NCAA president to be deposed in defamation case filed by ex-USC assistant coach
Todd McNair is suing the NCAA for defamation of character after being cited for unethical conduct
By
Dennis Dodd
•
2 min read
LOS ANGELES -- Two days after the Final Four, NCAA president Mark Emmert will be deposed in what is increasingly becoming one of the more significant legal cases in the association's history.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that lawyers for former USC assistant coach Todd McNair will be able to question Emmert in a case that dates back to 2010.
In 2011, McNair sued the NCAA for defamation after he was he was cited for unethical conduct when USC was slapped with major penalties in the Reggie Bush case in June 2010.
McNair hasn't worked in football since being given a one-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA. The trial in the case is set for April 18.
Two weeks before it, on April 4, Emmert is scheduled to be deposed. That is two days after the NCAA's premier event – the college basketball national championship game.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the judge in the case said McNair's legal team "has the right, to depose Emmert in order to investigate the intent and knowledge behind one of the statements Plaintiff alleges to be defamatory."
Emmert has been deposed before, and the NCAA has been sued numerous times, but rarely -- if ever -- for defamation.
McNair's lawyers are centering around a statement Emmert made in December 2010. He was quoted by USA Today as saying the NCAA "got it right" in penalizing USC. McNair was in the middle of an appeal of his penalty at the time. In general, the NCAA president is not supposed to insert himself into or have any influence over enforcement cases.
According to documents that the NCAA aggressively tried to suppress in the case, NCAA infractions committee aid Shep Cooper called McNair a "morally bankrupt criminal."
Cooper was not a member of the infractions committee that decided penalties. McNair's attorneys believe Cooper's statements show improper influence over one of the NCAA's most powerful committees.
The judge in the case, Frederick Shaller, is a USC graduate. The NCAA tried unsuccessfully to remove him from the case in 2016.
In his order Thursday, Shaller denied the NCAA's request for summary judgment of the case along with a protective order that would have kept Emmert from a deposition.
Among his claims, McNair is suing for loss of earnings, punitive damages and loss of reputation.
McNair's attorneys did not provide any comment. Scott Tompsett, a veteran in representing coaches in NCAA cases, is representing McNair.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
