ConwayGamecock

Untrue.....2 and 3 months of un-paid rent barely got them over $1,000 in back-rent: not what I'd call "huge". TE Wesley Saunders was the biggest one, as he had gone almost a year without paying rent. Again, a situation that most USC fans simply shake their heads over as to how such a thing could be allowed by the Whitney management to occur. In any case, all the players with the exception of Saunders paid their delinquent rent BEFORE they moved out of the Whitney. Saunders was ordered by our Athletic Director to move out of the Whitney and also to immediately pay the back-rent, but he was hesitant to do so. Didn't matter anyways, as he was dismissed from the football program and never played a down of FB for us in 2010.... Over $1,000 at $15 per night is pretty big. And sure, blame it on the Whitney Hotel. Not that big when the monthly rent is already around $500...the back-rent was only twice that. Not huge IMO... And you apparently didn't see where I started that sentence with "Again.....". That means that was repeating a point I already previously made. The original point I made stated that South Carolina's compliance office definitely dropped the ball on the back-rent. So I guess you made a mistake here?? The agreement to allow the players to forgo the payments until a later time - thus creating the delinquencies - was between the players and Whitney management, and totally unknown by USC. The fact that it happened, and was allowed to happen un-monitored by compliance, was obviously a huge mistake. But the Whitney management obviously has never done anything like that with their other customers/tenants, so for them to choose to do so with college kids - and the obvious ramifications that resulted - is also a poor mark on their part as well.....

Untrue.....2 and 3 months of un-paid rent barely got them over $1,000 in back-rent: not what I'd call "huge". TE Wesley Saunders was the biggest one, as he had gone almost a year without paying rent. Again, a situation that most USC fans simply shake their heads over as to how such a thing could be allowed by the Whitney management to occur. In any case, all the players with the exception of Saunders paid their delinquent rent BEFORE they moved out of the Whitney. Saunders was ordered by our Athletic Director to move out of the Whitney and also to immediately pay the back-rent, but he was hesitant to do so. Didn't matter anyways, as he was dismissed from the football program and never played a down of FB for us in 2010....

You've posted this several times.....SAM has been around for a few years, and have sent a lot of prep prospects for several athletic fields to many top programs across the nation. As far as what I've read or heard, Byrd was the first associated from that organization for football to actually come to USC. While no one can argue that HOW Byrd's process through SAM to USC was not handled properly (it's still very disappointing to me as his father held a high administrative position in the foundation: his family was not a poor family, and Damiere did not NEED financial assistance - proper or otherwise - to help with his recruiting trips, like perhaps Sharif Floyd and others might have needed. It was all very unnecessary, IMO), to say SAM was "filtering" top players and sending them to South Carolina is based on absolutely nothing factual that you have read, heard, or seen..... The Whitney situation is an embarrassment, IMO. It's something that no one associated with USC can honestly argue away: it is what it is, and we were caught ignorant of it's existence. Our Director of Compliance definitely dropped the balll on this one...the argument here is basically like this: Our Compliance Office compared rates at other housing establishments locally that was housing USC students and student-athletes, and essentially "brokered" a contract with Whitney management to charge similar rates for a certain number of student-athletes. In THAT regard, nothing was improper. The NCAA's position however, is that the rates of other housing had no relevance to this situation, because they viewed the Whitney as not being similar housing to those other facilities. Then they determined if the Whitney management had agreed to similar low rates to other non-athletic students of USC, or even to other customers who stayed there, and apparently the findings was that no they had not. So in the case of the Whitney alone, the low rates were deemed as preferential and improper benefits, even though they could be found a block or two away at a condominium complex that housed other USC student-athletes, or elsewhere in the vicinity. The issue of those student-athletes (mainly football players) not keeping their rent payments up on a regular basis went without our compliance office knowing. Hopefully we determine a way to monitor future situations so that such things won't happen again. The issue of our track and field team participating on a lake cruise/party is especially embarrassing as our long-time head coach was also involved, and he has been an accomplished HC in T&F for decades. I have no idea what he was thinking there.....