[terry]

I'm guessing that it would violate some NCAA rules if head coaches just "yanked" players scholarships just because they did not perform up to expectations.

There's no rule against that. It does happen. Sometimes it's done with no attempt to disguise it, with the coach just refusing to renew a scholarship. Other times it's more subtle, with the coach using pressure, persuasion, and veiled threats to get rid of guys he doesn't want. Usually the coach comes up with some pretext for public consumption, truthful or not. The thing that's curious about U.S.C. is that so many U.S.C. guys are leaving at once, at a time that U.S.C. really needs to cut down the number of scholarship players on its roster. It's one of those things that make you go hmmm. . . .

[terry]

I'm guessing that it would violate some NCAA rules if head coaches just "yanked" players scholarships just because they did not perform up to expectations.

There's no rule against that. It does happen. Sometimes it's done with no attempt to disguise it, with the coach just refusing to renew a scholarship. Other times it's more subtle, with the coach using pressure, persuasion, and veiled threats to get rid of guys he doesn't want. Usually the coach comes up with some pretext for public consumption, truthful or not. The thing that's curious about U.S.C. is that so many U.S.C. guys are leaving at once, at a time that U.S.C. really needs to cut down the number of scholarship players on its roster. It's one of those things that make you go hmmm. . . .