Ex-coach faces tough cross by NCAA lawyer

LOS ANGELES -- After slumping in their chairs for most of last week, jurors deciding the outcome of the NCAA defamation trial perked up when former assistant coach Todd McNair took the stand.

They took more notes, they laughed at comments for the first time, and they seemed drawn to McNair's emotional testimony. Through tears, the former assistant USC football coach testified that he fell into a deep depression as a result of the NCAA issuing a wide-ranging report claiming McNair did not tell the truth about his knowledge of payments to running back Reggie Bush.

But on Friday, McNair kept a dry eye during cross examination by an NCAA defense attorney, who questioned McNair's motives for filing a lawsuit, a 20-year-old dog fighting arrest, and his knowledge of benefits from Lloyd Lake, a would-be sports marketer who showered the star running back with money and gifts. McNair v. the National Collegiate Athletic Association, BC462891 (L.A. Super Ct., filed June 3, 2011).

Kosta Stojilkovic, defense counsel for the NCAA, challenged McNair's claim the NCAA report ended his career. The attorney said McNair reached out to only three collegiate and professional programs for a job since the sanctions were issued.

"You know if you tried too hard to get a job, you couldn't come into court and claim this was a career-ending sanction," said Stojilkovic, a partner at Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz.

"That's fair," said McNair.

"You cried when you saw yourself in the video and you want this jury to believe you could only reach out to a few people over eight years?" Stojilkovic asked.

McNair's attorney, Bruce Broillet, objected.

"It's argumentative. Let's stop that," said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller.

On redirect examination, McNair told Broillet that he all he ever knew about job hunting was reaching out to people he knew.

"I've never sent out resumes. You build a network of people and you reach out to people. ... That's all that I ever knew," McNair said.

The plaintiff has largely argued that nonvoting members on the Committee on Infractions, in violation of the NCAA's bylaws, lobbied voting members to implicate McNair in the face of public pressure to sanction elite football programs. The defense said McNair knew Lake, basing their theory around a two and a half minute phone call from Lake's phone to McNair's in 2006. There is no transcript of that conversation.

Stojilkovic also brought up media reports that linked McNair to the Bush benefits, but the judge limited the admission of the stories as to McNair's knowledge of them, not their truth.

"It didn't bother you that in 2005, four and a half years before the NCAA report, the LA Times referenced that you knew of the relationship?" said Stojilkovic, referring to Lake.

"It was a gang banger who said this," said McNair, who said he didn't know if he read that story.

Regarding a Yahoo Sports report, Stojilkovic highlighted its timing, saying the investigation started around the same time that 2006 phone call occurred between Lake and McNair. The NCAA thinks that phone call concerned the payments and NCAA investigation, but McNair testified that he didn't recall the conversation.

"January 2006 is when Lloyd Lake called you for two and a half minutes and you know Lloyd Lake said he was threatening to take it public. That's what he said," said Stojilkovic.

"Absolutely," said McNair, who previously testified that he didn't know about the benefits until the news reports came out.

At the end of redirect, Broillet let McNair speak his mind.

"This ain't about money. ... Nobody is going to make me know Lloyd Lake. You cannot make me know Lloyd Lake," McNair said.

He got off the stand and walked straight out into the court hallway. The trial goes into its third week Monday.