The Todd McNair Appeal: Was the NCAA Sloppy or Sinister?

For USC Trojan fans, the pain created by the NCAA's ruling against USC relative to the Reggie Bush scandal still lingers and will continue to do so for the next four years.

As head coach Lane Kiffin and his staff deal with the ramifications of four years probation, the loss of 30 scholarships, and a two-year bowl ban, other lesser stories find their way to the backburner, relegated to a status that does not demand our collective sensibilities.

One of those stories involves former USC running backs coach, Todd McNair.

McNair was recently let go by the Trojans who decided against renewing his expired contract.

Never mind that Todd McNair was a widely respected position coach whose prowess at high school recruiting is almost legendary in the Los Angeles area.

The reason McNair was not retained, of course, had nothing do with his ability to coach or recruit.

But it did have everything to do with the NCAA's contention that McNair knew of the agreement that former Trojan running back Reggie Bush had with convicted felon Lloyd Lake and his so-called sports agency.

It should be noted that Lloyd Lake's testimony was the foundation that the NCAA built its case against USC on.

And it should also be understood that USC's decision not to retain Todd McNair was a response to the NCAA that they were dealing with the "problem."

Of course, it is also convenient that USC is appealing the NCAA's ruling and hope lenience would be served by USC's decision to let McNair go.

So Todd McNair is shown the door and life goes on, right?

Maybe not.

Recently, Todd McNair filed an appeal to overturn the NCAA's findings against him, based on several discrepancies that border on the scandalous at best and criminal at worst.

In the appeal, several factual errors are pointed out and when taken in context, it paints a fairly bleak picture of the NCAA's integrity.

Some of these errors include discrepancies that involve sworn testimony, verifiable phone records and the charge that there was "ex parte" (Latin for "by or for one party") communication by the investigation committee with the enforcement staff which led to the NCAA "prejudging" McNair's appeal.

Specifically, the recently filed appeal introduces more than a dozen "issues" that directly influenced the NCAA's findings against both McNair and USC.

Some of these so-called issues focus on the credibility of the witnesses involved, Todd McNair and Lloyd Lake, in which the NCAA sought to establish Lake's credibility because the crux of its case was built on his testimony.

In other words, if the NCAA can't reinforce the credibility of Lake, they have no case.

Period.

Yet, in the appeal, McNair's lawyers speaking of the NCAA's investigation, say this, "The collective errors and mistakes with the credibility findings are so egregious, that they are both clearly contrary to the evidence and based on procedural error."

And if the evidence offered in support of their assertions is indeed true, then they are right.

Phone records that don't support the NCAA's version of interface between McNair and Lake include, among other things, McNair's refutation of the investigation's assertion that McNair called Lake, which didn't happen although Lake testified it did occur.

This is only one of many issues raised regarding the investigation by McNair's lawyers.

Perhaps as disturbing is the charge that the NCAA "prejudged" McNair's appeal.

In the appeal, an e-mail written by the NCAA in support of the investigation, clearly offers evidence that the NCAA prejudging the case was certainly possible, if not likely.

Again, these are only a couple of examples of the issues brought forth by the appeal.

In the final analysis, it comes down to who you believe.

Given the entirety of the objective evidence brought forth by McNair's lawyers, it casts a large shadow on that elusive credibility the NCAA worked so hard to establish for Lloyd Lake.

For a case that relied on that credibility to impose such a harsh punishment on both a man and an institution, it doesn't seem fair to say the least.

So was the NCAA sloppy or sinister?

Maybe a bit of both.

Either way, USC will have to deal with its punishment.

And Todd McNair will be looking for a new job.