📡 Former USC football assistant alleges in lawsuit he was forced to resign after reporting possible NCAA violations - LA Times

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Ex-USC football assistant alleges he was forced out after reporting possible NCAA violations

A former member of the USC football coaching staff alleged in a lawsuit Monday that undergraduate students were paid to pose as graduate assistants from the team to take online classes on their behalf and fulfill their degree requirements.

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A former member of the USC football coaching staff alleged in a lawsuit Monday that undergraduate students were paid to pose as graduate assistants from the team to take online classes on their behalf and fulfill their degree requirements.

Rick Courtright, USC’s defensive quality control assistant from 2016 to 2018, said in the lawsuit he overheard graduate assistants Brett Arce and Austin Clark discuss working with defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast to pay two students to take online classes for the graduate assistants.

The lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court said Courtright later witnessed Pendergast, who is named in the complaint along with the school, hand an unspecified amount of cash to Clark. He passed it to one of the students.

“Upon witnessing these events, Courtright believed that the actions of Pendergast and the Graduate Assistants violated state and federal laws and regulations including academic fraud and fraud with the NCAA,” the complaint said.

Courtright reported the allegations to USC’s athletic department compliance office in June 2017, the lawsuit said, and also filed an anonymous complaint with the school.

A USC spokesman didn’t immediately comment about the lawsuit Monday, on behalf of the school or Pendergast.

The lawsuit said Courtright subsequently reported concerns that the graduate assistants might have violated NCAA rules by driving full-time assistant coaches around while they recruited, and used a school courtesy car for personal reasons. The lawsuit said he also reported that players were warming up before games without protective equipment or any full-time coaches present to supervise.

The complaints triggered retaliation against Courtright, according to the lawsuit, and led to his ouster from USC.

“At the same time, Courtright also became subject to several harassment incidents in the office including but not limited to someone gluing his mouse to the table, someone logging into his computer and moving it to a different location in the department, someone stealing Courtright’s ski cap and jacket from his locker, and someone leaving sticky notes around his desk with snide remarks on them ...” the lawsuit said. The remarks included obscenities, it said.

The lawsuit said USC Coach Clay Helton told Courtright in January 2018 that Pendergast didn’t want to retain him because “things weren’t working out,” and barred Courtright from campus and the football offices until his contract expired.

“Courtright is informed and believes that USC banned him from the football department so that he would no longer be privy to multiple illegal activities in the department and therefore would not be able to report these activities,” the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Helton gave Courtright a choice in April 2018 of resigning or being fired. Courtright resigned in May 2018.

Courtright, who has been a coach, scout or consultant for various NFL and college teams for 33 years, is seeking at least $2 million in damages.

“As a result of his forced resignation, Courtright has suffered physical and mental harm,” the lawsuit said. “He has also suffered economic harm and he believes he is unlikely to be hired as a football coach by another college or university.”

The lawsuit said Courtright took a job coaching football at Mayview State in North Dakota for $35,000, then left for a position with the U.S. Army making $54,000.

Pendergast remains USC’s defensive coordinator, while Arce is now the team’s defensive quality control analyst.

Clark coaches the defensive line at Illinois. His school biography says he received a master’s degree in communication management from USC.