Coach O admits to texting recruits

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O said: paraphrasing

'when you recruit you devlelop relationships with these young men. When it all went down I had plenty of parents and kids that I am close to that needed information. So I did what I could to make sure these players that I care about had all the information in order to make an informed decision."

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When Bush was playing at USC, Papadakis hosted a weekday, L.A. sports radio show on the USC football flagship station: the now-defunct KMPC-AM. The show became an absolute must-listen for L.A. sports media and USC fans because, as I often chronicled here on SbB at the time, Papadakis would often launch into searing, negative diatribes about past and present USC football personnel. Not your typical superficial critiques.

Papadakis, freshly removed from the USC program, would reveal what would normally pass as privileged information about the team and staff. Personal stuff, about players and coaches. And a lot of it very, very negative. Since they were the kind of criticisms only a person who was recently part of the program could make, they packed that much more of a wallop.

One of Papadakis’ favorite targets at KMPC, and later KLAC-AM, was Bush. During the football season, even after Bush had departed for New Orleans, nary a week would go by without Papadakis noting Bush’s inability to run inside the tackles and consistently secure the football. (Fair criticisms if you ask me.)

But it was most likely what Papadakis said about Bush’s off-the-field habits while still at USC that likely stung the Heisman winner the most. Papadakis’ most common refrain about Bush at that time was his unceasing arrogance, be it be directed at former Trojans, fans or media.

In particular, Papadakis told a story where Bush refused an autograph request of former standout USC wide receiver and current local broadcaster John Jackson, who wanted the signature for his son. Jackson, a class act in my book, has since reluctantly affirmed that the story is true.

Back then Papadakis also reported to his audience that while at USC, Bush would have a sentry of bodyguards escort him off the field after practices expressly to avoid autograph seekers, most of whom were young children. (Bush, along with Matt Leinart, did indeed have USC-assigned bodyguards escort them from the practice field during their last season.)

Also, virtually every USC football player would do on-air interviews with Papadakis when he was doing his radio show on the USC flagship - except Bush. (And Leinart, who Papadakis also heavily criticized.)

These stories about Bush were originally broadcast over the USC flagship station and have subsequently been retold by Papadakis at KLAC-AM, which happens to be the UCLA radio broadcast flagship.

To my knowledge, Bush has never publicly lashed out at Papadakis. And if not for the wonderment of Twitter, in concert with Papadakis’ comment during the USC TV broadcast yesterday, he may never have.

Dinosaur media guy, are you listening?

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Mind you, this is just after Kiffen sweated out a line of questioning on Os actions.

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Even paraphrased, there had to be a 'yaw yaw' in there somewhere, right?

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