2 stabbed in fight before USC-UCLA game

PASADENA, Calif. -- Dozens of fans brawled in a Rose Bowl parking lot before the Southern California-UCLA football game Saturday, leaving two men stabbed, two police officers with minor injuries and three men arrested, authorities said.

About 40 fans of both schools fought at about 4:20 p.m. in a grassy part of Brookside Golf Course that the stadium uses for event parking, Pasadena police Commander Darryl Qualls said.

One person was stabbed in the cheek and the other was stabbed in the back during the melee some three hours before the crosstown-rivalry game between the Bruins and Trojans was set to start, Qualls said. Both were taken by ambulance to Huntington Memorial Hospital. He described their condition as stable.

One officer was treated for a sprained hand, the other for a sprained ankle, and both were released, Qualls said.

Arturo Cisneros, 44, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. Steven Radu, 27, and Joshua Elder, 23, were arrested for investigation of assault on a police officer. They were being held in Pasadena City Jail.

Police did not know if any of the men had retained attorneys.

The names of the victims were not released.

USC later beat the Bruins for the 11th time in 12 games, 28-14.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the brawl, but police said the school rivalry and tailgate party drinking were major factors.

"The fans are pretty passionate about their football teams," Qualls said.

USC fan Michael Lane of Los Angeles said he was tailgating with friends in the lot when the melee broke out around him.

"People from USC and UCLA were fighting against each other," Lane said. "It was bottles being thrown and different things happened ... I saw a person come out with a bloody face."

Qualls said that the last time the annual rivalry game was held at the Rose Bowl in 2008, there were about 50 arrests, but he didn't think any of them were for assault.

"It doesn't happen at normal college football games," he said.

The brawl occurred before most fans or either team had arrived at the Rose Bowl, but thousands of tailgating fans spent most of the day gathered around RVs or barbecues in quiet Arroyo Seco, waiting for the late kickoff dictated by television coverage.

UCLA's rivalry with USC is among the most intense in college football, pitting two schools separated by just 13 miles between USC's downtown campus and UCLA's Westwood address. The rivalry divides fans from every section of Los Angeles, sometimes even splitting families.

UCLA was overshadowed while the Trojans won seven straight Pac-10 titles during the past decade.

Saturday's USC victory -- the Trojans' fourth straight -- in the 80th meeting between the teams was for nothing but civic pride, with the Bruins failing to qualify for a bowl game and USC banned from the postseason by NCAA sanctions.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Heisman Trophy Trust to Discuss "Bush Situation"

The Heisman Trophy Trust says it will "consider the issues" raised surrounding USC's decision to return its copy of the Heisman Trophy that Reggie Bush won in 2005.

In a brief statement, the trust, which will hold a previously scheduled meeting on Tuesday, announced that it was looking into the matter, but did not indicate what action it might or might not take with regards to Bush's copy of the award.



"The Trust will be considering the issues raised in the USC/Reggie Bush matter, and after reaching a decision will publish it, but due to the complex issues involved and the Trust's desire to reach an appropriate decision, no definitive timetable has been established," the trust said. "Until the matter has been fully considered and a decision is reached, the Trust has no further comment."

USC To Clean House: Mike Garrett and Bush's Heisman First To Go

LOS ANGELES -- USC is cleaning house in its tarnished athletic department, throwing out much of what got the school in severe NCAA trouble.

Athletic director Mike Garrett and Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy are the first two items to go.



n a letter to school supporters Tuesday, incoming USC president Max Nikias said Garrett will be replaced Aug. 3 by Pat Haden, the former Trojans quarterback who became a successful businessman and a member of USC's board of trustees. The school also will return its copy of Bush's trophy to the Heisman Trust, among several measures to disassociate itself from the tainted tailback.

The NCAA cited Garrett's administration for a lack of institutional control while slapping the school with heavy sanctions last month, but Haden believes he can change the culture of a program that has been wildly successful and heavily scrutinized over the past decade.

"We're going to do better," said Haden, also the color analyst on NBC's Notre Dame broadcasts for the past decade. "We have to do better. We don't have any choices here. We stub our toe, there's going to be some problems."

