If there was ever a time for the death penalty to be reconsidered, the time is now.

It is just shocking how the situation with USC has deteriorated. We’re no longer talking about players failing classes, or getting into fights on the weekends. As much as we like to berate college athletes, it is actually quite common. I’ve failed a class or two during my collegiate career. I’ve sure seen many kids get into fights at the bar as well. Its fun to laugh at athletes when they get into the same trouble that befalls most college kids, but as I’ve said before, these things are bound to happen.

But what is going on at USC is on a whole different level. And what’s even more absurd is that the OJ Mayo scandal comes less than a year after the Reggie Bush scandal was blown wide open by Yahoo! Sports. Not only did USC not cooperate by discouraging Reggie Bush to talk to investigators, they now have a full blown case with OJ Mayo on their hands. USC played the ignorance card the first time around with Reggie Bush, it’ll be interesting to see what they pull this time around.

I made the case earlier this year about how USC got lucky with the Reggie Bush fiasco. They deserved sanctions back then, imagine what I think they deserve now. But this isn’t about what I think. Rules are rules. Reggie Bush broke the rules when he was provided with perks that most (and notice how I used ‘most’) players aren’t allowed to receive. Think USC did not benefit when Bush was enticed to head to Southern Cal?

Now it is clear the problem has spread to their basketball program as well. ESPN’s Outside the Lines broke open the news when Louis Johnson decided to spill the beans. Among the allegations by Johnson:

• Over the course of roughly three years prior to the start of Mayo’s freshman season at USC, BDA Sports provided Guillory with about $200,000, some of it through an account set up at Citibank. Johnson said Guillory told him details about how the account was set up through an intermediary and how it worked: Each month, Guillory told a BDA official what the anticipated “expenses” would be, and that amount would be put into the account to take care of Guillory and Mayo’s needs. Guillory, Johnson said, had a card to make withdrawals from the account. Johnson said he was sometimes with Guillory when he made those withdrawals, and Johnson provided “Outside the Lines” with a receipt from one $200 withdrawal that he said occurred in his presence.

• BDA helped Guillory purchase an Infiniti QX56 that Guillory drives. California registration records show Guillory’s vehicle came from a dealership co-owned by former USC and NFL player Ronnie Lott, a longtime friend of Duffy, BDA Sports’ chairman and CEO. According to Consumer Guide Automotive, the car was valued at around $50,000 when it was first purchased in 2005.

• Guillory has been giving money to Mayo for years, according to Johnson, who provided Western Union receipts that illustrate how Johnson and Guillory wired hundreds of dollars to friends of Mayo while he was in high school to avoid a paper trail leading to Mayo.

• Hotel receipts and airline itineraries show multiple trips made by Johnson and Guillory. The destinations correspond with where Mayo played in high school and at tournaments around the country.

• Guillory paid for Mayo’s cell phone service, which T-Mobile billed to a nonprofit foundation run by Guillory that, according to California state records, is designed to serve “the educational, health, recreational and social needs of youths and elderly citizens residing in inner-city communities.” Johnson provided “Outside the Lines” with the service agreement for four separate lines on the account, set up on March 13, 2007. Johnson said the phone lines were for Guillory, Mayo, a Mayo relative and Johnson. T-Mobile sent a bill to Guillory’s foundation for $558.56 for the September charges for the four lines. Of that amount, $171.17 was for Mayo’s phone service and another $192.33 was for the phone service of Mayo’s relative, according to the invoice and Johnson.

• In addition to several shopping sprees at the two Men’s Land stores in the Los Angeles area, Johnson said Guillory provided Mayo with a flat-screen television, a hotel room and meals — items all paid for with a credit card that belongs to another nonprofit organization, The National Organization of Sickle Cell Prevention and Awareness Foundation. The organization has never registered as a charitable trust with the California Attorney General’s Office and is unknown in the Los Angeles sickle-cell charitable community.

• Guillory purchased airline tickets for a member of Mayo’s family and another Mayo friend to visit Mayo at USC, said Johnson, who provided “Outside the Lines” with a plane itinerary and a receipt for those trips.

In 1989, Oklahoma State received a 2 year TV ban, 3 year bowl ban and loss of 5 new scholarships because 1 player received cash payments and a sports car at no cost during his 2 years with the team. And here we have USC, with 2 known offenders who received vastly more money and perks than the Oklahoma State offender and we are still unsure whether the NCAA will even slap them on the wrist.

It is time for the hammer to fall on the Trojan program. Not only are the violations clear and severe, this is a repeat violation by a program that has enjoyed athletic success on the backs of the two offenders in question. Like Paris Hilton’s rampant misbehavior, it’s time for the NCAA to make an example of USC.

And to think Indiana is still worried about their ex-coach making a few phone calls. Doesn’t this put things in perspective?

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