Morning Buzz: A Sense Of Humor Is Trademark for USC’s Best Football Coaches

MCKAY.1968Can you imagine John McKay taking part in a Navy Seal team-building exercise when he was the USC football coach? Most of you know McKay was the king of providing quotes. When he was criticized by the media at Tampa Bay, McKay said, “You guys don’t know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas.”

The next day, reporters left bananas for McKay, who replied, “You guys don’t know the difference between a football and a Mercedes Benz.”

Where have all the colorful coaches gone? Not many get it today. You either get bland, angry or intentionally boring. That’s why Pete Carroll was special. He wasn’t a quote machine but he understood how to deal with the media. And the fans. You rarely find a coach who can deal with only one of these groups. It’s no coincidence McKay and Carroll possessed those two traits despite different personalities.

Although USC’s had some great coaches for the media, that tradition has been up-and-down the past 20 years. Despite his jovial image, John Robinson was often disinterested during his final two years at USC. Paul Hackett was usually uptight about something. Carroll was relaxed and upbeat. Lane Kiffin became surly once he had one good season. Ed Orgeron completely changed and was relaxed once he got a second chance to be a head  coach.

This year should be a defining one for Steve Sarkisian. A coach is often most cooperative in Year 1. And he was fine last year. Some media members expect more restrictions this year. Hopefully, the program will not be more guarded because that usually affects the players, who became sullen under Kiffin. As we head toward next month’s training camp, we will see what possible changes the minions have in mind for the program.

 

59 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: A Sense Of Humor Is Trademark for USC’s Best Football Coaches

  1. You also had plenty of coaches that were gruff and difficult to deal with and yet they won. Your point makes no sense other than you prefer coaches with a sense of humor.

    • I agree… but this is why Scott narrowed it down to only USC football coaches…

  2. “Where have all the colorful coaches gone?” …… they are out there, Scott, but most coaches simply do not trust most members of the media, who can be quite predatory and typically quote them completely out of context….the media love to build people up, then tear them down…. so the safest course of action for coaches is to simply be vanilla during interviews….and now you’re whining about it… classic, Scott Wolf………try building an actual relationship with these coaches….you may be surprised how “colorful” many of them can be…..these guys aren’t great recruiters without having some kind of a sense of humor….

    • I agree, it’s a sign of the times. Many in the media have become less respectful.

    • Well said.Social media today is a many headed creature. How many times has Wolf done “Koi” posts? McKay might have commented to Wolf watch it or “You might be sleeping with the Koi”. Which today if that was said might get a coach in trouble…. I love great humor , yet today’s media is not much of a stage.

      • Exactly…..the stage has changed, as well as the rules of conduct and how people behave while being on stage…..

        • For me, I’m happy I grew up with the McKay era,the Chick Hern’s,and looked forward each morning to what I would read in newspaper sports section.The Mob mentality has a new meaning, all technology driven.. I remember hearing a talk radio interview with Carroll, and the host was asking him about what Twitter was.Carroll that week had begun using it to reach recruits who might be using it….look at the distance its all become in 7-8 years..crazy…

  3. Mr Wolf:
    Where have all the smart sport writers gone? Today writers care more about being glib on a blog or something called twitter. In my day, a writer wrote a story and informed the public. Nellie forget the cane I’m taking this guy out with my bare hands.

    JW

    • Where have your other two sock puppets gone, Golly_Nerd? I miss The One The Only and Veritas.

  4. Coaches have to be significantly more on guard now than ever before, although I have no doubt McKay would have some choice put-downs for Wolfie, King of the Banana Peelers.

  5. Sark HAS to win this year, he’s got alimony and child support to pay now on top of living in a socialist state called California that can’t figure out enough ways to tax it’s citizens.

    I don’t see Sark being jovial this year.

    • Back in those days, you could run into the coaches and sportswriters, even players, at the local water hole after the game and have a great time…. our culture has changed….media, especially social media, and political correctness has changed all of this…. people lose jobs and/or endorsement deals (Tiger Woods and Donald Trump), players get kicked off of teams (the Florida State QB for punching a chick in a bar), and athletic directors are under severe scrutiny by the media…and, even though they are doing their jobs, ESPN tends to fan the flames on a lot of this….Sark had better take this year seriously, because, like it or not, expectations are high…..

      • I understand your post but frankly sacking that QB @ FL St. is something that should have been done to similar spoiled brat athletes more often in the past.

    • Ya I am sure you are much better off, except you are not the Head Coach of one the best teams in the nation, and you probably couldn’t get a date without ATM access.

  6. McKay also DESPISED some writer, can’t remember his name, but he loathed the guy. He named him in his book, he really had no use for that guy.

      • “Despised” is not nearly a strong enough word for how USC’s coaching staff, in ALL sports, feel about Scott….

