USC hit with severe NCAA penalties, including two-year bowl ban

The USC athletic department was hit Thursday with some of the most severe penalties in the history of the Pac-10, if not college athletics, as the NCAA announced the results of a four-year investigation into numerous alleged violations.

Ultimately, the NCAA levied USC with a finding of "lack of institutional control" due to violations in the football, men's basketball and women's tennis programs, detailed in a 67-page report.

Most noteworthy are new penalties handed to the football team that include a postseason ban for the 2010 and 2011 seasons as well as hefty scholarship reductions.

The NCAA said in the report it needed to send a strong statement because "all student-athletes, coaches, administrators, boosters and agents must understand that violations of NCAA rules have severe consequences."

The violations largely centered on extra benefits awarded to football player Reggie Bush, who won the 2005 Heisman Trophy, by a would-be sports marketer; and extra benefits given to basketball player O.J. Mayo. USC will have to vacate all wins in games played by Bush from December 2004 through the end of the 2005 season, including the 2005 national title win over Oklahoma. USC is also on four years' probation.

The NCAA chided USC for not having the proper compliance measures in place and said the school could have done more proactively to prevent penalties, and reactively once it learned of possible violations.

"High-profile players demand high-profile compliance," said Paul Dee, chairman of the NCAA's committee on infractions.

The NCAA said that USC's football team will be limited to 15 initial grants-in-aid and 75 total grants in football for each of the 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years.

Teams are usually allowed 25 initial grant-in-aids and 85 total.

The violations occurred while Pete Carroll was USC's football coach. Carroll left USC after last season to take over as coach of the Seahawks.

In a video statement released on YouTube Thursday afternoon, Carroll said he was "absolutely shocked and disappointed" at the severity of the penalties.

"I never, ever thought it would come to this," Carroll said. "After nine years of working at the university and going through all the challenges and the accomplishments that all of the people took part in, I'm extremely disappointed we have to deal with this right now."

Carroll mentioned a number of interviews and depositions that spanned multiple years. In February, he appeared at a meeting with NCAA officials in Arizona.

"I never thought there were any facts that supported these significant sanctions that have come forth," Carroll said in his video message. "The primary issue throughout the process is, 'Did the university know?' The university didn't know. We didn't know. We were not aware of any of these findings."

Carroll said this was a case of "external people outside of the university setting." He also called on the NCAA and universities to come together to develop a better understanding of the vulnerability of college athletes and their families.

Carroll also disputed the basis and severity of the penalties.

"The agenda of the NCAA infractions committee took them beyond the facts, and the facts don't match the sanctions," Carroll said.

"I absolutely support the appeal by the university and will do everything I can to contribute to their efforts."

Bush, who plays for the NFL's New Orleans Saints, released a statement Thursday.

"I have a great love for the University of Southern California, and I very much regret the turn that this matter has taken, not only for USC, but for the fans and players," Bush said.

The bowl ban is the first assessed since Alabama and California in 2002. The overall sanctions are the most severe for any Pac-10 school since Washington received a two-year bowl ban and lost 20 scholarships over two years in 1993.

Washington coach Steve Sarkisian was an assistant at USC from 2001-2003 and 2005-2008. He was not mentioned in the report and said Thursday he did not know of the violations mentioned in the report.

"I was focused on coaching and I wasn't aware of some of those issues that had taken place at the time," he said. "But for us (at UW) in dealing with myself as a head coach and our assistant coaches, it shows just how important it is to be attuned with all of your players and what they are doing and who they are with and how they are doing it and that you can never monitor them closely enough."

USC said it will appeal the decision. The school had previously self-imposed penalties on its men's basketball program. Those included a postseason ban for the 2010 season. The NCAA did not add to that penalty.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report. Seattle Times reporter Danny O'Neil contributed to this report.