The troubled USC basketball program might face a new problem, as Rutgers University is expected to claim the Trojans tampered with a Rutgers star athlete.
The New Jersey Courier-News quoted two unnamed sources close to the Rutgers athletic department, who said the school will file formal charges with the NCAA alleging that USC tampered with its player, Mike Rosario.
The sophomore guard has also been told he will not be allowed to transfer to USC or two other universities.
The controversy comes as Rutgers fired head basketball coach Fred Hill this week, and the newspaper reported that Rosario will not be given permission to leave the Rutgers basketball team until a new coach is hired.
Rutgers will not file the tampering charges against USC until its new coach is in place, according to the Courier-News.
The new tampering charges could be yet another black eye for the program and the first for the new USC coach, Kevin O'Neill. O'Neill just completed his first season with the Trojans, who are under a self-imposed ban from postseason play after the school confessed to violating NCAA rules under O'Neill's predecessor and new UTEP coach, Tim Floyd.
Sources told the Courier-News that Rosario might want to go to USC to join his high school teammate, Jio Fontan, who landed at Troy after leaving Fordham University this past winter.
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Sources at Rutgers told the New Jersey newspaper that the school might release Rosario, but not if he wants to attend USC, Florida or Kansas.
