Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll were a big part of Southern California's rise to college football

prominence the past 10 years. They also are the men responsible for its downfall.

The NCAA lowered the boom on USC last week with some of the stiffest sanctions levied on a

program since slamming Alabama eight years ago. The Trojans will lose 30 football scholarships

over the next three recruiting seasons and cannot participate in a bowl for the next two

seasons. They also must vacate wins from the 2004 season, including their 55-19 beatdown of

Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

The harsh penalties were the result of the NCAA's findings that Bush took cash from

would-be agents while playing running back for the Trojans. Bush continues to maintain his

innocence, but what else is he going to say? The 67-page report by the NCAA's Committee on

Infractions doesn't leave much room for reasonable doubt of his guilt.

Let's not be naive to think Bush is first college athlete to get his palms greased under

the table. He just got busted. And that might not have happened if he hadn't reneged on an

alleged agreement with the people who would represent him in future marketing deals. It was

the jilted party that blew the whistle on him.

The USC men's basketball team also faced similar charges related to guard O.J. Mayo's

contact with an agent during his one year on the team. But it pretty much escaped the NCAA's

wrath by self-imposing a one-year postseason ban and scholarship reduction.

The school wasn't nearly as proactive in football. It arrogantly believed the program was

as untouchable off the field as it was on it. Obviously, it was wrong. The NCAA proved in this

case that no one is above the law, no matter how powerful.

This wasn't just about Bush's getting paid or his parents getting free housing. This was

about the NCAA saying that USC is a renegade program run amok. This was about a lack of

institutional control by people in charge of making sure the program stayed on the straight

and narrow but looked the other way. How Athletics Director Mike Garrett has managed to keep

his job is beyond me.

But Bush and Carroll got out while the getting was good.

Bush bolted for the riches of the NFL in 2006. Carroll conveniently left for the Seattle

Seahawks head coaching job this offseason. The only damage either will suffer is to their

tarnished legacy. Bush might have to give back his 2005 Heisman Trophy, but that is no

guarantee.

Carroll expressed disappointment about the sanctions, which he said are not justified. But

he must have known something was going to happen. Why else would he become head coach of a

mediocre Seahawks team after rejecting better NFL offers for several years? This looks like a

textbook example of the captain abandoning a sinking ship.

Carroll claims he knew nothing of Bush's activities. But Carroll created an atmosphere that

allowed it to happen. His open-door policy allowed celebrities and so-called "friends of the

program" to hang out at practices, stand on the sidelines during games and basically come and

go as they pleased. Such unfettered access is bound to lead to inappropriate contact with the

players if no one is monitoring the situation.

What is unfair about the NCAA ruling is it affects players who had nothing to do with the

violations. They came to USC thinking of winning national championships. Thanks to Bush and

Carroll, those days are gone for a long while.