Pac-10 to probe home of Reggie Bush’s parents Reported connection between residence, man who wanted to market star Updated: 10:30 p.m. ET April 23, 2006 LOS ANGELES - The Pacific 10 Conference said Sunday it will investigate the reported connection between a home where Reggie Bush’s family lived and a man who sought to market the Southern California star tailback. Bush’s family allegedly lived in the house in Spring Valley, Calif., owned by a man who had sought to handle the star tailback’s professional marketing while Bush was still playing for USC, Yahoo.com reported Sunday. The Web site reported that the family moved out of the house this weekend after questions over its ownership arose. Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, chose to turn pro after his junior season with USC. He is expected to be the No. 1 pick in Saturday’s NFL draft. “Rather than jumping to conclusions, we need to determine the facts before commenting on this report,” USC athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement. “We have asked the Pac-10 to look into this.” Pac-10 spokesman Jim Muldoon confirmed to The Associated Press that an investigation will be held at the school’s request, but had no further details. At issue is the San Diego-area home’s connection with businessman Michael Michaels, who reportedly attempted to steer Bush toward signing with San Diego agent David Caravantes, and sought to handle Bush’s marketing with a new firm he had founded. State records showed construction was completed on the home in early 2005 and Michaels purchased it for $757,500 in late March, Yahoo reported. Neighbors told Yahoo that Bush’s mother Denise Griffin, stepfather LaMar Griffin and brother Jovan Griffin moved into the home shortly after that. NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes and their families from receiving extra benefits from agents or their representatives. Bush eventually signed with a different agent and marketing firm.
The Handwriting On The Walk? Questions persist about house used by Bush family BY JASON COLE Miami Herald http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14413481.htm SPRING VALLEY, Calif. - The proof that Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush's family resided at a Spring Valley home during Bush's senior season is etched in concrete. Scrawled in all-capital letters on the driveway of the home in this suburban community just southeast of San Diego is the "THE GRIFFIN'S `05." That refers to Bush's mother, Denise Griffin, stepfather LaMar Griffin and younger half-brother. The family lived there until Thursday, when a reporter from The Miami Herald came to ask about the ownership of the home. On Friday, moving trucks showed up to take the family's belongings. As the former University of Southern California running back prepares to become the likely No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft on Saturday, questions persist about whether NCAA rules were violated because of ties between his relatives and the owner. Documents reviewed by The Miami Herald show that the $757,000 house at the corner of Apple and Luther streets was purchased by Michael Michaels, a member and employee of a prominent Indian tribe in the San Diego area. Two sources said Michaels was planning to form a marketing and contract agency that would feature Bush as a client. Michaels has not returned numerous calls from The Miami Herald. The connection between Michaels and the Griffins and how they came to live in the home could constitute a violation of NCAA eligibility rules for Bush and Southern California, which came within 19 seconds of winning a third consecutive national championship in January. After being contacted by The Miami Herald, Southern California said the school was forwarding the matter to the Pacific-10 Conference for investigation. Pac-10 spokesman Jim Muldoon told The Associated Press on Sunday that an investigation will be held. A source within the NCAA said it is likely the organization also will conduct an investigation. "Rather than jumping to conclusions, we need to determine the facts before commenting on this report," Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement released by the school Friday. "We have asked the Pac-10 to look into this." On Thursday, Denise Griffin, Bush's mother, declined to comment when asked about the matter by a Miami Herald reporter. The next day, moving trucks were at the home where Bush's relatives resided during much of the 2005 football season, when Bush was playing for Southern California. "I don't want to talk," Griffin said. When asked who owns the home, she closed her eyes, sighed and again declined to discuss the matter. "I'm tired, and I want to get something to eat. I just got back from work," she said. In late 2005, Michaels and an associate talked to a San Diego sports agent about forming the agency, according to a source with direct knowledge of the conversation. The agency, New Era Sports & Entertainment, was