Citing a lack of institutional control, the NCAA has confirmed during a press conference that’s still ongoing that USC will be hit with a two-year ban on bowl appearances and will be on probation for a period of four years.
Additionally, and perhaps most damaging to the football program, the school will lose a total of 30 scholarships over the next three years. Combine the lost scholarships with the possibility that players will have the opportunity to transfer from the program without being forced to sit out a year, and Lane Kiffin will have a very rough road to navigate over the next two or three seasons -- if not longer.
As if that weren’t enough, USC will be forced to vacate their win in the BcS title game following the 2004 regular season and all of their wins from the 2005 season.
The Committee on Infractions also, according to a tweet from SI.com’s Stewart Mandel, “seriously considered the imposition of a television ban as a penalty in this case ... was a very close call.”
These are, by far, the stiffest penalties handed down by the NCAA to a football program since Alabama back in 2002.
Do you think Mike Garrett knows where the unemployment line is, or will he have to MapQuest it first?
UPDATE 3:53 p.m. ET: The Committee on Infractions stated just a short time ago that USC “signees would have to request release from letters-of-intent. COI is not voiding any LOIs.”