USC was hit with four years of probation, a two-year bowl ban and severe football scholarship restrictions after the NCAA found serious rules violations in the athletic department, primarily around the football and men's basketball teams. Most involved illegal benefits for Bush and O.J. Mayo, the talented basketball player who spent just one season at USC.

Reggie Bush has not been asked to give back his copy of the Heisman Trophy. But USC's copy will be returned next month.

Haden said the school's plan to get rid of nearly all references to Bush and Mayo -- right down to scrubbing their images from school murals and removing Bush's No. 5 jersey in its place of honor in the lobby of Heritage Hall -- are all part of the NCAA's directive to disassociate the school from the athletes.


Bush's Heisman has been on display alongside the trophies won by Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, Charles White and Marcus Allen. It was still in place Tuesday, but will be gone by the time students show up on campus next month.                                                                                                                             




Bush still has his own Heisman Trophy. The Heisman Trophy Trust has not taken any action against Bush or made any request to have him return his copy of the trophy.



Though he doesn't start his new job until Aug. 3, Nikias is already at work reforming the Trojans' image.

"The Trojan Family honors and respects the USC sporting careers of those persons whose actions did not compromise their athletic program or the opportunities of future USC student-athletes," Nikias said.

After pledging support for new football coach Lane Kiffin, Haden said he realizes the enormity of his task in restoring credibility to USC, where the NCAA found numerous violations during the tenures of football coach Pete Carroll and men's hoops coach Tim Floyd. After twice telling Nikias he didn't want to be considered for the job, Haden agreed to take it last week.

"We want to compete ferociously and win in every sport, but we want to do it ethically and within the rules," said Haden, a former Rhodes Scholar who became a venture capitalist after an NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams. "We're going to have a culture of compliance around here. Every meeting is going to start with the No. 1 item as compliance. ... We're going to try to be perfect. When we make mistakes, we're going to fess up, and we're going to try to do better next time."





ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman says this is a symbolic move by USC to give back Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy. Feldman says the NCAA needs to better teach players about how to deal with agents.



The 66-year-old Garrett has been the Trojans' athletic director for 17 years, but he received caustic criticism for his handling of USC's scandals. The school didn't say whether Garrett retired or had been fired.

"He will always be held in the highest esteem by all Trojans, not only for his exploits on the playing field but as a leader, mentor, teacher and a driving force behind USC's student-athletics," Nikias said.

Both Garrett and Haden are former USC football players. Garrett won the Heisman Trophy in 1965, while Haden was the Trojans' starting quarterback for three years in the 1970s under coach John McKay.

Haden also said he'll hire McKay's son, J.K., as an associate athletic director to serve as his liaison to the football program. McKay and Haden played together at USC and have been best friends for over 40 years.

It's a tough job, because you can only do so much, and there are people out there who are trying to get to your guys every day," said McKay, an attorney who served as general manager with the XFL's Los Angeles franchise. "We're going to do our best to make sure nobody can question our effort on compliance."

USC ordered this display of Reggie Bush to be removed (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

USC's new president has ordered displays honoring Reggie Bush, such as this one, and O.J. Mayo to be taken down.

A few months after abruptly leaving Tennessee to return to USC, Kiffin's self-described dream job has changed drastically. He must rebuild the Trojans under probation and scholarship limitations -- and now Kiffin is working for a boss who didn't hire him. Yet Kiffin, whose staff was cited for several minor NCAA violations during his 14 months at Tennessee, looked tanned and relaxed when he walked through Heritage Hall on Tuesday afternoon.

"He is my coach, and I love my coach," Haden said. "I think he's going to be successful here. J.K. McKay is committed to doing it right, and I think Lane is, too. I don't want to say we're not going to have any issues. We will. We're going to have guys whispering in our guys' ears, but we're going to do our best. I don't think we're going to have a problem with compliance with Lane. I think he knows where we're coming from."

Garrett has been mostly unapologetic in the face of the Trojans' NCAA problems, even saying last month that the NCAA's ruling revealed "a lot of envy" of the Trojans. Two weeks ago, Garrett was forced to send a letter of apology to five schools after falsely accusing them of breaking NCAA rules by contacting star tailback recruit Dillon Baxter about transferring.

