LOS ANGELES — USC’s football program has been placed on probation for one year after the NCAA and the school came to an agreement that eight of the program’s analysts “impermissibly participated in on and off-field coaching activities” during the spring and fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023.
The university will have to pay a $50,000 fine. Trojans coach Lincoln Riley will not be suspended. The NCAA said in a negotiated resolution released Tuesday that Riley “was not personally involved in violations nor aware of the violations at the time the infractions occurred.”
USC’s probation will last from November 12, 2024, through Nov. 11, 2025. The violations were resolved as Level II infractions. Level I violations are considered the most serious. The penalties were agreed upon by the school and the NCAA.
In the negotiated resolution, the NCAA said USC added a full-time athletics compliance staffer dedicated to monitoring football activities.
Analysts have been around college football for a while. They are not allowed to instruct on the field during practice but often do because it’s hard to police. It’s typically rare for them to be penalized because it’s so common.
The NCAA lifted restrictions on how many coaches could be on a staff this year, so several analysts have been promoted to full-time members of the coaching staff. USC promoted three analysts to the full-time coaching staff this summer after the rules changed.
The NCAA described the investigation as “collaborative” with USC. In 2010, the university received the harshest punishment from the NCAA in recent memory when it was hit with a two-year postseason ban, four-year probation and the loss of 30 football scholarships.
The NCAA alleged that Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush received impermissible benefits. Basketball star O.J. Mayo was a central target in that case as well.
USC was penalized for a lack of institutional control. That penalty has guided the university’s thought process for several years, as it has taken a relatively conservative, risk-averse approach on several topics — mainly name, image and likeness spending — relative to other programs, which has frustrated a portion of the fan base.
(Photo of Lincoln Riley: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