incorporated in November, according to California public records. The agent, David Caravantes, had some of his other clients listed as being represented by the fledgling firm. Attorney David Cornwell, who represents Bush, declined to comment despite numerous calls from The Miami Herald. Cornwell agreed Wednesday to talk with The Herald on three occasions but deferred the conversation each time and has not returned calls since. According to NCAA guidelines, the relationship between the family and Michaels could constitute a violation, even if Bush had no knowledge of the relationship. An NCAA rules guide designed for student-athletes states: "Nor may your relatives or friends accept benefits from an agent, financial advisor, runner or any other person associated with an agency business. (Benefits include but are not limited to transportation, money and gifts, regardless of the value of the benefit or if it is used.)" That refers to NCAA bylaw 12.3.1, which further state that "an individual shall be ineligible if he or she (or his or her relatives or friends) accepts such benefits." Thus, Bush might have been ineligible for the entire season. The question of whether the family paid a fair-market rent for the 3,002-square foot home with a panoramic view of Sweetwater Lake has not been answered. But that might not matter: The NCAA frowns on any relationships that exist between sports marketing representatives and family members of colleges athletes. Commensurate rent in that subdivision is at least $2,500 a month, although the mortgage payment on the home Michaels purchased could be significantly higher. LaMar Griffin works in security at a public high school in San Diego. Denise Griffin has worked as a corrections officer and deputy sheriff. The Griffins previously lived in an apartment in Spring Valley before moving into the home, according to public records. Michaels is a member of the Sycuan tribe of El Cajon and works for the Sycuan Tribal Development Corporation. Michaels took out a first mortgage of $600,000 on the home and subsequent loans of $150,000 and $60,000, property records show. He did not return messages left for him on his work phone and with Sycuan spokesman Adam Day. Michaels also was not at his El Cajon home Thursday night. On Thursday, Day said: "There are many tribe members with businesses outside the tribe. We are completely unaware of whatever Michael has done in this situation." As far back as November, Michaels and associate Lloyd "Tata" Lake had told a source that Bush was expected to be New Era's lead client. A different source said Michaels and Lake had talked to Caravantes. New Era Sports & Entertainment was incorporated on Nov. 23, 2005 by Los Angeles attorney Phillip M. Smith. When contacted Tuesday, Smith declined to discuss the matter. When asked specifically about Michaels, Smith said: "I'm not going to go there. I have nothing to say about it." After Bush chose to have veteran marketing agent Mike Ornstein handle that part of his business and then chose agent Joel Segal to handle his contract, Michaels was left out. Attorney Brian Watkins, who said he has represented Michaels for eight years, did not respond to questions about whether he had been in talks with Cornwell over the occupancy of the home. NCAA spokesman Kent Barrett declined to say whether the matter would be subject of an investigation, but said a probe can be triggered in a number of ways, including media reports. Neighbors of Bush's family members said the family had been living at the home since last year. Michaels purchased the home in April 2005, shortly after it was built.
JO'Co is no doubt shocked at this implication of impropriety on the part of anybody assoc with the USC football program. Or is it that he's shocked that they might get caught, must be a rookie booster.
Terry, I'm sure the USC "compliance" folks forgot to tell the parents about NOT writing your name in the cement of the loaner house! :lol:
I was stunned to hear this news. Why... to think this was happening under our very noses! Who could have imagined?
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: The hits just keep on a comin for USC. This morning a girl accused new starting Trojan QB Marc Sanchez of sexual assault. Police are involved and this doesn't look good... :twisted: They had already lost their other QBs to injury as well as all of their tailbacks, including Hershel Dennis, the guy who started before Reggie Bush got there. He's gone for the season and may never play again. He was once accused of sexual assault too. They actually had to use their fullbacks as tailbacks in spring football, because they literally had no other running backs. Right at the moment, they don't have any QBs either...heh...heh... ............The Jails Are Full.............JO'Co... :twisted:
:cry: :cry: :cry: :? :twisted: :twisted: The sexual assault took place at 12:30. By 4:00, Marc Sanchez was arrested and in handcuffs and frog-hopped down to the jail and charged...
