The Business of O.J. Mayo

College athletics is big business, I mean like BIG BUSINESS. Coaches and universities make millions, what do the athletes get?(I wont say student-athletes, let’s face it the biggest names in college athletics don’t really seem to be much of students.) Sure there are programs like Duke that graduates high numbers of their athletes, but Duke sadly, isn’t the norm. Universities like USC and coaches like Tim Floyd are the norm.

Universities bring athletes in, kind of like free agents, to play and bring in revenue. The athlete gets to play student for awhile and move onto their next team in the NBA or NFL. While the coaches get HUGE endorsement deals with Nike or Gatorade, along with huge contracts. Once someone (the NCAA) catches on to them and their violations at one school, they get another coaching job making more money someplace else and never have to deal with the sanctions that are impose on their previous university.

How do coaches get away with running from job to job, leaving a trail of violations behind them?

Well universities want to win. I mean college athletics are all about competition, right? So, doing whatever it takes to win is the answer. Come on, everyone else is doing it.

Tim Floyd, former Men’s Basketball coach at USC during the recruitment and brief visit of O.J. Mayo, claimed he didn’t know Rodney Guillory was linked to a prior NCAA violation. Guillory had given a USC basketball player airline tickets during the 2000-2001 seasons, resulting in that player being suspended for 9 games, but I guess he forgot about that. When Guillory came calling, claiming he could guarantee Mayo to USC, Floyd should have turned him away and tried to recruit Mayo the old fashioned way…by promising Mayo all the riches of the world (we all saw He Got Game). Guillory might be the smartest man in this situation, he clamped onto Mayo when he was young.


Mayo at USC

Mayo has been used since he gained the national spotlight, making it to the NBA was never an option. Being sold to the highest bidder from 7th grade on, moving from school to school, and winning along the way.


Mayo at Huntington High In Huntington, WV

Mayo isn’t the villain here; he is guilty of trusting the untrustworthy. He trusted men who weren’t looking out for him as they should have been. It’s hard out there, and it won’t be getting any easier when it comes to knowing who has his best interest in mind. But at least now he is getting paid to play instead of everyone else getting paid.


Mayo with the Memphis Grizzles

Both Mayo and Floyd are employed by the NBA. Floyd left before the ink in the papers was dry. USC is left to deal with the consequences of the Mayo/Floyd area. USC isn’t the first and most certainly won’t be the last university to face violations for improper use of a student-athlete.