More NCAA Trouble for USC Football?

LOS ANGELES -- University of Southern California football Coach Pete Carroll employed a former NFL tactician last season to help with the team's punting and kicking game, an arrangement that may have violated NCAA rules that prohibit consultants from coaching, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

In an interview, Pete Rodriguez, who has coached for several professional franchises, acknowledged that he attended USC practices, monitored games and offered Carroll behind-the-scenes advice on matters ranging from the needs of individual players to avoiding penalties during punt returns.

"I would watch practice and tell Pete, 'Hey, this guy needs this and this,' " said Rodriguez. He said he believed his work complied with NCAA regulations that cap the number of coaches a team can have and that restrict consultants.

But experts contacted by the Times said the type of assistance that Rodriguez described could constitute a serious violation.

"That's coaching," said J. Brent Clark, a one-time NCAA investigator who practices law in Oklahoma, when told of Rodriguez's statements.

"The rules are designed to level the playing field for all institutions regardless of the size of their budgets. It would make no sense for the rich and powerful to be able to compensate coaches with NFL backgrounds outside the coaching-limitation rules."

James Grant, USC's media relations director, issued a brief statement Wednesday in response to questions from the Times. "We are aware of this issue and are looking into the matter. We will have no further comment at this time," the statement said.

A spokesman for Carroll and USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said both were on vacation and unavailable.

The NCAA, the governing body of major college sports, has been investigating USC football for more than three years and the school's basketball program for the past year. The probe has been examining specific cases as well as the broader question of whether USC has lost "institutional control" of its athletics department.

Carroll's employment of Rodriguez could prompt the NCAA to widen its investigation, according to Clark and others familiar with NCAA procedures, several of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of damaging their relations with USC or Carroll.

There has been no indication to date that the NCAA's investigation has touched on the use of consultants. An NCAA spokeswoman declined to answer questions about USC.

If USC is found to have lost institutional control of athletics, the organization could levy severe penalties on the school, including a ban on post-season play and television appearances that bring millions of dollars in revenue.

Any probe involving Carroll takes on particular importance because his sustained success has made him enormously popular and influential at USC and one of the most-recognizable figures in sports.

Now in his ninth year as coach, he has sought to remain above the details of the NCAA probe, which is centered on allegations of illicit payments involving former football star Reggie Bush and ex-basketball stand-out O.J. Mayo.

A source familiar with Trojan football operations said Rodriguez wasn't the first NFL-pedigree consultant Carroll has used. Several years ago, Carroll brought in NFL journeyman Alex Gibbs to help the Trojan coaching staff. During the off-season, Gibbs met with coaches and analyzed game videos, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was concerned about alienating USC.

Gibbs, now assistant head coach for offense for the Houston Texans, did not respond to interview requests.

NCAA bylaws bar consultants from participating "in any on- or off-field or on- or off-court coaching activities," unless they are counted against a team's coaching limits. The rules specifically forbid consultants from "attending practices and meetings involving coaching activities, formulating game plans (and) analyzing video involving the institution's or opponent's team."

The bylaws say teams may retain temporary consultants "to provide in-service training for the coaching staff but no interaction with student-athletes is permitted."

The rules limit teams in USC's division to nine assistant coaches and two graduate assistants. Last season, Carroll had opted not to assign an assistant coach full-time to special-teams duty, overseeing the punting and kicking squads.

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Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College professor who specializes in sports economics, said he was "not surprised" that Carroll turned to Rodriguez, given the pressure on big-time football programs to get a leg up on the competition.

"Whenever you impose a rule that says you can't do what you want to do, that the marketplace can't do its magic, somebody finds a way to twist it or get around it," he said. "I'm sure that the infractions committee at the NCAA will look at it."

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In the telephone interview, Rodriguez said, "I didn't coach the players at all. ... The players knew who I was because I'd show up for practice now and then. They'd say, 'Hi.' "

Rodriguez said he did not analyze videotape of contests, but "basically watched all the games."

He said that Carroll "knew what I could do and what I couldn't do. He said, 'We have to be very careful.' I was allowed to be able to talk to Pete. I gave him my thoughts."

"I gave them some thoughts on how to avoid penalties. Just simple, basic football."

Clark said Rodriguez's mere presence at practices could have given USC another potentially unfair advantage -- boosting the school's reputation as a gateway to the NFL, a key selling point in recruiting and retaining top talent.

"It said, 'Hey, look what you get when you come to USC -- you get access to the NFL,' " he said.

Rodriguez recently signed on as special teams coach for the New York franchise of the start-up United Football League. His NFL employers have included the Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins. The biography posted on the UFL's Web site does not mention Rodriguez's USC stint.

Rodriguez described his work for Carroll as something that did not require many hours. But another source familiar with the situation said that Rodriguez, who lives in San Diego County, turned down a job with the University of San Diego because of his arrangement with USC.

In the interview, Rodriguez initially denied that he'd had any contact with USD, later saying he remembered an overture but had never formally been offered a job.

San Diego Head Coach Ron Caragher declined to comment about Rodriguez's statement, saying it was his policy not to discuss interviews with coaching candidates.

For the upcoming season, USC has hired a full-time special teams coach, Brian Schneider, who held that position with the Oakland Raiders.

"We've worked for years to create the opportunity to have a special teams coordinator," Carroll said in a January statement on Schneider's arrival.

Rodriguez said he had not been interested in joining USC full-time and had offered no input in Schneider's selection.