Southern California Gets Two-Year Bowl Ban, Loses 2004 Title

NEW YORK - The University of Southern California was stripped of football victories including its 2004 season national championship for what college sport's governing body said were rules violations that "strike at the heart" of amateurism.

USC's football team was barred from bowl games for two years and was stripped of a total of 30 scholarships for violations uncovered in a four-year National Collegiate Athletic Association investigation into its football and men's basketball programs.

The violations, which included a lack of institutional control, "primarily involve agent and amateurism issues" surrounding former USC football player Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo. The NCAA did not mention either athlete by name in the 67-page report.

"This case is a window onto a landscape of elite college athletes and certain individuals close to them who, in the course of their relationships, disregard NCAA rules and regulations," the NCAA said in the report.

USC must vacate all wins in which Bush competed while ineligible, beginning in December 2004. The Trojans beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the January 2005 Orange Bowl to claim the 2004 Bowl Championship Series national championship, one year after sharing the national title.

The school's probation period runs from today through June 9, 2014. The NCAA said the university agreed to disassociate itself from Bush, Mayo and a representative who provided Mayo extra benefits.

In 2005, Bush won the Heisman Trophy as college football's best player, topping runner-up Vince Young. He might be in jeopardy of losing that trophy, which has never been stripped from a player in its 75-year history. The Heisman Trophy Trust, a charity organization that controls the award, might review the case, its president, William Dockery, told ESPN last week.

"If and when (the NCAA) issues a decision, we will review the underlying facts and possibly do our own investigation," Dockery told ESPN. Tim Henning, a spokesman for the Heisman Trophy Trust, declined to comment in a telephone interview.

The football teams involved in the investigation were led by Pete Carroll, who left USC in January after nine years to coach the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League.

Bush was sued in 2007 by San Diego sports marketer Lloyd Lake, who claimed he provided Bush and his family with $291,000 in money and goods, including a vehicle and housing, while the running back was at USC, according to a Dec. 28 California appeals court ruling.

Bush, who is now with the NFL's New Orleans Saints, settled the lawsuit last month, avoiding a deposition that could have been used by the NCAA during its investigation of the Pac-10 Conference school.

In January, the Los Angeles-based university banned its basketball team from postseason play for one year, forfeited its 21 wins during the 2007-08 season and reduced scholarships after an internal investigation determined Mayo received improper benefits during his only season at the school. Mayo now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.

"Their actions also threatened the efforts of the NCAA and its member institutions to sponsor and support amateur competition at the collegiate level," the NCAA said.

The NCAA also upheld USC's self-punishment of its women's tennis team, which agreed to vacate all wins in which an ineligible athlete participated between November 2006 and May 2009 after making $7,000 worth of phone calls using the athletic department's long-distance access code.