Building a case to take down Tony Soprano, I mean USC

To their Pac-10 rivals (and haters), the USC Trojans have been unremorseful renegades the past few years, roaming freely and continuing to run a high-profile athletics program without being disciplined for the scandals involving Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.

As the months have passed and the reports of NCAA violations have multiplied, the cries of a double standard favoring the Trojans have turned into angry screams for justice.

Why won't the NCAA do anything? Why won't the Pac-10 do anything? Does USC now stand for Unpunished Scoundrels Cheating?

It's an impatient, visceral reaction that clouds the big picture. In actuality, this long wait for NCAA repercussions means it's quite possible USC is in more danger than you realize. It's quite possible the school you accuse of having more lives than Tony Soprano is being set up for one of the biggest falls from grace in sports history.

That's what I took from the latest Yahoo! Sports investigation into USC's wrongdoing. The Web site, which has broken several stories about Bush and Mayo in the past three years, reported this week that USC basketball coach Tim Floyd gave at least $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, one of Mayo's handlers, in 2007.

This new accusation now goes into a laundry basket of alleged misdeeds involving Bush, the former Heisman Trophy winner, and Mayo, the great basketball talent. The problems are so bad and widespread that several media outlets have speculated the NCAA could be building a case to prove USC has shown a lack of institutional control.

It's a scary situation, one that could destroy USC's dynastic football program and blossoming men's basketball program.

Instead of wondering why the NCAA is so afraid of USC, you should consider why USC should be frightened by this NCAA probe.

The NCAA rarely slaps an athletic department with sanctions related to a lack of institutional control. It's difficult to prove, the guidelines for what it means are ambiguous, and it takes a completely negligent athletics department to allow such rampant rule-breaking. If the NCAA wants to convict USC in this manner, it would need irrefutable evidence of both the violations and the school's recklessness.

Yahoo has identified 17 people the NCAA has interviewed during its investigation, and it's believed that there are several more unknown sources out there. The organization has grilled everyone from athletic director Mike Garrett to coaches Pete Carroll and Floyd to Lloyd Lake and Louis Johnson, two key figures in these scandals.

Lake is the co-founder of the failed marketing company that supposedly gave $300,000 to Bush. Johnson, a former sports writer who befriended Mayo, says that Guillory, while serving as an agent's runner, gave Mayo at least $30,000 while he played for the Trojans.

What's the truth? We're still waiting to learn how the NCAA interprets it. There's no doubt, however, that there's too much smoke surrounding USC to brush off these controversies.

It's false to think that USC, especially the football program, has attained sacred-cow status because it's so important to the Pac-10 and the NCAA. Over the years, the NCAA has sanctioned too many dominant programs — Kentucky basketball, Oklahoma football and many other giants — for it to whimper while standing before USC.

If the Trojans cheated the system, they will be dealt with eventually. Cases such as this one operate similarly to taking down a mob boss. They require meticulous, detailed investigation, not a conviction from public opinion. It may seem like the Trojans are getting off easy, but Garrett is probably sweating like a 350-pound lineman these days.

The Trojans' day is coming.

The punishment figures to be forceful and harsh. And, according to ESPN, it appears the NCAA is close to making up its mind.

"Our sense is that something is imminent," said Anthony Salerno, one of Johnson's lawyers. "I think the NCAA is very close to concluding their investigation. I would say it's looming large and soon."

Perhaps you'll soon find out whether the Trojans truly are invincible. They'd better hope so.

If not, all signs indicate they'll be punished to the brink of irrelevance for quite a while.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com.