NCAA holds its ground on Todd McNair. Does that mean USC is next?

The sanctions bomb the NCAA dropped on USC last summer didn't leave much room for escape: USC lost 30 scholarships, 13 wins retroactively stripped from the record books and possibly a national championship; Reggie Bush lost his Heisman. But while Bush and coach Pete Carroll are still drawing fat NFL paychecks, the verdict only cost one man his career: Running backs coach Todd McNair, whose only recourse was a formal appeal of the NCAA's contention that he was the one adult at USC who "knew or should have known" that Bush was involved with a pair of San Diego-based marketers and likely on the take in late 2004 and throughout 2005.

That appeal was officially denied today, upholding the show-cause penalty against McNair that restricts him from contacting recruits or any other NCAA-affiliated school for one year ?�and therefore from getting another job as a college coach. That's the personal cost.

The institutional takeaway where it applies to USC's separate, ongoing appeal, isn't much more reassuring. Succinctly, McNair is accused of "provid[ing] false and misleading information to the enforcement staff" and "signing a document certifying that he had no knowledge of NCAA violations." In other words, one of the legs holding up the NCAA's case against USC ? that an assistant coach did nothing to stop a scheme he knew threatened a star player's eligibility ?�remains officially standing.

Unofficially, it's a little wobbly. McNair was fingered as the institutional fall guy in l'Affaire de Bush for two reasons. First was the testimony of Lloyd Lake, the ex-con who allegedly helped ply Bush with cash and prizes for more than a year, beginning in the fall or winter of 2004, with the understanding he and partner Michael Michaels would be in business with Bush after Bush was drafted. Lake told investigators he knew McNair (and submitted a photo to prove it) and claimed he had once spoken to McNair about his arrangement with Bush on an early-morning phone call in January 2006, in an effort to get McNair to help him bring his suddenly straying meal ticket back into the fold. Then there were phone records that corroborated the call ?�though not what was said on them, or by who.

USC and McNair countered that the photo is a coincidence, that there is no evidence of a violation related to the phone call and that Lloyd Lake is obviously a liar, anyway. With his appeal down the drain and his job prospects still grim, McNair's attorney said he's considering a lawsuit against the NCAA, and released a statement:

[NCAA president Mark] Emmert also recently said it's important for the NCAA to get the facts right in an infractions case. He's correct; the NCAA owes it to involved parties, the NCAA membership and the public to get the facts right. The NCAA should get the facts right when it ends a coach's career.

But Dr. Emmert apparently wasn't referring to the USC case when he talked about getting the facts right, because the Infractions Committee mischaracterized and manipulated key testimony. The Infractions Committee based Mr. McNair's unethical conduct finding on demonstrably false statements. The Infractions Committee based its decision on inconsistent and contradictory findings. And today the Infractions Appeal Committee said that's OK.

The key words there for USC's appeal are: That's OK. Whatever McNair did or didn't know ? or should or shouldn't have known ? as long as the NCAA insists that he did know, the Trojans are looking at an uphill battle.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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