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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,124
OT: $C water polo coach Vavic arrested by FBI in Hawaii
Posted Tue, Mar 12 12:38 pm (Edited Tue, Mar 12 12:39 pm)
The Southern Cal women's water polo team was in Hawaii today for a road match. While there, Coach Jovan Vavic was arrested by the FBI this morning. Vavic is the biggest name coach ensnared in the scandal, as he has won 16 national titles and his women's team is currently ranked #1.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/03/12/fbi-arrests-usc-water-polo-coach-waikiki-part-massive-bribery-scheme/
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,124
16-time champion Jovan Vivic fired; titles stripped?
Posted Tue, Mar 12 2:30 pm
In response to OT: $C water polo coach Vavic arrested by FBI in Hawaii (Woochifer)
Wow! The Southern Cal administrator and water polo head coach Jovan Vivic have both been fired.

Vivic won both the men's and women's championships in 2018, and his women's team is currently ranked #1.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-college-admission-scam-coaches-usc-20190312-story.html

Reading the indictment, I saw that Vivic took the bribe money and deposited it into an account that funds the water polo program. That would seem like a red flag if this kind of laundered money was used to pay for athletic scholarships. The college consultants at the center of the scandal funneled the money through a phony charity. Gotta wonder if any of Vivic's titles will get stripped.

Stanford's sailing coach had a similar arrangement.

In the case of Salcedo, the indictment indicates that the money was directed from that same phony charity to a marketing company that Salcedo owns.
BRUINS 1
Joined: 1/28/05 Posts: 19,758
16 titles in jeopardy
Posted Tue, Mar 12 3:34 pm
In response to 16-time champion Jovan Vivic fired; titles stripped? (Woochifer)
Wow!
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,124
The scam started in 2011
Posted Tue, Mar 12 3:53 pm (Edited Tue, Mar 12 3:53 pm)
In response to 16 titles in jeopardy (BRUINS 1)
Doubt that all 16 titles would be stripped. But, consider that Vavic won 2 titles in 2018 alone, and won 7 titles from 2011 onward.

I know the NCAA is pretty cut and dry about stripping titles from teams using ineligible players. But, receiving laundered money from a fake charity account seems like more of a grey area. It's clearly illegal and a federal crime, but does it "rise" to the level of a NCAA violation?

Out of all the schools implicated, Southern Cal seems to have the most exposure because a high level administrator is involved, and her depth of involvement goes beyond what any of the coaches did.
danucla1
Joined: 4/28/17 Posts: 1,148
Given the checkered history of sc
Posted Tue, Mar 12 4:28 pm
In response to OT: $C water polo coach Vavic arrested by FBI in Hawaii (Woochifer)
athletics involving multiple sports, isn't it about time all sc sports got the death penalty for a year?