Trepagnier Says Woes Were of Own Doing

After 62 days of silence, during which he missed USC’s two exhibition basketball games and 13 of 14 regular-season games, Trojan guard Jeff Trepagnier finally spoke Tuesday.

The topic of discussion: how he nearly lost his senior season after being suspended by USC because of an NCAA investigation, and (at the time) having an improper co-signer for a loan for a three-year lease on a Cadillac Escalade SUV, valued at more than $46,000, to replace the 1995 Nissan Altima he was driving.

Oh, yes, there was also the wedding last week to Trojan sprinter Malika Edmonson, whose father Warren is the co-signer.

Trepagnier said the blame for his troubles this season is all on him.

“In hindsight I probably would have kept my old car,” Trepagnier said. “I wouldn’t have taken any trips to Las Vegas. I would have just stayed in L.A.

“I learned a lesson. Don’t try to be slick. Keep things straight. That’s what got me in this situation. I was trying to be slick.”

NCAA investigators had looked into a September trip to Las Vegas that Trepagnier took with friend and former high school teammate Tito Maddox, who plays at Fresno State. Maddox served an eight-game suspension and resumed playing. Trepagnier was cleared of any wrongdoing.

That investigation, Trepagnier said, “was the springboard” for the NCAA to look into the car loan. Warren Edmonson would have been an acceptable co-signer had his wife Barbara--the former USC women’s track coach-- not still been at the school as a volunteer coach.

“The NCAA said a volunteer coach is the same to them as one who gets paid, and their spouse can’t do anything,” Trepagnier said. “We had never thought of that. She hasn’t been on USC’s payroll for more than a year, so we figured it wouldn’t be a problem. She had stopped being the head track coach in 1999.”

Unable to get another qualified co-signer, Trepagnier, and Malika--who had been dating since they were freshmen--came up with the idea of getting married.

“We were going to get married this summer anyway,” Trepagnier said. “We were talking about it one night, and then thought that might be an option. It sounded like a crazy scheme at first, but it wasn’t like I was just trying to find a wife to get cleared.”

Trepagnier said he asked USC’s general counsel, Todd Dickey, if the marriage would clear him with the NCAA. Dickey contacted the organization and was told yes.

So on Jan. 3, Trepagnier said, he and Malika flew to Las Vegas and were married that night at the city courthouse. Warren, who traveled with the couple, and Trepagnier’s brother Albert, who lives in Las Vegas, witnessed the nuptials.

Trepagnier said he thought NCAA officials could have been more understanding of his future father-in-law being the co-signer on the loan.

“Her father and I have built a good relationship these past three years. It’s a father-son relationship, so it was like he was doing it for his son,” Trepagnier said. “[Malika and I] been together since our first day of school here. But the rules are the rules.”

Of course, the question is still out there.

Why did he need such an expensive vehicle in the first place?

“Everybody always wants a nice car. I wanted this truck and looked at others, and none were as nice as the Escalade. I figured a way to get it, and I got it.”