“… The NCAA doubles down on its decade-plus draconian penalty of a teenage kid who had his award taken based upon a sham investigation. You have to wonder if profiting from kids for this long has clouded the NCAA’s judgment as to why we have student athletics in the first place,” Spiro said to ESPN.
The NCAA’s new NIL (name, image, likeness) rule went into effect on July 1 that now allows college athletes to profit from their images and reputations. Bush issued a statement on the same day asking for his punishment to be reversed.
The New Orleans Saints Super Bowl champion returned his Heisman Trophy after a four-year extra-benefits investigation determined that he and family members, while he was a student-athlete, accepted cash, travel expenses and a home in the San Diego, California, area where Bush’s parents lived rent-free for more than a year and for which they were provided $10,000 to furnish.
According to ESPN, sanctions from the investigation, which came in 2010, mandated that Bush disassociate from USC and included a two-year postseason ban for the school, 14 vacated victories (including the 2004 BCS national championship) and the loss of 30 scholarships. His 10-year disassociation period ended in June 2020.
