When Reggie Bush forfeited his Heisman Trophy back in 2010, part of the reason he followed through was to give himself closure on the situation.
Recent events may have turned Bush’s tone and motivated him to pursue a defamation lawsuit against the NCAA.
In his formal complaint filed Wednesday with the Marion County, Indiana Clerk’s Office, Bush claims on July 28, 2021, the NCAA had an authorized spokesperson tell ESPN that the “pay-for-play” was the reason for Bush’s expulsion from college football,
“Although college athletes can now receive benefits from their names, images, and likenesses through activities like endorsements and appearances, NCAA rules still do not permit pay-for-play type arrangements,” an NCAA spokesperson told ESPN in 2021. “The NCAA infractions process exists to promote fairness in college sports. The rules that govern fair play are voted on, agreed to, and expected to be upheld by all NCAA member schools.”
During Bush’s press conference to formally announce the defamation suit, Bush said, “I’ve got dreams of coming back into this stadium and running out of that tunnel with the football team,” Bush said Wednesday. “I’ve got dreams of walking back in here and seeing my jersey and my banner right down there next to the rest of the Heisman Trophy winners. But I can’t rightfully do that without my Heisman Trophy.”
Analysis of the Reggie Bush Punishment & Case
According to the complaint, Bush allegedly accepted “benefits” from a family friend, including the use of a San Diego hotel room to change clothes and a subsequent ride to a birthday party, and minor assistance with fixing Mr. Bush’s used car.
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The NCAA used 16.11.2.1 General Rule [regarding Non-permissible Benefits] against Bush for that.
16.11.2.1 states: The student-athlete shall not receive any extra benefit. The term “extra benefit” refers to any special arrangement by an institutional employee or representative of the institution’s athletics interests to provide the student-athlete or the student-athlete’s family members or friends with a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation.
Bush’s defense here has to be a practical one. This is how it reads in the formal complaint submitted. The wording in the bylaw is explicit up to the catch-all “not expressly authorized by the NCAA legislation.”
This is where the Bush team has to hit home the absurdity of receiving a ride or a temporary room to change clothes.
Through cross-examination with the defamation suit, if it reaches a courtroom, in regards to “pay-for-play” it is going to be an intense exchange in regards to the definition of “minor assistance” in fixing Bush’s car.
I seriously doubt Bush played at Southern Cal for a booster in exchange for a tune-up on his used car at the time.
Where I feel the defamation suit faces the uphill battle is the benefits Bush’s family received a home to live in rent-free for more than a year in San Diego and for which they were provided $10,000 to furnish. This is where you can imply “pay-for-play” here and 16.11.2.1 includes the family members in the bylaw.
If Reggie Bush wasn’t such an exceptional athlete – say, he was an accomplished mathematician or simply an art student at Southern California – would his family have received the same such benefit? I highly doubt it.
The defense will leverage that and that this financing to the Bush family was backed by a verbal agreement that Bush had with Lloyd Lake. The NCAA deemed Bush to have violated bylaws Bylaws 12.3 Use of Agents and 12.3.1.2 Benefits From Prospective Agents.
12.3 Use of Agents reads from the General Rule: An individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if the individual ever has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing athletics ability or reputation in that sport. Further, an agency contract not specifically limited in writing to a sport or particular sports shall be deemed applicable to all sports, and the individual shall be ineligible to participate in any sport.
This is where Bush faces a very much uphill battle.
The Bush team feels the NCAA’s argument “linchpin” in the punishment was the oral agreement Bush entered in with Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels in 2004. Getting around the linchpin is going to be a difficult one. What the Bush defense team is looking to use is the Todd McNair defamation case against the NCAA to its defense.
McNair, who was the running backs coach at Southern California from 2004 to 2010, filed a defamation suit in 2010 in regard to the “pay-for-play” claims. In 2021, McNair and the NCAA entered into a confidential settlement agreement.
It is through that defamation suit, it was revealed NCAA investigators conducted, what the Bush legal defense team described as “sloppy and unprofessional,” interviews of Lloyd Lake and that report and interview misrepresented his testimony
How the Bush team can mold a vision that Lake, Michaels, Bush was not a “pay-for-play” situation will be the key for his team to turn this case in their favor.
Will Reggie Bush Get His Heisman Back?
Los Angeles Times writer J. Brady McCollough put it perfectly when he wrote, “Throughout his storied football career, Reggie Bush made one thing clear over and over again: You can’t give the guy an opening.”
Bush right now has a small opening, and his legal team is trying to make the most of this opportunity. With the words being said on the open air of ESPN, it helps the defamation suit. Reviewing the Todd McNair case is going to be key, that is, in my mind the linchpin of all of this.
There is a very good reason the NCAA decided to settle. They didn’t want any more of its investigation to get into that court case.
This helps Bush, but he has some serious questions to answer for himself.
The NCAA hasn’t done well with litigation or the threat of it as of late, notably with Todd McNair, the NIL court cases, and Penn State.
Bush has a great opportunity to restore his glory, and for what reason was it taken away?
To me, when the NCAA enforces these draconian penalties, it is mad at itself because they weren’t good enough to catch and enforce its rules.
Watching the Johnny Manziel documentary on Netflix goes to show if you have enough people lie to the NCAA, you can get over on them.
I can only imagine what the blood pressure of those NCAA investigators were watching that documentary.
I do feel with the McNair case, and what is available to review by the Bush team, the more Bush’s attorneys can open holes in the investigation of Lloyd Lake it will open a hole big enough for Bush to re-secure his Heisman Trophy that is rightfully his.
