NCAA official stands by sanctions in trial testimony

LOS ANGELES -- In a defamation trial against the NCAA brought by a former USC football assistant coach, an association official testified Tuesday that she stands by the sanctions levied against him, which he says were unfounded and ruined his career.

Former running backs coach Todd McNair is suing the NCAA, claiming there was no basis for the punishment inflicted on him in 2010 for knowledge of improper gifts given to star running back Reggie Bush. The gifts were given by felonious, would-be agent Lloyd Lake, who claimed McNair knew of his relationship with Bush.

"There was extensive information in the record that we found credible that he had been told about the relationship," said Eleanor Myers, a member of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions at the time of the investigation and a professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Under direct examination by Kosta Stojilkovic of Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz, defense counsel for the NCAA, Myers said the committee determined McNair was dishonest in his interviews, especially regarding a 1:34 a.m. call from Lake's phone.

Lake told the NCAA he called McNair to ask him to make Bush adhere to an agency agreement and threatened to go public about the gifts to the player, implicating USC. McNair has previously testified he does not remember the call.

"We were begging him to tell us the truth, and I thought he had ample opportunity to describe the call at the hearing," Myers said. "These were really, really critical and important to the case, and he impeded our investigation."

Myers added that she felt McNair's punishment, a one-year ban from recruiting, was appropriate for the findings against him. McNair testified on the stand that an inability to recruit left him a "lame duck" coach and led to his dismissal.

In cross-examination, McNair's attorney, Bruce Broillet of Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP, asked Myers whether it made "common sense" that McNair would not recall a conversation about violations that could end his career.

"You don't think that if that was in this call, that he would just hang up the phone and go back to bed?" he asked.

"I don't know what was in his mind," Myers answered.

Broillet also pressed Myers on details of Lake's account. She acknowledged Lake was not under oath when he gave his side of the story to the NCAA and would not submit to an interview by USC, which stood by McNair's version.

Myers also testified that McNair's punishment could have been much worse and that the committee did not make every possible finding against him.

McNair's attorneys have argued throughout the case that nonvoting members of the infractions committee influenced voting members to find against McNair in violation of NCAA bylaws. McNair v. the National Collegiate Athletic Association, BC462891 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 3, 2011).

McNair previously testified that his dismissal left him depressed and unemployable in collegiate athletics, forcing him to cash out his NFL pension and take jobs as a high school coach and Uber driver to make ends meet.

In further cross examination by Broillet, Myers denied she was improperly influenced by nonvoting members who wanted severe penalties for McNair and USC due to the Bush scandal. One of those nonvoting members was later passed over for a managerial position in the NCAA because of his conduct during the Bush investigation, according to NCAA president Mark Emmert.

One nonvoting member admitted in earlier testimony that he was trying to influence the committee.

The trial in front of Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller is expected to conclude with closing arguments Friday.