USC football: NCAA rejects Pat Haden’s request to reduce sanctions

It took the NCAA years to investigate and rule on USC’s case involving Reggie Bush.

The NCAA required less than a day to rule on USC’s latest appeal to modify the sanctions handed down in the case.

A day after USC Athletic Director Pat Haden met with NCAA officials in Indianapolis to request an easing of scholarship reductions, the NCAA said Friday that there would be no appeal.

“There is no comparison between the USC and Penn State cases,” NCAA spokeswoman Meghan Durham said in an emailed statement. “In USC’s case, a hearing before the Committee on Infractions was held and there was an appeal. There will be no further appeal.”

The NCAA had announced Tuesday that it would move to restore some of the scholarships it took from the Penn State football program in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.

Haden announced Thursday that he and David Roberts, USC’s vice president of athletics, had met with NCAA President Mark Emmert on Wednesday and Thursday.

Haden said in a statement Thursday that the NCAA asked USC to “provide additional information and indicated it would study our suggestions. Because time is of the essence regarding these issues, we have asked for the NCAA’s response as soon as practical.”

In June 2010, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions hit USC with some of the strongest penalties in college football history. Each year for three years, USC’s annual scholarship limit was reduced and the Trojans are limited to 75 scholarship players on the roster, 10 fewer than the maximum. The penalties end after the 2014 season because USC delayed implementation by appealing.

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