Kind of makes you wonder <t>Good article from Bama point of view. Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.<br/> <br/> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/> <br/> CECIL HURT: Fans still wonder about sanctions<br/> <br/> “The mother, stepfather and brother of former USC tailback Reggie Bush lived last year in a new $750,000 home owned by a man who hoped to represent their soon-to-be-professional son … ."<br/> <br/> “Adrian Peterson, the Oklahoma running back and runner-up for the 2004 Heisman Trophy, secured a financing agreement and drove a luxury car for several weeks last winter but then returned it … ."<br/> <br/> “Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett told ESPN The Magazine that coach Jim Tressel, his staff and school boosters arranged for him to get passing grades, money for bogus summer jobs, thousands of dollars in cash and loaner cars … ."<br/> <br/> “Kentucky basketball star Randolph Morris received more than $7,000 from nine NBA teams for expenses related to tryouts. NCAA legislation states that summer tryouts are permitted, but that student-athletes may not receive expenses or other payment from NBA teams … ."<br/> <br/> At some point, it all runs together in a sort of white noise. Stories of this sort pop up fairly regularly and are debated in a sort of cursory fashion by television’s talking heads, in between their interminable debates over what the NFL should do about Terrell Owens or how, precisely, Barry Bonds’ head got to be so big. No one pays much attention to the college stories, since everyone knows that things will get resolved and the star players in college will keep playing, or they will move on with no significant penalty to their school. So no one listens intently to such reports any more.<br/> <br/> No one except people in Alabama, that is.<br/> <br/> One clarification is in order here. When the media talks about “Alabama fans," there is a tendency to speak as if all Alabama fans hold the same opinions, or share a common position on issues like the recent NCAA infractions case. That tendency was illustrated in the Logan Young post-mortem, with certain viewpoints characterized as “what Alabama fans think." The fact is, I wrote one column about Young, and it attracted responses that ranged from “the best article I ever read" to one thoughtful treatise on moral relativism to a couple that characterized it (in the words of one e-mail) as “ridiculous sentimental tripe." All that broad range of opinion came from people who, I presume, are Alabama fans.<br/> <br/> So with that said, when I say people are perplexed about what’s going on in the above cases, I don’t mean the hard-core, Alabama-didn’t-do-anything NCAA haters. Those people are out there, but issues like the Bush/Peterson/Clarett/Morris cases don’t confuse them.<br/> <br/> They simply see it all as added confirmation of their belief that the NCAA hates Alabama and acts only in whatever way will cause maximum consternation for the Crimson Tide.<br/> <br/> That’s not the group of fans I’m talking about right now. I’m talking about a group that, by and large, doesn’t want to eternally relive the past. This group accepts that Alabama athletics, for better or worse, must exist in an NCAA-governed universe, and they just want to understand how best to get along under those circumstances. But these people look at Adrian Peterson and want to know how his situation -- getting a luxury car from a booster, driving it around for a while and then returning it -- constitutes “no violation" (at least in Oklahoma’s self-report) when Travis Carroll getting an easy-credit deal on a junker is somehow a “major violation." They want to know how Antonio Langham signing a cocktail napkin somehow results in 11 forfeited games, while Reggie Bush’s parents getting use of a house turns out to be no big deal.<br/> <br/> To be fair, the final NCAA word on Bush and Peterson hasn’t come out yet, though it’s pretty easy to predict what the harvest will be. There was never really a ruling on Clarett -- after all, the guy didn’t return his cell-phone messages. And the NCAA made a bold statement on Morris, suspended him for a year and then, predictably, backed off in time to let him participate for the full SEC season.<br/> <br/> That’s just great for the student-athletes and the schools involved. Personally, I don’t want to see Randolph Morris or Adrian Peterson banned from college sports or see Ohio State or USC hammered with crippling sanctions.