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  USC running back Charles White breaks loose for a short gain as Texas Tech’s Larry Flowers dives but can’t make the tackle during their Sept. 8, 1979 game in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Donna Carson)

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  USC coach John Robinson congratulates running back Charles White, right, after they crushed UCLA to clinch their berth in the Rose Bowl on Nov. 24, 1979 at the Coliseum. White ran for 194 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Trojans to a 49-14 victory. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)

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  Rams running back Charles White runs for the first of his two touchdowns in a preseason game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Aug. 9, 1987 at Wembley Stadium in London. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

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  Rams running back Charles White carries the ball as the Seattle Seahawks’ Paul Moyer tries to tackle him during an Oct. 23, 1988 game at Angel Stadium. (Getty Images)

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  USC running back Charles White, left, is tackled by UCLA’s Levi Armstrong on Nov. 25, 1977 at the Coliseum. (AP Photo/George Brich)

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  USC running back Charles White is shown after breaking the program’s career rushing record during a game against UCLA on Nov. 18, 1978 at the Coliseum. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  USC running back Charles White navigates his way through the UCLA defense on Nov. 18, 1978 at the Coliseum. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  USC tailback Charles White runs for a first down during a game against Stanford on Oct. 13, 1979 at the Coliseum. (AP Photo, File)

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  Rams running back Charles White finds room to run during a game against the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 13, 1987 at Angel Stadium. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

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  USC running back Charles White finds room to run during the second half of the Rose Bowl against Ohio State on Jan. 2, 1980, in Pasadena. White broke two Rose Bowl records, rushing for 247 yards on 39 carries. (AP Photo)

Former USC tailback and 1979 Heisman Trophy winner Charles White died in Newport Beach on Wednesday from cancer, the school announced in a press release. The Trojans great, who was a member of USC’s 1978 national championship team, was 64.

White was one of the most decorated athletes in college football history, setting 22 NCAA, Pac-10, USC and Rose Bowl records during his four-year career from 1976 to 1979. He remains USC’s all-time leading rusher with 6,245 yards, a mark that was the second-most in NCAA history at the time of his graduation.

A graduate of San Fernando High, White was a two-time unanimous All-American and three-time All-Pac-12 first-team selection. He led USC in rushing for three straight seasons, culminating with a 2,050-yard season in 1979 as he was named the third of USC’s eight Heisman Trophy winners.

He also won the Maxwell, Chic Harley, Walter Camp and Pop Warner Awards in 1979 after scoring 19 touchdowns and leading the Trojans to a second straight Rose Bowl win. He was the Rose Bowl Player of the Game in 1979 and 1980.

White finished his career with 53 total touchdowns and a career average of 5.4 yards per carry. He was inducted into the USC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

“He was the toughest player I’ve ever coached,” former USC head coach John Robinson said in a statement. “He was really unusual in that regard. He was a great player and just loved playing the game. Those are the things I remember the most. He was a really tough guy, and he was an extremely gifted athlete. But the toughness … wow!”

White went on to be a first-round pick in the 1980 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, where he spent the first five seasons of his career (missing the entire 1983 season with an injury). He then played for four years with the Los Angeles Rams, where he was again coached by Robinson.

The tailback had a career year in 1987, becoming their primary running back after Eric Dickerson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts and leading the NFL in rushing (1,374 yards) and scoring 11 touchdowns while being named a first-team All-Pro and the league’s Comeback Player of the Year. He finished his NFL career with 3,075 yards rushing, 860 yards receiving and 24 touchdowns (one receiving).

After his playing career, White accepted a position at USC as special assistant to the athletic director in 1990. He served as USC’s running backs coach from 1993-97, again working for Robinson, before moving into an administrative role at the university.

“Charles White was one of the all-time great Trojans,” USC athletic director Mike Bohn said in a statement. “He will always be remembered by the Trojan Family for the history he made on the football field and the legacy he left at Troy.”

White is survived by his ex-wife Judianne White-Basch, their children Nicole White, Julian White, Tara White, Ashton White, Sophia White, and granddaughter Giovanna Hemmen. Memorial service details are pending.

