USC: "I'm Shocked, Shocked That Player Tampering is Going On!"

Last month the NCAA slammed USC with a two-year bowl ban along with a loss of scholarships for "a lack of institutional control" in the Reggie Bush fiasco.

Because of the sanctions, USC upperclassmen can transfer without the usual restrictions. Underclassmen are not to be contacted by other schools, and new USC coach Lane Kiffin accused several programs -- Florida, Washington, Oregon, Fresno State and Alabama -- of contacting running back Dillon Baxter, who had enrolled in January. USC sent a letter to the Pac 10 alleging the tampering.

This month USC Athletics Director Mike Garrett has written a letter of apology to the schools

The L.A. Times got a copy of the letter sent to Florida AD Jeremy Foley and it said in part:

"I have spoken with Mr. Baxter and he has now confirmed that he did not receive a call from your institution. Therefore, USC has no intention of pursuing this matter further.
"I apologize for any inconvenience or embarrassment this matter has caused to you and your institution."

Kiffin is the goofy gift that just keeps on giving.

In his short tenure at Tennessee he publicly accused Urban Meyer of tampering with a recruit, and apologized within 24 hours.

While at Tennessee, Kiffin was accused of sending his collegiate hostesses to visit high school recruits off-campus, a NCAA no-no.

On the way out the door from Tennessee to USC, Kiffin's recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron allegedly told their mid-term recruits "don't go to class."

Kiffin and Orgeron were assistants at USC under Peter Carroll during the Reggie Bush era, and when the sanctions were handed down last month Garrett wrote the penalties off as jealousy.

"As I read the decision by the NCAA," Garrett said... I read between the lines and there was nothing but a lot of envy. They wish they all were Trojans."

Gotta admit that the The Trojan Triumvriate of Garrett, Kiffin and Orgeron put on one helluva show.