USC Football: Is Todd McNair Just the First of USC Coaching Punishments?

The University of Southern California's sanction saga continues.

Recently, former USC running backs coach Todd McNair filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for dealing him "career derailing" penalties last June.

Now it appears that the NCAA is going after USC head coach Lane Kiffin and USC assistant coach Ed Orgeron.

In February, Kiffin was accused of violations that allegedly occurred at the University of Tennessee when he was there for a brief time in 2009 and 2010.

The NCAA allegations deal with recruiting misconduct and Kiffin's "failure to monitor an atmosphere of compliance within the Vols program and failure to monitor the activities regarding compliance of several assistant football coaches," according to an article written by Chris Low of ESPN.

This "failure to monitor" charge stems from a couple of different potential violations Kiffin was involved in during his time at Tennessee.

The NCAA's report includes allegations that Kiffin and three unnamed former assistant coaches made 16 "impermissible phone calls" to five student-athletes allegedly including Seantrel Henderson, Brandon Willis and Ahmad Dixon from January 3rd to January 9th, 2010.

It's interesting to note that the NCAA report doesn't directly identify these "three unnamed assistant coaches," and there's a possibility that it could include the coaches who followed Kiffin from Tennessee to USC, namely Ed Orgeron, Monte Kiffin, Willie Mack Garza and James Cregg. 

The NCAA alleges that calls were made during a period of high school all-star games despite being explicitly warned by Tennessee compliance officials that the nature of the calls was against NCAA rules.

In addition to these "impermissible phone calls," Kiffin is also being accused of permitting and making inappropriate visits to potential Tennessee recruits.

It's alleged that on October 12, 2009 Kiffin allowed Steve Rubio, a recruiting intern at the time, to make in-person off-campus contacts with administrators during a recruiting trip to Saint Thomas Aquinas High School after being informed by senior athletic director David Blackburn that the trip was against NCAA regulations. 

However, Kiffin's not the only coach under investigation. 

The allegations against Orgeron include accusations that the former Tennessee assistant coach illegally contacted Tennessee recruits after he followed Kiffin to USC.

The more serious offense Orgeron is being accused of, however, is that he "personally conducted a workout of a prospective signee on the student's campus in May 2009," according to an article done by Ivan Maisel on ESPN.com.

The NCAA has yet to rule on these cases but is expected to have a hearing regarding the matter. Should Kiffin or Orgeron be found guilty of these alleged violations, there is a real possibility that the rulings could follow them to USC.

Potential penalties against Kiffin and Orgeron (USC's top recruiters) could include limits on recruiting and suspension of games.

Although the punishment would not be directly against USC, this kind of penalty could potentially have a devastating indirect affect on the Trojans.

The possibility of NCAA penalties following a coach from one university to another has been seen before.

Rick Neuheisel, when coaching at the University of Washington, was not allowed to recruit off campus because of violations that occurred while he was coaching at the University of Colorado.

Should these alleged penalties follow Kiffin and Orgeron to USC in the wake of the sanctions already imposed, it would seem like a "piling on" of penalties by the NCAA. 

To most Trojans fans, the idea of stacking on more penalties given the harshness of the sanctions already in place would have the feeling of retribution from the NCAA.

In fact many believe that the NCAA may have been disturbed and somewhat challenged by Mike Garrett's hiring of Lane Kiffin, given Kiffin's track record and concurrent issues with the NCAA during his tenure at Tennessee.

To the NCAA, USC was on the brink of having serious sanctions imposed on the program and yet they went out and hired a coach who the NCAA had a grudge against. 

Now, it's possible that the NCAA may use the potential violations against Kiffin, Orgeron and other USC coaches to make it clear to the Trojans that the NCAA is to be feared and respected.