Reggie Bush looked out last August from the roof of the Coliseum, the stadium where he became a star 20 years earlier, flanked by lawyers on either side. The famed Trojan back was at the stadium to announce a lawsuit against the NCAA, an opening salvo in the legal battle to clear his name. But for a moment, in between shots at the NCAA, Bush envisioned a day when his Heisman Trophy was returned and he could once again lead USC’s football team to the field below.
“I dream of coming back to this stadium and running out of that tunnel,” Bush said. “I dream of walking back in here and seeing my jersey and banner down there next to the rest of the Heisman Trophy winners. But I can’t do that without my Heisman Trophy.”
Those dreams were put on hold during a decade of NCAA-imposed exile, when USC was forced to completely distance itself from Bush. Meanwhile, resentment continued as Bush and his colleagues wondered why the school hadn’t fought harder to defend him.
Read more: Reggie Bush lawsuit accuses USC, Pac-12 and NCAA of profiting from his NIL ‘without compensating Bush one cent’
The relationship remained complicated even after USC officially welcomed Bush in 2020. But three years later, USC made efforts to restore it. The school had just filed a petition with Bush and his lawyers to lobby the NCAA for reconsideration of the 2010 case. Jennifer Cohen, who had just taken the job as USC’s athletics director, was already signaling a desire to see Bush to bring back into the Trojan family. Support for the former Trojans star now reached all the way to the office of USC President Carol Folt, who personally signed the petition to the NCAA.
When Bush accepted the Heisman in April, USC toasted the trophy’s “rightful return” and praised Bush for showing “the utmost resilience and courage throughout this process.” That summer, with the trophy in hand, the USC team and Bush began discussing the dates when his tunnel dream would become a reality.
On August 28, Bush said in an interview with The Times that the two sides had not yet agreed on a date, but that plans for him to lead the USC football team out of the tunnel were “certainly in the works.”
“I can’t wait for it to happen,” he said. “My wife and children will be there too. It will be a great day and a great opportunity, and I look forward to that day.”
“It’s not even something USC should ask me. It’s already a yes.”
In reality, Bush and USC had already set a date for his triumphant return, only to reverse course. The two sides agreed in early August that Bush would be honored prior to the home opener against Utah State on September 7. Preparations were already underway at the Colosseum to retire his number and immortalize his No. 5 jersey in the stadium.
But the same week that Bush told The Times how badly he wanted to lead the Trojans out of the tunnel, Bush’s team told USC the timing wasn’t right.
Before Bush became involved with USC again, he and his legal team had two requests from the school, Levi McCathern, his attorney, told The Times.
Number one was that USC would “stand behind us and try to get these records restored” by the NCAA.
“He felt that USC should strongly support these efforts,” McCathern said of Bush.
Number two was the bolder question: Bush believed that USC should reimburse the running back for “the attorneys’ fees he incurred in obtaining the Heisman Trophy.”
“Can you look at how much money Reggie spent out of his pocket on lawyers? That is a lot of, because he also had lawyers before me trying to get the Heisman Trophy back,” McCathern said. “Can you take a look at that and see if you can’t pay him back some of the money he paid, since you all now have the trophy in your possession?” [lobby] that you use with recruits and such?
McCathern said he felt “almost ashamed talking about how reasonable” their requests were. The university refused anyway.
“As part of getting Reggie’s Heisman back, we also got the Heisman back for USC. So their trophy was returned to them. That’s clearly something they can bring to market,” McCathern continued. “But there was still no interest at all from them in reimbursing Reggie for what he had to do to get it back. And again, without going too deeply into the whole process, no one on the non-Reggie Bush side apparently rushed forward to try to right the wrongs that had happened to Reggie.”
Yet Bush stood on the sideline, smiling in USC gear, before the Trojans’ season opener in Las Vegas. But behind the scenes, USC and Bush’s lawyers had reached a standoff.
“Reggie got tired of waiting,” McCathern said.
On September 23, McCathern’s law firm sent out a press release announcing that Bush was suing USC, as well as the NCAA and Pac-12, “for profiting from uncompensated use of [his] name, image and likeness.”
The release marked the first USC to learn of Bush’s plans to file charges.
The complaint states that USC, as well as the NCAA and Pac-12, “reaped enormous financial reward from the use of Reggie Bush’s name, image and likeness while he played college football on television” and that Bush is now “right is seeking restitution of all profits earned by Defendants” using his name.
It is unclear how much Bush is seeking in restitution from USC and the other two defendants. McCathern said experts told him that USC made “hundreds of millions” from his client’s name, image and likeness through various revenue streams. McCathern also told The Times that he never raised the topic of NIL reimbursement at USC before the lawsuit was filed. He said this was because the school had already denied the request to pay attorney fees.
“Obviously the next step in that process would have been, can we get a small percentage?” McCathern said.
Now these efforts to recoup what Bush believes he is owed have entered the public eye, leaving USC in an awkward spot with one of its biggest and most visible stars. A relationship that once seemed to be on the mend may never be fully restored.
Read more: Why did Reggie Bush lose his Heisman Trophy? How did the former USC star get it back?
USC declined to comment on the details of Bush’s lawsuit. But in a statement to The Times, USC said its support for Bush would remain despite the ongoing lawsuits.
“USC loves Reggie,” a university spokesperson said. “Our fans love Reggie. He is at the heart of some of the best memories in our storied tradition. Our goal throughout this process is to ensure that the Trojan family can celebrate Reggie and all he has accomplished at every opportunity. That’s what motivated us as we worked to restore his Heisman Trophy in the spring. That’s what motivated us when we brought No. 5 back to the Peristyle at the Coliseum this fall. That’s what motivates us as we work with the Big Ten and NCAA to discuss options to recover his data. That’s why we invited him back to the Colosseum to lead the team out of the tunnel.
“That is also why, amid ongoing dialogue with Reggie’s team, we were surprised to learn of this lawsuit via a press release. We cannot comment on the lawsuit as it is still ongoing. That said, Reggie is a Trojan for life, and we remain committed to restoring and honoring his legacy and celebrating him with our fans at every opportunity.”
Bush and his legal team now believe that this legacy will one day include Bush as “the face of this move for other college athletes” hoping to recoup lost NIL wages. His defamation lawsuit against the NCAA is also still ongoing, despite the organization’s many attempts to dismiss the case.
McCathern reiterated that the NCAA, not USC, was still the central focus of Bush’s legal wrath. He added that he welcomed the opportunity “Talk to USC about ways to solve these things. Or one of the other defendants.”
“I wish everyone would sit around the table and work things out, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like that’s the way things happen in our society,” McCathern said.
Bush, his lawyer says, is still hopeful that he can repair the relationship with his alma mater. Albeit under certain conditions.
“I think USC needs to sit down and look at what they’ve made of Reggie,” McCathern said, “and see if they don’t think it’s fair that Reggie gets some of that back.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