Trojan quarterback Caleb Williams on Monday was named a finalist for the award given every year to college football’s top player, as determined by a vote of more than 900 sports journalists and past winners. The Heisman ceremony will be held Saturday at Lincoln Center in Manhattan and will be televised on ESPN at 5 p.m. PT.

Along with Williams, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, TCU quarterback Max Duggan and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud were also named Heisman finalists.

A sophomore, Williams transferred to USC from Oklahoma in February, going west to join Lincoln Riley, the head coach who recruited him to Norman with a vision for how he could turn the Washington, D.C. native into a Heisman winner.

At USC, Williams quickly won over his new teammates with his exuberant attitude and was named team captain. He quickly announced himself by throwing for eight touchdowns and running for two more in USC’s first three games. Then after struggling for much of the Trojans’ Week 4 game against Oregon State, he led a game-winning drive, throwing a perfect pass to Jordan Addison for a go-ahead 21-yard touchdown with 1:13 left.

He saved two of his best performances for the final two weeks of the regular season. Williams threw for a career-high 470 yards (the fourth-most in USC history) in a 48-45 victory over UCLA, then ran for three touchdowns in a 38-27 win against Notre Dame, twice striking the famed Heisman pose after reaching the end zone.

USC went 11-1 with Williams leading the way before losing to Utah, 47-24, in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday night. USC jumped out to a 14-3 lead but Williams injured his hamstring during the second touchdown drive. Clearly limited by the muscle pull, Williams remained in the game, limping to the line of scrimmage as he tried to rally the Trojans.

All told in his first season at USC, Williams finished fourth nationally in passing yards with 4,075 and tied for first in passing touchdowns with 37. He completed 66.1% of his passes and threw just four interceptions. Williams’ feet became one of the more thrilling parts of his game as he spun out of sacks and turned seemingly-dead plays into scramble drills.

His 47 total touchdowns and 4,225 total yards broke USC single-season records, as did his 372 rushing yards as a quarterback. He is currently No. 7 on USC’s single-season completions list with 296 and is on pace to set the USC record for the lowest rate of interceptions in a season (currently 0.9% on 407 passing attempts).

Williams’ 2022 campaign earned him first-team All-American honors from Pro Football Focus. He is also a finalist for the Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Manning Awards.

He is seeking to become USC’s seventh official Heisman winner. He is the first finalist to come out of USC since 2005, when running back Reggie Bush won the award, which he later returned as part of NCAA sanctions. USC quarterback Matt Leinart was also a finalist that season one year after he won the Heisman in 2004.

Stroud, a Rancho Cucamonga product in his third season with the Buckeyes, is a Heisman finalist for the second year in a row. He was fourth in voting last year. He came into this season regarded as the front-runner and remained the favorite as Ohio State piled up impressive numbers through the first eight games.

But he struggled against Northwestern, the worst team in the Big Ten, and he couldn’t rally the Buckeyes in the second half of their most recent game, a 45-23 home loss to Michigan.

Still, Stroud has the nation’s highest passer rating and is tied for the lead with 37 touchdown passes.

Bennett has quarterbacked defending national champion Georgia to a second straight spot in the College Football Playoff and is 24-1 as the Bulldogs’ starter since last season.

The sixth-year player from Blackshear, Georgia, was the MVP of the Southeastern Conference championship game after throwing for 274 yards and four touchdowns in a 50-30 victory over LSU that ran the Bulldogs’ record to 13-0.

Of Georgia’s three all-time wins over a top-ranked team, Bennett was the quarterback for two of them. He was at the controls for the Bulldogs’ win over Alabama in the national championship game last January, and he passed for two TDs and ran for another in a 27-13 win over Tennessee last month.

Duggan willed TCU to its first CFP appearance with an inspiring performance in the Big 12 championship game against Kansas State.

Duggan, who had heart surgery two years ago, was at the center of one of the signature sequences of the season. It happened late in the fourth quarter when he broke loose for 40 yards and then, visibly out of breath, ran for an 8-yard TD and completed his 2-point pass to bring the Frogs back from an 11-point, fourth-quarter deficit. Duggan came up just short of the goal line on a run in overtime, and the Frogs lost for the first time this season, 31-28.

