Francis Specker / AP file

It doesn't seem likely that USC coach Pete Carroll is doing all he can in terms of institutional control, writes NBCSports.com columnist Michael Ventre.

Michael Ventre

Shades of a certain federal government are visible around college football’s favorite entertainment conglomerate. With each day come new revelations of alleged wrongdoing. Folks on either side of the political and sports spectrums are haggling it out on morning talk shows. Soon Pete Carroll will probably have to endure a gentle Sunday morning grilling from Tim Russert.

When it reigns, it pours. Adding insult to more insult, the Trojans aren’t even reigning.

There hasn’t been this much scandal in Los Angeles since the last time Paula Abdul visited a nightclub. In one week, there have been allegations that Reggie Bush’s parents lived rent-free in a San Diego-area home owned by Jerry Maguire wannabees with dubious credentials; the team’s Matt Leinart of the future, Mark Sanchez, was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault; a report surfaced in the Los Angeles Daily News that LenDale White failed an NFL drug test, although that has been denied; and that star wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett, who shared a ritzy downtown flat with Leinart last season, may have received the dreaded “extra benefits” by paying less rent than Leinart’s dad paid for his son.

The primary issues that clamor to be addressed are these: How much of all this bad news is USC’s fault, and specifically the head coach’s fault? Also, what does it all mean for the future of this program?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer for a couple of reasons. One, all of these matters are presently being investigated by various bodies, so until all the facts emerge it’s unfair to slap USC with an SMU-style death penalty, even in barroom fantasy arguments. And two, each of these incidents is different as it relates to the question of institutional control.

In the Bush case, the blame should fall squarely on the player. I find it unfathomable that he didn’t know his parents’ sudden upgrade in housing was the result of being in cahoots with slippery opportunists. It’s outrageous that his parents couldn’t wait another year until their son cashed in, and it’s inexcusable that Bush himself didn’t intercede to protect his eligibility as well as the integrity of a program that would help to eventually make him rich and famous.

There’s no doubt whatsoever that Carroll, his football staff and athletic department administrators bear some responsibility to hammer home the message to players’ parents that gold-digging vermin can threaten a high-profile program like USC’s. But by all indications that message has been delivered often, especially to the parents of star players. Beyond that, what are Carroll and his coaches supposed to do, hire private detectives and forensic accountants to monitor the activities of every relative of every Trojan on the roster?

In the Sanchez case, there’s also little debate that coaches and athletic department officials should be obliged to educate their players on the perils of temptation when it comes to members of the opposite sex as well as alcohol. But Sanchez reportedly attended a rape awareness workshop the day before he was arrested. So short of tranquilizing the players into evening immobility, or attaching some sort of chastity device, what are the powers that be supposed to do?

It can be argued that certain schools recruit certain players of questionable character who could be predisposed to such missteps. But Bush? He was a model citizen and a good kid — until now, of course. Sanchez? He was an unfailingly polite choirboy — until he used a fake ID to drink at a popular watering hole before the alleged incident. College football coaches would have to limit their recruiting efforts to future theology majors. And given the state of some sectors of that realm, even that isn’t a guarantee these days.

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