    • And McKay, while having a great sense of humor with the press, was very demanding of his players. I don’t think he was joking around with them.

      Plus, winning does help the sense of humor. Just not sure who ALL the other funny coaches were at the time. Woody Hayes?

    • The other BONEHEAD with the field named after him (I believe his name is something like CROMWORST OR CROMWELL) wasn’t particularly funny either, but I guess he wasn’t interested in being funny…his primary function was keeping Hitler happy…..
      Keeping Hitler Happy…..(KHH) has such a nice ‘ring’ to it. Sounds so much better than that dumb fight on thing…
      KHH!!!!!!

  7. McKay often interacted with journalists at a local watering hole named Julie’s Trojan Barrel. It was down Figueroa between the freeway and the Coliseum. If you want to try to bring back “colorful coaches” you might get it if coaches and writers started hanging out again having a drink together but I doubt that will happen. In this public relations built image-conscious era, it will be far, far too risky to throw alcohol into the mix of a coach giving statements to a writer. No way USC lets Sark give unsupervised interviews with a cocktail in one hand.

    Tessalone was always hovering over Lane’s shoulder during his post-practice comments. Can you imagine him today tailing Lane or Sark to a bar to monitor his statements?!

  8. And yet…you always deride Pete and call him Caesar. You just want to complain and whine about everybody. Sark clearly has a sense of humor more than Lane did.

  9. Scott, it may be splitting hairs, but how many of today’s head coaches would be allowed to be photographed holding a cigar, like John McKay is in your post? The climate of tolerance has changed when it pertains to personal values and morals……

  10. “Minions”?? And you wonder why SC does not embrace you as a writer? What a disparaging remark by someone that should know better.

        • Petros and Wolf must hang out and talk about how they get mistreated by USC coaches, and former players.

          Btw. It’s Lisa Leslie’s BDay also.

        • Former USC running back from the Paul Hackett days. Who is now a college football analyst and radio personality/host that always finds a way to trash talk or tear down USC.

          • Why would he do THAT? Seems pretty dumb to me. Does SC cater to him also?

          • I think that USC tolerates him…. I think he is the PA announcer at Galen Center during basketball games…..he’s made a pretty nice living on TV and radio by being obnoxious ….. That’s entertainment, I guess……

          • I don’t have the answer why. But I did hear a couple of times that Pete Carroll and Matt Leinart hate the guy.

          • Petros first went to Cal……his dad, another USC grad, had a Greek restaurant in San Pedro, for years, that was used to entertain recruits, before the NCAA, and USC, tightened things up….

          • Did Petros Dad ever have a restaurant a few blocks from the coliseum, and Petros dad was supposed to have been trying fund a movie about the Sam Bam Cunnningham game against Bama. About a year ago Petros and money interviewed Mr. Papadakis on the show.

          • I really don’t know if he did……yea, I heard about the movie idea…..finding investors for movie with limited appeal is always an issue, unless you have a big name actor on board

          • I don’t hate Petros, but he seems to really have something against SC. They had to have turned him down on some kind of job. Thats just my opinion. I have no evidence on the matter.

  11. Sark isn’t bland, angry or boring….. And no, he won’t insult reporters with a smile or make off-color jokes. These are different times. But the guy is engaging.

  12. Scott,

    Outside of the fact that some of the best USC coaches (Carroll, Jones) didn’t really display a great sense of humor, you make a great point here.
    Keep up the good work!

  13. shocker wolfman, the Buddies lurch forward with a bushel full of excuses for Ocho and Kiff!!

    unenviable task defending these two, when you tell them “hello”, one freezes up and the other sweats bullets.

    wolfman, you MAKE or BREAK southern cal coaches….these two never seemed to get it. YOU’LL be here long after both are gone!! in fact, you RAN kiff outta town on a rail, wolfman!!! will Ocho suffer the same fate??? it’s sure not looking good, wolfman!!

    #WolfWillDecide

    • Mr. Bucket, you are FUNNY. Mr. Wolf will be here because there is NO PLACE for him to go. Most of the SC coaches that have moved on, we to an equal or better situation and increased their income (except Kiffin, who has SC paying the difference). Also, who is “Ocho”?

  14. Question: which USC Trojan National Champion Football Team, in your opinion, should be considered the greatest in 1A NCAA History, John McKay’s 1972 undefeated team, or Coach Carroll’s undefeated 2004 team that had Norm Chow calling the plays and coaching the QB’s, with Coach Carroll making incredible Half-Time adjustments? Do you remember the USC-Oklahoma 55-19 blowout ? Awesome !!!

  15. Scott are you allowed to attend Pac 12 media days. Don’t press any buttons and set off Sark. I’d advise you to be on your best behavior.

  16. Scottie, I would place John Robinson in the same class as McKay and Carroll in knowing how to deal with the media and alumni.

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