Former Heisman Winner Desmond Howard Blasts USC, Pat Haden Over Reggie Bush

Former Michigan Wolverine and Green Bay Packer star Desmond Howard, the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner and a Super Bowl MVP, called Reggie Bush's relinquishing of the Heisman Trophy a "travesty" and criticized USC athletic director Pat Haden for duplicitous behavior in a Wednesday morning interview on ESPN's Mike & Mike.

"You look at Pat Haden...and he's making statements about what Reggie should give back. Well, how about this fellas? You played with an ineligible player. Why don't you (USC) start giving back some of the money that you made while that ineligible player was playing for your university?" asked Howard rhetorically.

"If you're such an upstanding guy, Pat Haden, if you made that comment about what Reggie Bush should give back, well, tell me, what your university should give back," said Howard. "How many millions did (USC) make while this kid was out there playing for you when he was ineligible?

"You should give back a portion of what you made from his likeness from those BCS games, all that money—42 to 50 million dollars—and give it to some foundation towards the education and enforcement of those NCAA amateur status rules," said Howard on ESPN Radio.

When asked by ESPN's Mike Greenberg if justice was done when Bush surrendered the trophy on Tuesday, Howard responded, "No. Not at all. As a fraternity member of that Heisman family, I felt sad watching him forfeit the trophy. It was almost like watching a member of your sacred fraternity resign. He was one of the most dynamic players we've seen in the past decade (win the Heisman.)"

Howard said Bush's decision "shocked" him and that he "didn't see this one coming."

"That's a travesty because you can't tell me that there was no one else on that campus that had anything to do with that football program that was not complicit with this whole situation?" Howard told Mike & Mike. "You can't tell me that. We know better than that guys. We're all a little smarter than that."

"I think he just felt like the swell of public opinion was going so strong against him that...there was no way the Heisman trustees could come out of that meeting saying that he (Bush) should retain the Heisman. He probably decided to be pro-active instead of re-active," said Howard on ESPN.

ESPN and ABC's Voice of College Football Brent Musburger paid tribute to Bush for what he called "an eloquent statement in which (Bush) returned (the trophy)

Said Musburger on ESPN Radio of Bush's surprising decision on Tuesday: "I think we have to understand the pressure that was probably on Reggie as a professional athlete. I'm sure it's a distraction for the entire New Orleans Saints franchise. I'm sure that (the Saints) are happy to get it behind them. I think (Bush) would have been stripped of (the trophy.)

Bush did not escape criticism on Wednesday morning.

Former NFL All-Pro Cris Carter, who picked the Saints to lose every playoff game last year including the NFC Championship game against his former Minnesota Vikings, blamed Bush for spoiling the college careers of current and former USC players by his actions.

"You think (USC quarterback) Matt Barkley is happy with Reggie Bush right now? And the other kids that decided to spend four or five years at USC, and how they can't go to a bowl game? Now, they're on probation. What about all those teammates on those national championship teams? All those things last longer than the NFL," said Carter on Mike & Mike. "