Punish the Conferences

USC got stripped of a title, Ohio State's Jim Tressel quit, these are just the latest stories of minor corruption in big time college football.

What pisses me off is that the conferences don't get punished. The Pac-10 got $17 million for USC's appearance in the Orange Bowl that year. Why don't they have to surrender that money? If the National Title was ill-gotten, wasn't the bid to the title game?

You might ask me why I'd want to punish U-Washington for something that happened at USC. But why does some teammate of Reggie Bush get punished for what Bush did? For how many of Bush's teammates was that achievement the pinnacle of their life? Bush gets his NFL salary, his NFL endorsements, but now his former teammates have "vacated" their title. What the hell does Bush care about Wikipedia listing USC's title as vacated?

Punish the conferences for violations like this. Then the conferences will actually try to police their own schools. And the Pac-10 benefited from Bush's presence just as much as USC did. Why should the NCAA have to watch all 120 programs? How come we never hear about the BigTen uncovering some scandal within their own conference? Because they're not looking. Why would they look?

All the power in college football is held by the conferences. The conferences concocted the BCS, not the NCAA. The conferences get all the money and decide where it goes. They get rewarded for their teams' successes, so why not also hold them responsible for their violations?

-The Commodore

Looks Like The Zona Job Wasn't That Bad After All

LOS ANGELES -- Tim Floyd suddenly resigned as basketball coach at Southern California on Tuesday following allegations that he gave $1,000 in cash to a man who helped steer former star player O.J. Mayo to the Trojans.

Floyd submitted a one-paragraph letter to USC athletic director Mike Garrett saying he was quitting after four seasons because he no longer had full enthusiasm for his job.

Whatever, I don't care about Floyd or him getting fired, but I am surprised is that it only took USC to get O.J. mayo for a G. I was expected no less than a blue chips 30 grand in a duffle bag. Regardless, it was and is pretty obvious that USC plays college sports right by paying them money that they truly deserve.

Tim Floyd May Be In Just A Little Trouble

LOS ANGELES -- A former associate of NBA star O.J. Mayo says that Southern California basketball coach Tim Floyd paid a man who helped get Mayo to play for the Trojans, Yahoo! Sports reported on Tuesday.

Louis Johnson, the former associate of Mayo's, told the Web site that Rodney Guillory told him that Floyd had given Guillory "a grand." Johnson said he was able to view $100 bills inside an envelope Guillory had.

This of course is a MAJOR violation and will probably put USC under suspension and his job. It is one thing for a booster to give money, a car, a job to a player, but for a head coach to give money away to a player is probably the biggest no no you can possibly do. Figuring the NCAA is already breathing down the USC football programs necks, it is sure to be onto the basketball team now. Looks like that Arizona job didn't look to bad after all.

Tim Floyd To Coach Arizona

Tim Floyd has decided to leave USC and head to Arizona. Floyd, 55, has spent the last four seasons at USC with an 85-50 record. He led the Trojans to three NCAA tournament appearances -- including the Sweet 16 in 2007. BMack and I argued back and forth about the Arizona job, as BMack called it a coach killer because it was under investigation. But that is really irrelevant and stupid, because Arizona is basically the Kentucky of the west coast. Floyd should not only push his coaching rank up higher if he succeeds in Zona, but should get way better recruits.