A New Twist in the USC Investigation

The NCAA investigation into the USC athletic department took yet another turn today, as the Los Angeles Times reported that the football team had employed an outside consultant to advise on the Trojans' special teams play. In fact, coach Pete Carroll confirmed today at the Pac-10 media day that he has brought in multiple ex-NFL coaches in consulting roles after receiving approval from the university's compliance department.

Sounds innocuous enough, but, like everything else, the Association actually has rules governing this kind of thing (bylaw 11.7.1.1.1.4):

"An institution may use or arrange for a temporary consultant to provide in-service training for the coaching staff, but no interaction with student-athletes is permitted unless the individual is counted against the applicable coaching limits. An outside consultant may not be involved in any on- or off-field or on- or off-court coaching activities (e.g., attending practices and meetings involving coaching activities, formulating game plans, analyzing video involving the institution's or opponent's team) without counting the consultant in the coaching limitations in that sport."

Sounds like a clear violation, but I guess it depends on the definition of "coaching activities." In the end, it may come down to savvy.