Sources: Trust to take Bush’s Heisman By Charles Robinson and Jason Cole 3 hours, 14 minutes ago The Heisman Trophy Trust is expected to strip former University of Southern California star running back Reggie Bush of college football’s top honor by the end of September, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Bush would become the first player in the 75-year history of the award to have the trophy taken away. The NCAA found major violations in the Trojans’ football program in June and levied serious sanctions against the school. Two sources close to the Heisman trust said the body’s investigation is coming to a close, and will ultimately concur with the NCAA’s determination that Bush was ineligible during his Heisman-winning season in 2005. Because of that independent conclusion, sources said the trust will relieve Bush of the award and leave the honor for that season vacant. The sources said Bush met with Heisman representatives last month at the New York law offices of Emmet, Marvin & Martin. The sources would not reveal details of that meeting. Bush, now a standout with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, could not immediately be reached for comment. It appears as if the Heisman Trophy Trust is about to strip Reggie Bush of his 2005 trophy. Julie Jacobson/AP The Heisman trust has been conducting its own independent inquiry into Bush’s eligibility since the NCAA ruled in June that the USC star had committed multiple violations by accepting cash, gifts and other impermissible benefits while playing for the Trojans. Yahoo! Sports first detailed the extra benefits in September 2006. In its findings, the NCAA retroactively ruled Bush ineligible for part of the 2004 season and all of 2005. The NCAA also ordered the USC program to remove all references to Bush from its sporting venues and promotional materials and vacate his statistics from all games in which he was ineligible. In July, incoming USC president C.L. Max Nikias announced that the university would be returning its copy of Bush’s Heisman to the trust, stating the Trojans would honor and respect athletes who “did not compromise their athletic program or the opportunities of future USC student-athletes.” New USC athletic director Pat Haden followed up in August, stating during an interview with the Dan Patrick radio show that Bush should also voluntarily return his Heisman. While others pressed for a swift decision, the trust opted for a patient, meticulous effort. Sources said the trust did its own detailed investigation over the past three months, using a litany of resources and reviewing its information against the NCAA’s findings. The trust also offered Bush a chance to impact the decision. The process apparently came with considerable debate – in part because of the trust’s quest for due process, but also because of the unique nature of the decision. Never in the history of the award has the trust been forced to retroactively rule on the eligibility of a past winner. That reality, along with the NCAA’s findings, created a tangled knot of deliberation regarding the trust’s place in the role of enforcement. Sources said the prominent issues discussed included accountability, on-field vs. off-field conduct, implications of retroactively stripping an award and possible impact on future athletes and the NCAA. Two factors outweighed all others, sources said: The Heisman ballot necessitates candidates be in compliance with NCAA bylaws and concern over the Heisman’s reputation in the wake of the NCAA findings against Bush. The status of USC’s 2004 Bowl Championship Series national title remains to be determined. BCS officials are awaiting the NCAA’s ruling on the Trojans’ appeal of the June finding. _______________________________________________________________ Is it fair for him to lose the heisman ? What about the coach ? Should he pay some fines ?
He had an agent buy his parents a HOUSE and lied about. The NCAA can make any rule they want, so yeah Bush deserved to be stripped of his Heisman. He's a cheater.:smt010 Not the only one, but all that matters is that he got caught.:smt018
Bush is the low guy on the totem pole. The university should be hit harder than Reggie. THEY are the real cheaters. THEY make MILLIONS off those athletes(MANY from dire financial circumstances) that don't even get paid. What if Bush had tore his knee up for USC?...They'd throw his ass to the curbside like garbage. Reggie has something nobody can take away...a superbowl trophy....FUCK usc.
Reggie Bush wasn’t the first Heisman Trophy winner to do what he did. I’m sure many others from the past have accepted cash and gifts as well.
Bron Bron didn't play college ball, but he got into a similar scandal. These guys grow up poor and all they want is a little piece of the pie, that other kids had (in his case, he got an SUV and referred to other kids being bought up in better environments). It's unlawful but at the same time I feel for them.
Yall talk like Reggie Bush grew up on welfare eating government cheese. THe dude was raised middle class, and isn't poverty stricken in the least. Athletes know the rules going in, and if schools don't want to comply and would prefer to pay their top recruits 6 figures to attend their schools, leave the NCAA and start their own athletic association. It happens in other businesses all the time. College and pro sports have become so corrupted that most folks have a narrow view of what's considered cheating anymore.
I don't give a damn if he grew up next to Warren Buffet. Risking his health and career for FREE is the issue. USC (not to mention the coaches)made millions off Reggie and others like him...
Until the rules change and schools like USC leave to form their own athletic association, Bush broke the rules. He's not the first athlete to get pinched by the NCAA, he won't be the last. BTW, moving your folks into a house paid for by an agent is STOOPID.
lmao on the real, bush should have waited until he went PRO. the guy was a stud in the PAC-10 and i'm pretty sure he knew he would end up in the draft. All he had to do was wait... same goes for Bron Bron. now people giving them the screwface, saying they took stuff from agents before playing pro ball.