While praising Garrett's work in rebuilding the USC football program and shepherding construction of the Galen Center basketball arena on campus, Nikias said the USC athletic department under his presidency "will seek to excel in the coming years in a manner that is consistent with the highest values" of the school.

Garrett initially received praise for unexpectedly hiring Carroll, who led a dominant decade for the Trojans' football team, including seven Pac-10 titles and two national championships. Carroll left USC earlier this year to take over the Seattle Seahawks.

"Wish pat haden the very best in taking over as USC AD!" Carroll wrote on his Twitter account. "I'll support in any way. Congrats!"



Information from ESPN college football reporter Joe Schad and The Associated Press was used in this report.

NCAA Questions South Carolina's TE Saunders ..."Make Sure No Reggie Bush Stuff Going On"

South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders confirmed Sunday that he recently spoke with NCAA investigators in connection with a probe of the North Carolina football program.




Saunders, considered one of the top tight ends in the country, is close friends with Tar Heels defensive end Marvin Austin, who was also recently questioned by investigators.

On Thursday, a source said that UNC football players -- including Austin -- were being interviewed by the NCAA this week and asked questions about agents and whether anyone had received gifts or extra benefits.

The source also said that the NCAA's questions to players were intended to "make sure no Reggie Bush stuff is going on."

"I'm not really sure what's going on right now in terms of who's in trouble and how much," Saunders said Sunday.

Another source who has visited with Saunders said Sunday the NCAA is interested in time Saunders spent with Austin in South Florida this spring and who paid for hotel rooms and travel.

University of South Carolina athletics director Eric Hyman issued a statement Sunday acknowledging the NCAA's inquiry.

"The NCAA has been in contact with us regarding a possible rules violation in one of our programs," the statement said. "We have and will continue to cooperate fully with their inquiry. We have confidence in our compliance program and will work with the NCAA to bring this matter to a resolution in a timely fashion."

The investigation began with a phone call from the NCAA, North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said Thursday, though he declined to say when the call came or when investigators had visited the Chapel Hill campus.

A second source said Thursday that the NCAA asked all of UNC's projected NFL draft picks, many of whom elected to stay in Chapel Hill, to provide phone records so investigators could see which agents they had spoken with.

The players were also asked who paid for the travel, who paid their rent and which agents they had met with and when, according to the second source. Austin recently tweeted about a trip to Miami.



Joe Schad is a college football reporter for ESPN.

USC Ineligible for 2010 USA Today's Coaches Poll.....

This will be an unranked season for USC in USA Today's football coaches' poll.

Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, told USA Today that because the school is under major NCAA sanctions and prohibited from playing in a bowl, it will be ineligible for the poll.

USC filed an appeal with the NCAA last month, asking that several sanctions of its football program be reduced because they are "too severe" and "inconsistent with precedent."

USC appealed only certain aspects of the NCAA's ruling. Among the penalties were a two-year bowl ban, four years of probation, scholarship losses and removal of several victories. The school will accept a bowl ban for the upcoming season and certain scholarship penalties in football, but believes the full sanctions were unduly harsh.

According to USA Today, it was expected that USC would be eligible for the coaches' poll in 2010 because it planned to appeal, but because the school accepted the postseason ban for this season, it became ineligible for the poll.

Teaff released a statement in which he said the AFCA informed USC athletic director Mike Garrett, USC coach Lane Kiffin, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott and BCS executive director Bill Hancock that the Trojans would be ineligible for the 2010 coaches' poll.

The coaches' poll is one of the rankings used in the formula to determine the BCS standings.

"American Football Coaches Association policy dictates that AFCA members who serve on the board of voters to determine national ranking shall not vote on any institution on major probation," Teaff said in the statement.

"Penalties imposed by the NCAA, or a representative conference, are classified as 'major' if the penalties include loss of postseason bowl participation and/or television appearances, and/or loss of 20 percent or more of grants in aid."

The NCAA's sanctions will not prevent USC from being considered for The Associated Press' poll, which is not part of the BCS formula.

In an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times last month, in which she said USC would keep its 2004 AP national title, AP sports editor Terry Taylor said: "The poll is intended to measure on-field performance. If teams are allowed to play, they're allowed to be ranked and USC certainly played in 2004."



Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.