The fourth-year player from Council Bluffs, Iowa, was Gary Patterson’s starter for two seasons before first-year coach Sonny Dykes picked Chandler Morris over Duggan in the preseason. Duggan regained the job for the second game because of an injury to Morris and ended up leading the Big 12 in every major passing category.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Bohn and chief of staff Brandon Sosna sat down for their first meetings with Helton and his assistants. Many USC fans at the time wished that the coaching staff had been relieved of its duties there and then. But Bohn and Sosna had a question instead.

What do you need?

USC had fallen woefully behind other college football blue bloods in infrastructure, from recruiting staff to nutrition specialists to strength staff. Sosna wrote the coaches’ answers on a Post-It and placed it on his new desk.

He and Bohn went to work putting checks next to those items, making sure Helton had the resources to do the job before deciding to look for someone else to do it.

“We’ve all observed a number of programs that seem to believe that the answer is to consistently hire and fire and hire and fire without recognizing that, much like an NFL coach with a general manager and ownership, that alignment and support and resources are critical,” Sosna said on Monday after Riley’s introduction.

“I don’t think two years ago Lincoln Riley would be the head coach at USC. I don’t know that for sure, but I think that the state of our program and the alignment of our university and our leadership, all that you heard up there, that was very real.”

Once it was time for USC to begin the actual coaching search, the first name that came to mind was Lincoln Riley’s. He had been Bohn and Sosna’s white whale, a name they first floated in 2014 when Bohn was in Cincinnati and Sosna was his intern, and Riley was offensive coordinator at East Carolina.

When they reached out to Riley in 2017, he neither answered nor returned their calls, as he was on the verge of being promoted to head coach at Oklahoma. In 2021, Bohn and Sosna had to wait two months to see if he would pick up the phone this time around.

In the meantime, they went about their process. They vetted dozens of candidates. They presented a 50-page slideshow to industry insiders to spread the gospel about the rebuilt USC. They consulted and strategized with university president Carol L. Folt and board of trustees chairman Rick Caruso. They organized a transition team to expedite and plan the roll out of the announcement.

All the while, Riley remained at the top of list. But that remained a closely guarded secret. Even when Riley agreed to an interview, USC elected to conduct it over Zoom rather than risk taking a private plane to Norman.

“Any time you try to do something in person with timing, it can be problematic. More people have to get involved. The Twitter flight tracker guys are gonna be problematic,” Sosna said. “And I think the biggest threat to anything like this is word getting out.”

But of all the things that had to align for USC to even get a foot in the door with Riley, the last was the most chaotic of all: the result of a football game.

As USC faced BYU on Saturday in the Coliseum, Bohn and Sosna had Oklahoma’s game against Oklahoma State on in their suite. They lived and died by every zany update: The Cowboys taking an early lead, only for the Sooners to respond. Oklahoma State returning a kickoff for a touchdown. Oklahoma scoring 16 unanswered to take a two-possession lead. The Cowboys going back ahead thanks to a muffed punt by the Sooners. Finally, mercifully, the fourth-down sack at the OSU 32 with eight seconds left to ice the game.

Riley’s regular season was over. The Sooners would not be going to the Big 12 championship game nor the College Football Playoff. It was time for USC to make contact, instead of pivoting to Plan B in the face of Riley’s extended season.

“It sort of felt a little bit like ‘Ender’s Game,’ when Oklahoma State won that game,” Sosna said, referring to the 1985 science-fiction novel that became a 2013 action movie. “It sort of felt like, ‘Hey, the enemy’s gates are down, let’s go get it done.’”

From there, Bohn and Sosna fine-tuned their presentation through the night, checking with Folt and Caruso throughout. And only after that did they learn that the work that began two years ago – and some luck – had paid off.

“Just because it’s USC, that’s a great start, but that’s all it is, a start,” Riley said. “You better have the right people behind it, you better have commitment at all levels, you better have alignment at all levels or you’re not going to be successful. And when I met with university leadership, I could see total alignment. And more than just alignment, there was excitement. You could tell, they were ready to go and their energy just spoke to me.”

