The unfair NCAA sanctions against USC have some silver linings. There’s no denying that Trojan Football has been in decline. I’m not just talking about the four-loss 2009 season. No, the decline I’m talking about is bigger than that. I’m talking about the cultural rot that comes from apathetic success. The public (and the press) was tired of a team that won without praise and lost without grace.
Something needed to change. And like it or not, when the NCAA let the hammer fall, something changed. Here are the top five good things that will result from USC’s Football Sanctions:
5) Moving On
Let’s face it, this investigation has been hanging over our heads since the story broke in 2005. No one likes sitting under Damocles’ sword, and as any p.r. flack will tell you, in the vacuum of no official information, the rumor mill will fill in the blanks with the least flattering options. But now the clouds have burst and the facts are out there. Truth dispels the worst of the conjecture; Reggie Bush screwed up, but everyone knew that. And while the penalty hits USC hard, the NCAA Report actually vindicates USC from too much responsibility (if not the punishment).
No one likes serving time but finally there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
4) Showcasing the Trojan Family
It’s easy to be a Trojan fan when USC is on top of the world when the band wagon is full. But the Trojan Family is more than a marketing ploy, and USC is more than our football team. It’s when times are tough that the rest of the country can see what it means to be a Trojan. And these colors don’t run.
3) Rekindling the Media Love Affair
As I’ve said before, the shine had worn off for USC in the press. In part because USC success was no longer exceptional or newsworthy (while failure was) and in part because of the baggage USC had accumulated. USC had ceased to be the media darling that it was when we won back-to-back Heisman Trophies and were declared by ESPN to be the greatest team ever. Winning was business as usual, and it seems like everyone enjoyed our losses a little too much.
But press love goes in cycles, and reporters love the underdog. I think USC hit the bottom in the defined hours between when the report was announced and when it was released. As soon as the (excessive) punishment was revealed, that tide began to turn. Suddenly, even our harshest critics were lamenting the severity of our sentence. Suddenly, we were the underdog again.
And just like that, without so much as a losing season, USC is an underdog again.
2) External Adversity
In the past several years, USC’s greatest adversary hasn’t come from the other team. While packing the talent to beat strong teams (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State), the most notable losses came to huge underdogs (UCLA, Stanford, Washington). The team was it’s own worst enemy. I think USC’s cultural problem came from two places: First, as a team, there was a sense of entitlement. You could see it by the lack of respect paid to the other teams, and by how poorly they reacted when the chips were down. The second problem was too much focus on the individual athlete at the expense of the team. USC became a team of 22 individuals where showboating was writing checks that on-field accomplishments couldn’t cash.
But nothing clears up the internal problems like an external adversary, and that’s exactly what the NCAA has provided. It’s USC versus the world, and it’s an uphill battle.
1) Team Unity
There’s a reason so many organizations have an initiation process. Shared adversity builds comradery and if Pete Carroll’s influence remains with the players he recruited, I have little doubt that the challenge will revive a team work ethic. Now they’ve got something to prove. We’ve already seen this in the developing leadership of Matt Barkley. The family circles the wagons, and no one can really know what’s going on inside that circle unless you’re there. In a way – and to shamelessly crib Shakespeare – “the fewer the men, the greater the share of honor,” in a perfect season.
Want to stick it to the NCAA. Put yourself in a position to play for the National Championship and watch the press crucify the suits who unjustly denied you that opportunity.
