Calls for former Steeler Lynn Swann to leave USC amid college admissions scandal

Tom Davidson | Friday, March 15, 2019 5:54 p.m.

Tribune-Review file photo

Former Pittsburgh Steelers greats John Stallworth, left, and Lynn Swann share a laugh at Heinz Field during a halftime celebration of the Steelers 75th Anniversary team on Nov. 5, 2007.

Pittsburgh Steelers great Lynn Swann is facing calls to resign as the University of Southern California’s athletic director in the wake of the national college admissions scandal that has entangled four USC athletic department employees.

The employees — Swann not among them — are accused of accepting $2 million in bribes to get students into the school.

While Swann hasn’t been implicated, the scandal moved veteran Los Angeles Times sports writer Bill Plaschke to pen these harsh words:

“Something is terribly wrong here, and that something is Lynn Swann.”

USC needs to fire Lynn Swann https://t.co/WC0xL1Sluc

— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) March 14, 2019

“Swann needs to go, now, for the sake of a world-class university with an otherwise sterling academic reputation that has been soiled by an athletic director who behaves like a dummy,” Plaschke wrote.

Local and national media have called for Lynn Swann to be removed as #USC athletic director after the latest scandal to hit the athletic department. https://t.co/qi2UPuDLHz

— Reign of Troy (@ReignofTroy) March 15, 2019

USC Interim President Wanda M. Austin said in a letter to the USC Community the school views itself as a victim in the scandal, an opinion she said is shared by the U.S. Justice Department.

“At this time, we have no reason to believe that Admissions employees or senior administrators were aware of the scheme or took part in any wrongdoing — and we believe the government concurs in that assessment,” Austin wrote.