On Sunday after a disappointing loss to Stanford, USC athletic director Mike Bohn decided it was time for a change in leadership for the football program. After a day to get all the aspects of the announcement in order, Bohn met with Helton at 1:30 on Monday afternoon to inform him of the decision. The two then went to the regularly scheduled team meeting at 2:10 to inform the student-athletes and coaching staff, so they could hear it first from their coach and the A.D.

The only member of the program who got a heads up was associate head coach Donte Williams, who was told just before the team meeting that he would be the Trojans’ interim head coach.

Shortly after, the announcement went out: Helton and USC were parting ways. He was the third consecutive USC coach to be fired in the middle of the season. But his dismissal avoided the coldness of Lane Kiffin’s 2013 firing at the airport upon returning from a road loss, or the chaos of Steve Sarkisian reportedly finding out in 2015 he’d been fired not from the athletic department but from texts from friends following media reports.

“I think that meant a lot to a lot of players to have that kind of moment after we heard the news,” captain Ben Griffiths said Tuesday. “None of us were really ready for it. So yeah, I guess it’s a private moment that us as players should hold pretty close to our hearts and I’m just glad he got a moment to talk to us and say what he wanted to say.”

If all goes according to plan, that’s the manner in which USC will move forward with its search for Helton’s successor: Organized, methodical and under-the-radar.

Or at least as under-the-radar as a search for the next head coach of one of college football’s blue-blood programs can be.

As of Monday night, USC had not spoken to any candidates for the position, according to an athletic department source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But, the source added, there had already been some backchanneling as representatives for sitting Power 5 head coaches have reached out to express their clients’ interest in the USC position.

USC will not move in any particular hurry to find its head coach. The search is expected to extend into early December, when many top coaches will be leading their teams in conference championship games.

“We’ve already started with building our profile, building all the elements associated with a solid search,” Bohn said in a press conference following Tuesday’s practice. “I’m looking forward to that.”

The process will not be led by a search firm. In past football coach searches, Bohn and associate athletic director Brandon Sosna – who worked together at Cincinnati before coming to USC in 2019 – spearheaded the efforts themselves, using firms to help conduct tasks such as background checks. The USC process is expected to follow a similar pattern, the source said.

USC is trying to go into the search without any filters, not requiring an offensive guru or defensive-minded coach to be the next leader of the Trojans. The hope, the source said, is to eliminate those kinds of biases and instead find the best cultural fit for USC.

That fit will be vital for USC as it tries to return to the standards of its 11 national championships. The source said there is a sense of urgency and pressure on this coaching search with USC now 16 years and three head coaches removed from its last title.

Programs such as Nebraska and Tennessee have repeatedly missed on hires and had to go about the process every three years, only to find themselves slipping further and further from national relevance. The power brokers at USC want to be deliberate in this search and find the right coach to ensure that the program doesn’t fall into a similar fate.

“This is really going to be a critical opportunity for us to pull the USC family together and bring in a leader that we can all unite around that can be a great ambassador for us and be a great leader, a great recruiter and be somebody that helps make USC football something special,” Bohn said Tuesday.

Competing for that level of success was likely the only way that Helton could have saved his job. USC wanted to see the football team win the Pac-12 title and be in the College Football Playoff conversation for the school to retain him into 2022, the source said.

When it became clear after the Stanford loss that USC would not be in the mix for the four-team playoff, the source said, it was time for the Trojans to begin the search for their next coach.

“I just don’t think we had that same sense of belief that with all the resources and the commitment that we put together that we could really aspire to those national championship aspirations that we talk about all the time,” Bohn said Tuesday.

But USC feels like this is also the right time to search for a coach. Since his arrival nearly two years ago, Bohn has grown the size of the football program’s support staff in recruiting, nutrition, social media, strength and conditioning and other areas that were underdeveloped by previous athletic administrations.

These investments have already begun to help USC in recruiting, as evidenced by the jump in talent from the 2020 signing class to 2021. This progress – as well as the potential for an expanded playoff and the optimism around the new alliance between the Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC – is expected to drive interest from a strong array of candidates for the head coaching job.

Whoever the next coach is, USC hopes that Williams will be a part of his staff, the source said. The athletic department expects that any coach would want to retain an assistant of Williams’ reputation as a recruiter. USC is open to retaining other assistants on the staff, the source said, though that will remain up to the incoming head coach.