<br/> <br/> On the other hand, I do wish I had answers to some legitimate questions. Why are these issues handled the way they are? Specifically, where are the two-year investigations, the secret witnesses, the hyper-aggressive stance that turned Carroll’s clunking car into a violation? Where has all of Tom Yeager’s bellicose rhetoric gone?<br/> <br/> Unfortunately, no ready answer is available. About all that can be said is that NCAA “rules" aren’t really “rules," more like “suggestions" that are imposed arbitrarily, if at all, and with no regard whatsoever for the concept of “precedent." That’s not a very reassuring answer for people who honestly want to make order out of the chaos of college athletics, but it’s the only one that suggests itself. The wise course of action seems to be to lie low, play the political game vigorously, deny everything and, if pushed by the media into a corner where denial no longer works, respond with a wide-eyed impression of Claude Rains in Casablanca.<br/> <br/> “I am shocked … shocked … that agents exist in college sports! I am shocked that boosters might bend the rules! Shocked!"<br/> <br/> It sounds silly, but it seems to work pretty effectively. As for the hard questions that arise, the best answer, sadly, seems to be “don’t ask."</t>
To borrow from Claude Rains myself, I am shocked that the Albert Means saga is still being discussed. It's time for Bama fans to let go and move on to something else. (just kidding, KP)
I guess you're right <r>I guess you're right. Time to move on. This is like the basketball game where the referees let the play get too rough for most of the game and it finally explodes into a bench clearer. Alabama, the investigation that surrounded the Means affair and the sanctions that followed was the bench clearer. Now we're seeing the rough play start up again. I just hope Alabama is not involved in the next bench clearer. <E>8)</E></r>
That's an interesting analogy, kp. I work with both Bama and Domer fans and each has looked at the recent happenings down the street at Figueroa Tech and wondered how the Tide and Irish situations were that much different. There has to be some accountability by the school and football program. The way things are going in the Bush matter, I won't be surprised to see some kind of punishment. I'm just curious what the extent will be.
If they find Bush ineligible for last year and take away his Heisman, if you are Vince Young do you take it if offered? There is no precedence for this sort of thing. Even if they take away the USC wins for using an ineligible player, I know ND won't count it in their record, but the NCAA will. I read somewhere that USC is close to a Ed Martin situation with the boosters. That unlike Steve Fisher who probably had no idea what Ed was doing, that Pete Caroll knew fully what was going on. USC = U Still Cheat? I got that off ND Nation. 75 and sunny today in Hilton Head, it's my last!! Back to Texas tomorrow AM!!
It was 54 and sunny in New York when I left at 1:30 Eastern. I am now stuck in O'Hare on a 6 hour layover. I would take a nap but my computer would be missing when I wake up. :cry:
OK I don't know but I can't imagine them claiming a 10-2 season. For the records though it will go into our win column, just won't be shown that way in ND produced media. But I of course don't know for sure.
There was a NDN poster, ShermanOaksND, that was indignant recently that anyone thought ND would claim a win if USC forfeits games for an ineligible player. He apparently sees it as a tarnished win. Actually the tarnish is on the team that cheated. The NCAA is a member organization and those members established rules to play by. One of them is the penalty for using an ineligible player. It's not a question of the details of the Bush case but rather why would ND not claim a win if NCAA, the governing body, ruled that other team had won illegally? Alabama was required to forfeit games for an ineligibile player. Check their record and those of their opponents at Stassen sites or Football Data Warehouse. The SEC also records the forfeits as loses for Alabama in the SEC Media Guide. Closer to home those same sites record the forfeits Michigan State had in 1994. Stassen shows: Go to College Football Data Warehouse and you'll MSU at 0-11 for '94 with notations "Michigan St. Forfeits" listed 5 times. ND won on the field that year 21-20 despite the ineligible player. So it was effected by the ineligible player but had the score been reversed MSU would have forfeited a 6th game.