In the wake of a damning report from Yahoo! Sports, which as Keith Arnold of CFT explains could result in major problems for the USC athletics department, Titans and former USC running back LenDale White talks about the still-simmering controversy regarding the question of whether Saints and former USC running back Reggie Bush was getting paid.
White talked about the situation during a Wednesday night spot with Sporting News Radio’s The Monty Show.
“I don’t know what’s been done and what hasn’t,” White said. “I know that Reggie’s an incredible person, I consider him one of my brothers and I’ll go to bat for him anytime. I don’t know what transpires in people’s personal lives, so I don’t know. They may take the national championships and that’s unfortunate but however you look at it. . . . I’m not saying, and please get this correct, I’m not saying Reggie took anything. I am saying that if Reggie took anything how did that help 80 other kids win a championship? . . .
“I don’t think if you got money, a flat screen TV, or however it looks that [those things] will make you go out and play better or beat somebody. I don’t think so. We get paid in the NFL and the Lions went 0-16.”
But to the extent that a school creates a culture that allows players to receive improper benefits while they’re still supposedly amateur athletes, the school necessarily derives a benefit because, in time, recruits will realize that playing for that school involves getting something more than room and board.
The fact that the Lions went winless despite getting paid misses the point, since every NFL player gets paid. But if some schools look the other way as players get paid, word quickly will get around — and that school will get better recruits.
So while no one is saying the Trojans cheated once they got between the lines, it’s possible that there was cheating in how the team was put together.