So it has been awhile, that is what finals week and packing and moving back to Wisconsin for the summer will do to me, but now I'm back with plenty of time to spend here. As I sat in Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport, I came across the headline on Yahoo! Sports that yet again they have busted USC for rules infractions and paying athletes, why does this not surprise me?
Charles Robinson and Jason Cole tagged teamed to write this story, very similar to the story Yahoo! broke on Reggie Bush, just a short while ago. According to the story, Trojans head basketball coach Tim Floyd made a direct cash payment to a man who helped bring OJ Mayo to Los Angeles. The story credits Louis Johnson as their source and says he is in Mayo's "inner circle".
Yes, this is the same Louis Johnson that was a subject of an Outside the Lines report as one of Mayo's middle men. Johnson used to be a sports writer in California and was new to the world of "runners." A runner is a guy hired to literally run around with guys like Mayo and buy them whatever they want and there is none better than Rodney Guillory who was also involved with Mayo. Guillory is known as the "Mayor of Prep Basketball" in Southern California and is OJ Mayo's mentor...supplying Mayo with multiple thousands of dollars to secure him with BDA Sports Agency when he turned pro.
Back to Tim Floyd and the Yahoo! story now. Johnson, who no longer is considered close with Mayo, has told the FBI, IRS and US Attorney's office that Floyd gave at least $1,000 in cash to Guillory. Attornies for Johnson broke the story to Yahoo! and Johnson has stated this case as the truth multiple times in front of federal attornies.
My first thought was Johnson wants to gain something out of it, but I don't think he does now. He was a 16 year sports writer that stumbled accross Guillory while covering prep basketball and got in over his head. This story has come out before and each time Guillory and mayo have denied it. Normally the accusations were thrown at Bill Duffy Sports Agency, now its at Tim Floyd and USC. That came out to the federal authorities.
What does this mean for USC? Well, if it can be proved to be true, a lot. This is a major infraction and you know the NCAA is ready to let USC have it. Tim Floyd has always been dirty and slimy and might get caught finally. The NCAA has a long list of interviews and case building evidence against USC, starting with Reggie Bush and moving on to OJ Mayo. It may be only a matter of time before major infractions come down to Tim Floyd, Pete Carroll and all of USC.