There of course remains the possibility that Williams – who came to USC as cornerbacks coach from Oregon prior to the 2020 season and was promoted to associate head coach prior to this year – could earn the head coach job himself. But USC informed him that it will conduct the search the same way regardless of whether the Trojans go 10-0 or 0-10 during his interim tenure.

The players were described as “shocked” by the news that Helton would not finish out the season with the team after 11 years at USC as both an assistant and head coach. But following the group goodbye between just the student-athletes and Helton, the players went about their normal business, going to positional meetings and then a practice that was described as an ordinary day of preparation ahead of Saturday’s game at Washington State.

USC hopes that sense of normalcy continues between now and the end of the season and has already seen signs of it as there was a jump in ticket sales Monday following the news of Helton’s departure.

“I’m just proud of Donte and this staff and this group of players and how they’ve handled this challenge and this news,” Bohn said Tuesday. “It was inspiring to see that today and to hear the comments from so many of them and how they’ve united.”

Matt Campbell

Current job: Iowa State head coach since 2016

Previous three jobs: Toledo head coach (2012-2015), Toledo offensive coordinator (2010-2011), Toledo offensive line coach (2009)

Head coaching record: 71-44

Analysis: Campbell has won three of the last four Big 12 Coach of the Year awards, including in 2020 after finishing as the runner-up in the Big 12 and beating Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. That’s no small feat at Iowa State, which finished below .500 in the six seasons prior to his arrival. Campbell has worked in the Midwest his entire career, so there are questions about how he would fit on the West Coast. But given the Big 12’s uncertain financial situation following the looming departures of Oklahoma and Texas, it might make sense for Campbell to seek greener pastures.

Tony Elliott

Current job: Clemson offensive coordinator/associate head coach since 2015

Previous three jobs: Clemson running backs coach (2011-2014), Furman wide receivers coach (2008-2010), South Carolina State wide receivers coach (2006-2007)

Analysis: Elliott is the lone coach on this list without head coaching experience, which is a considerable hurdle when it comes to landing a job of USC’s status. He’s spent the last 21 years in the state of South Carolina, but he is a California native who has had success recruiting in the region, and he’s been an integral part of helping turn Clemson into a national power. He has seen that type of culture built up at one program and could use that experience to lead a rebuild at USC.

Luke Fickell

Current job: Cincinnati head coach since 2017

Previous three jobs: Ohio State defensive coordinator (2012-2016), Ohio State head coach (2011), Ohio State defensive coordinator (2005-2010)

Head coaching record: 43-21

Analysis: Fickell was hired by USC athletic director Mike Bohn at Cincinnati and remains close to the members of the athletic department who followed Bohn to Los Angeles. Fickell has had a lot of success at Cincy, winning AAC Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2020, winning the conference title a year ago, and he currently has the Bearcats ranked No. 8 nationally. But Fickell has been very deliberate in making decisions about which jobs to pursue. With the Bearcats on the verge of joining the Big 12, would he want to leave for USC and start building up a new program? It remains to be seen.

P.J. Fleck

Current job: Minnesota head coach since 2017

Previous three jobs: Western Michigan head coach (2013-2016), Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receivers coach (2012), Rutgers wide receivers coach (2010-2011)

Head coaching record: 57-42

Analysis: Fleck has had transformative success at each of his two head coaching stops. Minnesota won its first Big Ten division title in 2019, and Western Michigan went undefeated in Fleck’s final season there, culminating in a Cotton Bowl appearance. His star has faded a bit since then, though, as Minnesota went 3-4 in 2020 and is 1-1 this season. Would he provide the right excitement for a USC fan base that needs to buy back into a football program that is has soured on in recent years?

