USC's handling of NCAA a case to be studied for decades

I grew up the son of a schoolteacher.

And one of the lessons I learned early on, and still hear from my mother, is that kids who come clean when they do something wrong usually get a less severe punishment.

Teachers don't like being lied to.

Nobody does, especially the NCAA.

South Carolina's self-imposed sanctions for three major NCAA violations were accepted last Friday by the governing body with no additional penalties.

It's really a benchmark case involving collegiate scandals.

Some will definitely argue that the Gamecock football program deserved more than the loss of six scholarships and three years of probation. Those were the harshest punishments USC received for players living at a hotel for a reduced rate and for a recruit, who eventually signed to play football, getting impermissible benefits.

Two schools upset could certainly be the University of Southern California and Ohio State University.

Their football programs received much worse when they broke NCAA violations. The biggie was bowl bans, which the Gamecocks avoided.

Southern Cal was kept out of the postseason for two years — and lost 20 scholarships — while the Buckeyes won't be bowling this year.

Even Georgia Tech had to vacate wins, including an ACC championship, for a matter much smaller than South Carolina's.

I understand why those schools would be upset: The NCAA being fair has been debated for years.

And maybe the Trojans were hit the hardest because the NCAA wanted to make an example out of them, right or wrong, and send a serious message. They weren't exactly cooperative with their investigation at first — and probably paid for it.

That might also be the reason why the Gamecocks got off a little lighter.

Like momma says, you don't lie to authority. You don't try and cover up your mistakes, something Ohio State and Georgia Tech both learned.

Society has proven to be quite forgiving if we come clean about our errors, show remorse and even present ways to correct areas where we failed.

That's what South Carolina did, and the NCAA surprisingly praised the school for it.

"We were committed to doing things the right way," USC athletic director Eric Hyman said. "We've learned from it, we've put it in the past and want to move forward and we're going to be better from having gone through something like this.

"We're going to turn a negative into a positive."

That last statement is really the kicker in all this. South Carolina comes out of an investigation looking more like a good guy, as does the NCAA.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next time another school steps out of line, Hyman gets flooded with advice seekers.

South Carolina definitely did wrong, and crossing the line again would be very, very bad for the athletic department.

However, how it handled the NCAA is a case that should be studied for decades.