In this segment of reader questions, someone asks about the state of USC athletics and wonders if USC can ever be as balanced as Stanford in all sports.
Q: gotroy22 said:
With the sacking of Kennedy Pola during the offseason, will this fine Trojan tradition be no more?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
A: I’m sure Ed Orgeron will be happy to take his shirt off and yell at everyone. But I do think the enthusiasm you see in that video is one of the things Pete Carroll brought to USC and I wonder if Lane Kiffin provides it enough today.
Q: Spedjones
Scott, UCLA baseball keeps winning and SC, well, they’ve been done for a month. With inferior programs now in all the major sports, what’s the vibe like inside SC’s athletic department? And what does Stanford’s continued overall success do to the idea that private schools can’t compete in some of the scholie-restricted sports?
A: I think there is a feeling of guarded optimism. USC is going through a transition phase. Track has a new coach, baseball seems to want a new coach but might just keep Dan Hubbs, men’s and women’s basketball have new coaches. So I guess there is hope though many people I speak to have a lot of doubt regarding football.
I think people feel the basketball programs will turn around and wonder if baseball will ever recover. Track is at a crossroads because of the challenges being a private school, which also affects baseball.
The king is football and some wonder how USC will win 10 games this year if it couldn’t last year.
Stanford is often considered a unique case because it is so attractive to students to play country club sports. I have to say I think USC also benefits to a certain degree from this but it is not considered the Ivy League school of the West like Stanford.
Another unique innovation is that Stanford offers free tuition if your family makes less than $100,000 and free room-and-board if you make less than $60,000.
There is no way to understate the last item that Scott mentions in relation to the “minor” sports. While people tend to think that USC is a rich school that is far from true. And it is especially clear if you look at endowment per student. Stanford’s endowment per UG student is over $2.4 million, USC’s is barely $200 thousand. Stanford can afford to do what USC wishes it could do, and as these are NOT athletic scholarships, they do not count against any NCAA limits.
So what you’re saying, is basically, we suck?
OUCH!
Charlie, quit pretending to be TrojanFan, get back in bed, I’m rock-hard
I fell so alive when I’m inside of you!
Where did I say that? All I did was point out the advantage that Stanford has in a competition that counts each sport the same. Princeton could do the same thing.
TFail, you’ve gone over the edge.
Charlie, who is “TFail”, have you been cheating on me?
Forgot to sign in as TFail, BandwagonFan? Opportunity pathetic dude. Haha!
First you had a hard-on for TrojanFan, now that thing seems to be aimed at me….bring it, I love to be tickled
Bucket, pulling out the “betomas” handle when you need to attack someone proves how stupid YOU really are.
Real ruin fans don’t use 10 different handles to post childish comments on here. You are nothing but a pathetic hypocrite
HUSH! sweetness! You can’t beat Bucket, just come back to bed you big Queen!
Bucket, you are confused, way too many handles. Your comment make no sense.
T-Fail, stop flirting with Bucket…everyone knows it’s you ’cause you got no game! Duh! Your fake ID can’t hide stupid!
I’ll put on the Wolf mask for you. But I want Cash up FRONT this time.
Charlie, quit acting like a idiot!! Wolf mask or not, I’m going to slice you like a ripe tomatoe
Well the real reason there is focus on the Indians ‘opps my bad’ ‘cardinals’ is that their moribund football has sudden relevance not seen since John Ralston – heck even Walsh stank up his two gigs at ‘the farm’ right?
Look this is either Kiffin’s last year or the next to last – i.e. he has little support save the five year gig that genius Garrett signed him to and even considering the buy out this ‘2013’ is the turning point or end game for Kiffin.
‘If’ the football gets to the 2013 Pac-12 Conference Championship game then it means Kiffin won a schedule that was weak (save road games against Notre Dame, AZ St. and OR St.).
I believe he does emerge with an unexpected win total and that ticks the clowns like ‘Jose Lewinsky/Klinton’ and George Harrison off’ and that’s kool because both of them are West 28th Street fratties – and if he doesn’t get to that conference championship game then he’s gone.
As to ‘Leland Junior’ well beat their sorry ‘Obama is our god’ football team and ‘poof’ there is no more relevancy regardless of their endowment…it’s still the plainest looking pathetic campus in the entire conference i.e. there’s nothing to do but race to the Castro district and ‘flaunt’ or barring their back ends getting a sideline seat at their reduced size football stadium which the bel-airians sent ‘what?’ 200 fans to last year?
Jezzro….is that you?
So few people with so many different screen names, I’m soooo confused, however the “DULL” edge of the post does reek of you!
BTW…..How have you been? I was kind of hoping the “Chemo” wasn’t working…..
fondest personal regards,
fit UN torgans!
(did you notice the time of my post?)
Really classy, dude.
Agreed, the “Farm” has all the charm and beauty of a truck farm in Bakersfield.
I’m confused. I thought you couldn’t give non-sports scholarships to students in place of athletic scholarships? But that explains how sports with limited scholarships like baseball can still do well at Stanford but not SC. With only 11.7 scholarships, most baseball players get only partial scholarships, and this still makes SC too expensive for most.
The scholarships are NOT in place of athletic scholarships but are a result of the normal financial aid policies that Stanford (and other wealthy privates) have. While we have a massive financial aid budget, this is something that would, I believe, be beyond our resources.