James Franklin

Current job: Penn State head coach since 2014

Previous three jobs: Vanderbilt head coach (2011-2013), Maryland offensive coordinator (2008-2010), Kansas State offensive coordinator (2006-2007)

Head coaching record: 86-43

Analysis: Franklin would be the biggest fish for USC to haul in on this list, with the Nittany Lions currently ranked No. 10 nationally. Franklin’s experience at Penn State mirrors what he would be asked to do at USC: Take over a historic program that has fallen into a slump and return it to national relevance. But would Franklin, a Pennsylvania native, be willing to move west? It’s tough to predict, but one argument in favor of USC is it would be easier for Franklin to make the College Football Playoff in the Pac-12 than it has been in the Big Ten going up against Ohio State every year.

On Monday, USC announced that it had hired Gottlieb as its new women’s basketball head coach. Gottlieb spent the previous two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who hired her in 2019 as the first NCAA women’s head coach to make the jump to the NBA.

“It is an honor and a thrill to become the women’s basketball coach at USC,” Gottlieb said in a statement. “I am inspired by the incredible history of this program and excited about the opportunity to do special things with the young women I will have the privilege to coach.”

Gottlieb, 43, comes to USC with strong ties to the state of California. Her first head coaching job came at UC Santa Barbara, where she won two Big West Coach of the Year awards in three seasons and made the NCAA Tournament in 2009.

Following the 2011 season, Gottlieb was hired by Cal to lead the program which she once served as associate head coach. In eight seasons with the Golden Bears, Gottlieb’s teams reached the NCAA Tournament and won 20 games seven times. In 2013, Gottlied led to Cal to its first-ever Final Four.

Gottlieb’s players were named to 10 All-American teams, while the program produced six WNBA draft picks during her tenure.

Following the 2018-19 season, Gottlieb left Cal for a role as an assistant coach with the Cavaliers under head coach John Beilein.

At USC, Gottlieb will be tasked with restoring the program to its former glory. The Trojans are two-time national championship winners but have not made the Final Four since 1986 nor the Sweet 16 since 1994. USC has appeared in the NCAA Tournament just once since 2006.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that USC committed to “a massive upgrade in program salary and resources” to convince Gottlieb to return to the college ranks.

“I went to the NBA to challenge myself at the highest levels of the game of basketball and was fully invested in that journey,” Gottlieb stated. “However, the commitment of President Carol Folt and athletic director Mike Bohn to women’s basketball at USC, and to my vision of success, made it clear that NOW is the right time to come here.”

Added Bohn in a statement, “A trailblazer who smashed through the glass ceiling of men’s professional sports, I cannot think of a better coach, leader, and role model for our young women. Lindsay has a proven record of success in the country’s premier women’s basketball conference, and her commitment to student-athletes aligns perfectly with our vision and values. … [W]e have the utmost confidence in her ability to lead the Women of Troy back to national prominence.”

Brown’s cause of death was not immediately known.

“Heartbroken to hear the news that we lost Chris Brown today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Brown family,” Helton tweeted. “Chris meant so much to so many. Great person, player, teammate, and Trojan. God bless my friend. You are forever in our hearts.”

Brown played at USC from 2014-2018, starting his final two seasons as a Trojan. As a junior, he was named to the All-Pac-12 honorable mention.

Following his college career, Brown went undrafted in 2018. He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers before going to on to play in the XFL with the DC Defenders.

Brown arrived at USC after starting three seasons at Loyola High. As a senior, he was named All-Serra League Lineman of the Year.

But the Trojans avoided any devastating penalties like a postseason ban. Instead, USC was fined $5,000 plus 1% of the men’s basketball program budget by the NCAA.

The Division I Committee on Infractions, which classified this case as a Level I violation, also accepted several self-imposed penalties, such as a loss of two scholarships for the 2018-19 season and reductions of official visits and in-person recruiting days during that academic year.

Former USC associate head coach Tony Bland also received a three-year show-cause from the NCAA. It was Bland who pleaded guilty to accepting a $4,100 bribe to direct student-athletes to an agent’s management company upon entering the NBA. Bland was arrested in Sept. 2017 following an FBI investigation into the matter and entered his plea in Jan. 2019.

The infractions committee concluded that both Bland and USC committed Level I violations due to “unethical conduct and representing an individual in marketing athletics ability or reputation.”

“The associate head coach demonstrated a recurring lack of judgment that resulted in unethical conduct and representation violations for both himself and USC,” the Committee on Infractions said in a statement.

