A defamation suit that former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair filed against the NCAA more than three years ago could provide a window into the way the organization’s enforcement staff and infractions committee conduct business.

The NCAA would prefer to keep that particular window shut.

On Monday in Los Angeles, the California Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear oral arguments about the NCAA’s motion to seal internal emails and some other documents.

McNair, 48, filed his lawsuit in 2011 after the NCAA denied his appeal to overturn findings and penalties imposed against him in connection with its investigation of former Trojans running back Reggie Bush.


The NCAA determined that McNair had engaged in unethical conduct and sanctioned him with a “show cause” order, preventing him from contact with recruits for one year while working for USC or any other NCAA-member institution. The order makes a coach essentially unemployable.

Two years ago, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled against the NCAA’s motions to dismiss McNair’s lawsuit and to keep documents under seal. The judge wrote that emails between an infractions committee member, an NCAA employee and an NCAA appeals coordinator “tend to show ill will or hatred,” and said in court that the conduct of persons involved in the investigation was “over the top” and “malicious.”

The NCAA is seeking to have the appeals court overturn the rulings.

Monday’s hearing will be limited to the NCAA’s motion to seal the record lodged conditionally under seal.


The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times filed an application with the appellate court to unseal the NCAA documents. Attorneys for the news organizations will present arguments at the hearing.

McNair declined to comment. An NCAA spokesperson also declined comment.

Michael Buckner, a Florida-based attorney who has represented schools and coaches before the NCAA, said the NCAA “tries very hard not to create long-lasting precedents that would adversely impact the NCAA’s enforcement process in the future.”

Buckner, who attended USC but has not represented the school, said unsealing the documents in the McNair case “would be precedent I’m sure they would not want.”


McNair was USC’s running backs coach from 2004 to 2009. He was a key figure in the NCAA’s investigation into allegations that Bush and his family received cash and other prohibited benefits while Bush was playing for the Trojans.

McNair was not named in the NCAA infractions report but he was the assistant coach the NCAA determined “knew or should have known” that Bush had dealings with two sports marketers from the San Diego area.

McNair has not worked as a college coach since the 2009 season. USC did not renew his contract in July 2010, a month after the NCAA imposed the penalties.

Michael McCann, a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, said last summer that “The NCAA now has incentive to settle the case.”


gary.klein@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimesklein