USC's involvement key to NCAA's Bush probe

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...es/15533805.htm

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USC's involvement key to NCAA's Bush probe

Mercury News Wire Services

The day after new allegations surfaced regarding Reggie Bush's link to marketing agents, questions remained about the potential fallout for the USC program he left behind.

An NCAA official said investigators want to speak with sources from a Yahoo Sports report that Bush and his family accepted benefits of more than $100,000 from agents while the tailback was still playing college football.

Because Bush has gone to the NFL -- beyond the NCAA's reach -- the focus of the investigation will be USC.

``I think we're trying to determine, is this something the institution was on the hook for?'' said Ron Barker, an associate commissioner with the Pacific-10 Conference, part of the joint investigation.

Bush, speaking after practice with the New Orleans Saints, continued to deny wrongdoing.

``I'm not worried about any of these allegations or anything like that,'' he told reporters. ``Because I know what the truth is, like I said from Day One. Once the smoke clears, everybody's going to see we did nothing wrong.''

The report said Bush's family received weekly payments of at least $1,500 and travel accommodations from agent Mike Ornstein and one of his employees.

Such benefits could violate NCAA rules, rendering Bush retroactively ineligible for his final season or longer, depending on when the alleged violations began.

[tombigbeetiger 223]

one could hope for some major distractions to come

[sogaaufan 27]

I hate to be spiteful, but I hope this looks terrible for USC. The only thing better would be to have it happen to Notre Dame. Then two media darlings would have egg on their face.