The committee did acknowledge that, “unlike other individuals in similar cases,” Bland cooperated with the investigation and provided information to help it reach these conclusions. The committee also described USC’s cooperation in the matter as “exemplary” while noting that the program’s self-imposed penalties three years ago were in line with NCAA guidelines.

Committee member Vincent Nicastro said in a press conference Thursday that the NCAA enforcement staff recommended the “exemplary” categorization for USC’s cooperation after working with the university during the course of the investigation.

“It’s a very high bar in my experience in order to get that recommendation,” said Nicastro, the deputy commissioner of the Big East Conference. “The school has to perform at a very high level in terms of their cooperation and participation. When enforcement staff recommends that to the COI panel, we give a great deal of deference to that.”

Nicastro added that the cooperation of USC and Bland helped the committee in making its decision. The committee noted that while USC was hurt by its past history of violations, it was also buoyed by the department’s history of self-reporting Level II and III violations.

In a statement, USC athletic director Mike Bohn expressed pride in the athletic department’s handling of the situation, while noting that USC has worked to expand its compliance program since his arrival in 2019.

“The NCAA’s findings, comments and acceptance of our self-imposed penalties are a reflection of our commitment to accountability, integrity and transparency,” Bohn stated. “We are thrilled this matter is now behind us, and our focus remains on being the most student-athlete centered program in the country.”

USC head coach Andy Enfield expressed a similar sentiment, adding in a statement, “This was a comprehensive process, and we are looking forward to moving on.”

As part of its probation, USC will be required to develop an educational program on NCAA legislation for all coaches and athletic department personnel. USC must submit a plan for implementing this program to the NCAA by June 1.

USC will also be required to inform all men’s basketball prospects in writing that USC is on probation and with an explanation of the violations committed.

Specifically, Tuerk thought he’d play tight end, like his dad, Greg, did at Brown.

So it must have been an unpleasant shock for Tuerk when his head coach, Harry Welch, and Santa Margarita’s offensive line coach, Marty Spalding, informed Tuerk he would playing on the offensive line.

“Much to his chagrin and his father’s disappointment,” Welch recalled on Sunday. “I’m sure for a while there was a dartboard in the Tuerk home that had my face on it.”

But in the end, the decision proved to be a life-changer for Tuerk, who died on Saturday at the age of 26 while on a hike with his parents.

As an offensive lineman, Tuerk received a full scholarship to USC, becoming the first-ever true freshman to start at left tackle for the Trojans. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft, and could have gone higher if not for a knee injury suffered in his senior season.

But Tuerk, about to start his sophomore season of high school, couldn’t know any of that when he first got his unwanted assignment. All he could know was he was sacrificing personal glory for the good of the team.

And he did it. Without a complaint, without an attitude. Because first and foremost, Tuerk was a teammate.

When Welch and Spalding took their jobs at Santa Margarita in the winter of 2010, they evaluated Tuerk and came to a decision: Tuerk could be a good tight end, but he could be “an All-American offensive lineman.”

Perhaps Tuerk wasn’t thrilled with this assessment. There was even locker room gossip that he might transfer. Instead, he stuck it out at Santa Margarita. And as a senior in 2011, he was an integral part of the team that led the Eagles to a CIF Division 1 state championship, their second-ever state title.

A tragic duty for an old head coach, Welch texted former teammates and coaches to inform them of Tuerk’s death on Sunday. Among the contacts were LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, who recruited Tuerk to USC and expressed his condolences to the family.

But one response stood out to Welch, from another lineman on that state championship team that went on to play at Washington, Dane Crane.

“I’m crushed as I’m sure we all are now. I love you and everyone in that program, especially with the magical run led by Max,” Crane’s text read. “That team was the best because he was, and he could handle your standards and expectations and convince the rest of us we could do it, too.”

Over the phone on Monday, Crane described Tuerk as the best teammate he had in high school or college. He recalled how once Tuerk officially became a senior, he dissolved the differences between classes on the football team, helping to create a cohesive unit where seniors and underclassmen hung out together.

“I think he just made all of us feel special,” said Crane, who was a year below Tuerk. “Like we were on his level when in reality we all knew we weren’t. He was so much better than everyone else around and you would have never known it. I’m not sure he even believed it.”

