC get strict sanctions. He coincidentally did end up at Miami - their biggest recruit in over a decade. A court would never force a case to be heard by a known interested party with a clear agenda!