Every good story has a hero that must overcome and a villain that stands in their way. Each day that passes, more details come out about the Bru McCoy situation. It started out as a concern about a player’s eligibility; now it’s turning into a concern about a university’s vindictive use of power. Perhaps that’s the reason that most following this story aren’t convinced by USC’s protestations that they’ve done everything possible to help. It certainly doesn’t seem as if that is the case.
This isn’t the first time that Southern Cal has found itself in a questionable circumstance with its athletic department. In 2019, media across the world slammed USC for its participation in the college admissions cheating scandal, in which members of the administration received bribes from wealthy parents in exchange for accepting their children into the university. It was front page news for weeks and won’t easily be forgotten, thanks to the celebrity names that adorned the list of “donors”.
The Trojans also continued to honor the infamous OJ Simpson, leaving his Heisman trophy and retired jersey on display at the university, while they disowned former Heisman and national championship winner Reggie Bush for 10 years. Perhaps that’s because OJ’s transgressions were after his playing days at USC or the fact that those actions didn’t cause any trouble for the university? Only USC knows the answer to that. On the other hand, Reggie Bush’s violation of accepting monetary gifts from boosters caused the Trojans to be stripped of a national title and therefore, it only makes sense that he should be ostracized for a decade. In other words, do something horrible and if it doesn’t come back on USC, we’ll stick by you. Do something that causes this university to look bad, and we’ll hang you out to dry.
The actions concerning Bru McCoy seems about what you’d expect from the administration at USC. After all, history shows us that the worst offense is to tarnish the reputation of the Trojans.
