Answer Tuesday!

The holiday weekend is over. Time to answer questions.

Q: From what you have seen, does Mitch Mustain did flustered easily in tough play situations, or does he maintain his cool, or do you not have enough information yet to form an opinion? If you do have enough knowledge of the situation, on a scale of 1 to 10, how calm and focused is Mustain?

A: He’s very calm but if you were playing with the second-string line against the no. 1 defense, you would get flustered too. He’s had moments where he lost some composure, but that’s not unusual when you’re on the scout team, etc. I’d give him a 7.

Q: So we all know that the USC Song Girls have been quite horrible and unattractive for these last few years, with far too many squad members and that has been discussed ad nauseum. Clearly the problem is that the selection committee are simply not doing the job they are being paid to do. So my question is, just how does one go about making a change in the selection committee of the song girls? Who is their boss or supervisor that is to be informed that a change needs to be made? Whining and complaining about it incessantly is not going to change anything, so what actual steps need to be taken to replace the people in charge of the song girls and actually get some squad members that are pretty and thin again? When coaches in the athletic department do not get the job done, they are fired and replaced. Since the individuals that comprise the selection committee for the song girls obviously do not have tenure at the university, they should be held to the same standards and should be accountable for the product they put out that represents USC.

A: The song girls are under the authority of the intermural-recreational sports dept. (IM-REC), which works out of the Lyon Center. Don Ludwig was in charge of the whole IM-REC dept. before Michael Jackson kicked him into a student-affairs role. His job is in the process of being filled. Ludwig’s interim replacement is associate dean of students Patrick Bailey, who haplessly tried to explain moving the band and student seats as a good thing two years ago. You can contact him.
The song girls immediate supervisor is Lori Nelson, who also runs the selection committee and helps judge.

Q: In the past, you described Tim Floyd as a “straight shooter” who was always honest and whom you never believed would lie to the media about anything. In light of the many events of the past few months, are you still willing to say that?

A: I have said that regarding Floyd but I believe I wrote that before last season started. I’ve since written several instances (some minor, others not so much) where Floyd did not tell the truth. I believe part of this surrounded the intense pressure he felt when O.J. Mayo arrived and the need to protect his image. So that’s why he lied to me and said Mayo did not punch Daniel Hackett and break his jaw in a pickup game. Maybe Floyd knew what might be coming regarding Mayo’s image.