Tuerk organized Wednesday night team dinners during the season at Wing Stop, reserving Thursday nights for his own mental preparation for the game the next day. Crane looked up to Tuerk so much that he began to imitate this routine.

If a teammate stepped out of line to criticize someone else in the locker room, Tuerk was the first to step up in his defense. And he withstood criticism from his coaches, who could pick on Tuerk to set an example for the rest of the players on the roster.

“I think the rallying cry of that championship team was following 77 through everything,” Crane said. “If he could do it, then we felt like we could do it.”

But sometimes his competitive fire came through, too.

In the third round of the 2011 playoffs, Santa Margarita found itself in the middle of a tight game with Mission Viejo. Eagle quarterback Johnny Stanton threw a pass that was batted by a defensive back.

The ball traveled through the air all the way back to the line of scrimmage before it was batted again by a Santa Margarita lineman back downfield, leading to a Mission Viejo interception.

As the defense took the field for the Eagles, a sophomore called up for the playoff run laughed on the sidelines at the volleyball-like play. Tuerk took exception to the moment of levity in the middle of a playoff battle.

“I just see him take this kid straight to the ground,” Crane recounted. “Max was saying, ‘This isn’t over. This isn’t funny. This is my (expletive) life.’ “

But there would be time later in life.

About a year and a half ago, Tuerk and Welch met for a long lunch at B.J.’s and caught up. They laughed about the initial decision to move Tuerk to the offensive line.

Tuerk said that he resented it at the time, but agreed it was a “life-altering decision” for him.

“It was the way he accepted it,” Welch said, deferring all credit to the player. “Any coach can move people around, but it’s the way people accept and attack. Max just ate it up.”

“#FightOnForever, Max Tuerk,” the USC athletic department tweeted. “The Trojan Family is terribly saddened by the news of Tuerk’s passing, gone too soon  at the age of 26, and our thoughts, prayers and condolences are with his family.”

A cause of death was not disclosed, but Tuerk died on Saturday while hiking with his parents in Cleveland National Forest on “a favorite trail”, his parents said in a statement released by USC.

“Max loved his teammates, coaches and schools,” the statement read. “Max was a loving son and older brother and his passing leaves a giant hole in our hearts. His strength and work ethic is an inspiration to many.”

“Heartbroken by the loss of Max Tuerk,” USC head coach Clay Helton shared on Twitter. “Incredible person, teammate, and Trojan. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”

A two-way lineman at Santa Margarita High, Tuerk helped lead the Eagles to a CIF Division 1 state championship in 2011 as a senior. He then enrolled at USC, earning Freshman All-American honors in 2012 as he became the first-ever true freshman to start at left tackle for the Trojans.

By playing college football, Tuerk followed in the footsteps of his father, Greg, who played tight end for Brown University.

During his time at USC, Tuerk played several positions on USC’s offensive line. The Trojans went to four bowl games during Tuerk’s tenure, going 2-2 in the postseason.

After four years with the Trojans, earning first-team All-Pac-12 as a junior, Tuerk was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft, going 66th overall. But a knee injury kept him on the inactive list his entire rookie season.

He was on the Chargers for two seasons, joining the practice squad in 2017. Prior to that season, Tuerk was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy, a violation he blamed on over-the-counter products.

Later in 2017, he signed with the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad but was cut in 2018. He had not been a part of an NFL roster since then.

Several of Tuerk’s former teammates and coaches took to Twitter to mourn his loss, including Jurrell Casey, Chuma Edoga, Viane Talamaivao, Kris Albarado and Dion Bailey.

“Just got some terrible news,” Bailey tweeted. “Damn, man, RIP Max Tuerk! Gone too soon.”

“I thought 2020 couldn’t get much worse. #RIP to one of the most passionate teammates,” Albarado tweeted.

USC offensive line coach Tim Drevno, who coached Tuerk in 2014, shared his thoughts, too.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the Tuerk family through these trying times,” Drevno tweeted. “Max was an unbelievable player, leader and teammate. He embodied what it is to be a Trojan! I was honored to coach and be around such an amazing spirit!”