March Madness may not be the only thing on NCAA president Mark Emmert’s mind this week.
According to the LA Times, attorneys for former USC assistant coach Todd McNair are asking a judge to order Emmert to take part in a deposition with them prior to the start of the long-running legal case involving the association next month. The NCAA president had been scheduled to be deposed in February in Indianapolis but the session never appeared to come about.
“We suspect you are seeking it in order to harass President Emmert and place undue settlement pressure on the NCAA,” Kosta Stojilkovic, an attorney representing the organization, wrote in an email obtained by the Times.
McNair was a former running backs coach at USC and was one of the key links the NCAA used to levy heavy sanctions against the Trojans in the Reggie Bush infractions case nearly eight years ago. However McNair subsequently sued the NCAA not long after he was let go by the university, claiming that his career was ruined as a result of the case.
Documents that have slowly been released as part of the lawsuit have shown the Committee on Infractions did stray from protocol in the case in order to punish USC and after years of appeals, it seems McNair is finally getting his day in court not far from the campus where he once coached at. It remains to be seen if the most recent legal maneuvering on both sides will result in Emmert becoming part of the trial but, billable hours appears as though they will remain undefeated as both the NCAA and McNair redefine the motto ‘Fight On.’