Former University of Southern California assistant football coach Todd McNair and the NCAA have settled a defamation lawsuit this week, 10 years after it began.
The terms of the settlement were not revealed, but in a joint statement released Monday, McNair and the NCAA noted the close of the suit and described the conclusion of the case as reaching “mutual satisfaction.”
"After ten years of litigation, both sides have come together to resolve this matter to the mutual satisfaction of all parties involved," the statement said.
McNair, who was the running backs coach at USC from 2004-2010, sued the NCAA in 2011 after the association claimed he had known about lavish gifts that RB Reggie Bush had received while a student-athlete, which was against NCAA rules.
A judge had called the NCAA's infractions report "malicious" toward McNair, CBS Sports reported. The documents that emerged from the trial were among the most damaging ever revealed against the NCAA enforcement process.
USC and McNair were sanctioned. USC lost 30 scholarships and received a two-year bowl ban in 2010. McNair was given a one-year show cause by the NCAA, making him unhirable as a college coach, according to CBS Sports. McNair worked at a high school level until he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a running backs coach in 2019.
