USC football suspends reporter from access to the team; group calls move an 'overreaction'

Southern California football has blocked a reporter from having access to the team for two weeks after it said the reporter violated its media policy, which the publisher has called an "overreaction" by the team.

In a story published for the Orange County Register and Southern California News Group Thursday, USC beat reporter Luca Evans mentioned a conversation freshman running back Quinten Joyner had with another player prior to meeting with the media.

The Register said Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley took exception with the story and the team said it violated its media policy because it included reporting outside of approved media availability. USC also mentioned concerns were made about Evans asking questions after press conferences and speaking to team members in areas of campus not designated for media availability.

As a result, Katie Ryan, director of football communications, said the team decided to suspend Evans from having access to the team for two weeks.

In a letter sent to Riley, athletic director Jennifer Cohen and president Carol Folt, sports editor Tom Moore, Orange County Register Senior Editor Todd Harmonson and Southern California News Group Publisher Ron Hasse, the publication asked the suspension be lifted.

"USC is looking to kick him out of multiple games for a false start. We ask that this suspension be rescinded immediately," the letter said.

The Register reported Cohen responded to the letter on Monday and upheld the decision, meaning Evans will be suspended through Sept. 28.

"As an institution, USC prides itself on treating the media as a respected partner and key constituent. We understand the responsibility of reporters is to fairly and objectively cover stories, news events, and their respective beats. As you know, our media policies exist to protect our student-athletes and promote a culture of trust that is critical to building successful programs," Cohen said.

"After careful consideration and in alignment with the sentiment above, USC supports the football program’s decision regarding Luca’s two-week suspension. We recognize this may be disappointing, but we hope you can understand the need to enforce our media policies as we strive to create a positive and comfortable environment for our players and coaches."

The Southern California News Group said it disagreed with the decision to uphold the suspension and "stand fully behind Luca."

"This is a huge overreaction to what the USC program perceived to be a policy violation," Harmonson said.

The publisher said despite not having access, Evans will continue to report on the team.

In a statement posted to social media, Evans said he has "some exciting stories in the works."

"I appreciate the support from members of the media, and am determined to continue to tell engaging stories that capture these athletes as people," Evans said.

Lincoln Riley: Article 'was not accurate'

Riley addressed the incident Tuesday, saying he's enjoyed working with the media since he took the USC job in 2021, and that the school doesn't have too many rules, but it "needed to act."

"The ones that we do have, we take them serious because my first job is not to − even though it's part of it − it's not to the media, it's not to the fans, it's not to anybody else. It's to protecting our players, first and foremost. That will always be priority number one," he said. "There was enough there in the article in question (that) was not accurate, there were multiple policies broken."

When asked what policies were broken, Riley answered, "there were multiple that were broken, but I'm not going to get into the specifics of that."