Morning Buzz: Pat Haden Says Sarkisian `Has To Own’ Behavior

HADEN

Maria Dondonyan/Daily Trojan

USC athletic director Pat Haden and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott spoke Wednesday night at a Marshall Sports Business Institute event across from campus. And Haden again discussed the Steve Sarkisian situation.

“I’ve got lots of people who disagree with me,” Haden said. “That’s OK. Leaders have to make decisions. Sometimes they’re popular. Sometimes they’re not. It was very poor behavior, there’s no denying that. It’s not the Steve Sarkisian I hired, it’s not the Steve Sarkisian I know. But I think he’s gotta own it.

“He’s gotten beaten up (in public) for this. I think with this university, Coach Sarkisian and I are just a pimple on the continuum of a great university. This university is bigger and broader than one coach.”

43 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: Pat Haden Says Sarkisian `Has To Own’ Behavior

    • Yes why can’t Pat Haden let it go? Maybe you should have a talk with him at the game Saturday.

    • Amen brother… Haden at first didn’t want to talk about it. Now he can’t shut up about it. Could Haden not only be trying to save his coaching pick, but also his own AD position?

    • I don’t know but is that a picture of Haden describing how he grabbed Sark and escorted him off stage?

  1. The first 5 minutes of Steve Sarkisians press conference, he clearly showed he’s not owning up to it, because he tried to deflect his over consumption of alcohol by blaming it on prescription drugs. The buzz up at the University of Washington was that Sarkisian had a alcohol problem since his arrival, so there’s more to the situation then Pat Haden thinks . Sarkisian is the highest paid employee at USC , and is the face of the football program, so for Haden to say Sarkisian is just a pimple , just proves he doesn’t get it , either .

    • Please give me a link to a story about Sark drinking at Washington. I searched timeframe from 12/1/2010 to 12/1/2013 and couldn’t find any about Sark drinking. I did find a article about Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Kasen Williams drinking and driving. I’m not saying they aren’t out there, just I can’t find them. You say you have this information please share it.

      • There was never any buzz at Washington about Sark drinking too much or having an alcohol problem. There was buzz about him being a philanderer and about him wanting to return to USC some day.

        • I really don’t know. I never paid much attention to him until he was hired. I knew his record at UW, and I knew what he took over there. He has put himself in a bad situation with this incident and may have made this his must win season when I think he would have been looking at next year if this hadn’t happened. Before this I think he could have survived an 8 or 9 win season as long as it wasn’t the same 4th quarter collapses we saw last season. Now, he will have to be playing for a south title or he may be in big trouble.

          • Agreed. I’m all for it too. The more pressure on him the better. He wanted this big job. He’s got it, but only if he shows he and his staff have learned from last year and can develop talent and perform on game day. He’s a great recruiter, but USC needs more.

          • I have no problem expecting him to win. He has to improve every year, every game. My problem with this incident is more in the way it has been handled than what happened. If he had just come out the next day and admitted he had too much to drink and said things he shouldn’t it would have been much better. Personally I would have been fine with Pat saying he had to serve a suspension, or more appropriately make a donation to a charity as a fine. In any case it should have been handled quickly and been final. Make a statement, hold a press conference and tell everyone that’s it, we’re done.
            Pat needs to stop making statements and doing interviews on the matter. Sark needs to just say the matter is closed and do whatever he agreed to do. Stop answering questions. If there are no further incidents there are no more questions to be answered.
            The first game is Saturday, Stanford will be in the Coliseum on 9/19. They are not being distracted by this, USC need to get ready for them.

          • The bottom line is USC forced Sark to get some sort of counseling to address whatever severity of problem he has. The fact that it’s public is fine with me and good for his accountability. I’m glad he couldn’t just say he drank too much. I think this is a good approach for him, especially if he has a serious substance abuse problem. We’ll see how he moves forward. I think the team has and they are undoubtedly ready to go. Winning cures all. Losing will seal his fate.

      • First off , I never said there was a link or a story, I said the bloggers up in the state of WASHINGTON have been blogging about his drinking habits for years. I read that years ago, so please stop asking me to prove what I have read. I have no reason to make that up. Espn ran an article about top assistance coaches not wanting to go coach under Sarkisian or Lane Kiffen, at USC, so go spend your day trying to look that up , because that is factual . That is all !

        • Better get ready and hunker down for a bad season Freddy. It’s gonna be grim.

          USC’s gonna have a bad team with poor coaches, who were all Sark could sign up. I had no idea ESPN said USC couldn’t attract good assts. Mike Garrett would probably just say they’re jealous!

          Thanks for all the valuable info. I also had no idea all these UW bloggers thought Sark was an alky, just like uclaownszilch. Is anybody sober nowadays?

          • The espn article said Lane Kiffin, and Steve Sarkisian could not attract top assistants, but I don’t think it had to do anything with USC. It has all to do with the type of coaches other assistiants think they are. The article also stated Sarkisian could not attract a top defensive line coach after he offered it to two other assistant’s, so USC had to over pay Chris Wilson to pry him away from the University of Georgia . All of this is on the internet, so I’m not making it up.

          • I don’t have any complaints about USC assts, so they’re fine with me, except possibly Wilcox. He’s the type who could get lots of jobs but I am the least satisfied with. Needs to improve or he’ll be gone and he knows this. As far as SC’s d-line goes, Wilson is doing just fine.

            Coaches turn down jobs for lots of reasons. If I didn’t want to coach for a certain guy, I’d never let him interview me in the first place. Period. We all know lots of coaches interview simply to better their positions. If Sark fails, I don’t believe it will be because of his staff. It’ll be because of Sark, who obviously knows it’s sink or swim now.

    • Hey don’t get butt hurt. I just said I searched and couldn’t find it. Blogs would have shown up on the Google search I ran. Maybe you heard it, I couldn’t find it on the web. Now that is all.

  2. So far my favorite quote from St. Pat EVER.
    “a pimple on the continuum’
    As usual, his answers do nothing but create more questions:
    Is that like a boil on the butt?
    Are Pat & Sark both pimples or are they two separate pimples?
    I’ve got to know!
    Keep up the good work Paddy me boy!

  3. People, here is your early morning disclaimer. Please do not post ANYTHING NEGATIVE about USC or Jack will get really upset with you and throw a temper tantrum. You know how he gets. Yelling, screaming, jumping up and down, calling people names like he was still in sixth grade. Again, please do not say anything because we would all like to have a peaceful morning.
    Thank you

    • Boo hoo town cryer. Poor baby. Obviously, I’ve really gotten to you as you now start off each day worried about me. Hah, hah, hah. Just because I routinely hammer you whenever you have some ridiculous stupidity to post is no reason to start yelling in all caps though. Settle down Troll Boy. You shouldn’t let me get so deep into that pea brain of yours. Greg Schiano thanks you for your support.

      • This is too easy. Took the bait hook, line, and sinker, just like I thought, Pea sized brain? You sound like a boy of experience. We’re all having a pool party in your head because we are swimming in your head. As far as Schiano, he’s a good coach who will get a great job next year in college. So, deal with it junior. If you want to see what a troll looks like, take a long, hard look in the mirror Pampers boy.

        • The only bait around here is you crybaby. Keep your hanky ready and Cry On! This is gonna be fun Troll Boy.

          • Try and have a nice day Jackie. Try not to get too mad today with all the mean things people say about you and USC.

          • You weirdos and Trolls who look weak and dumb here every day are always accusing others of being mad or angry. Nice try loser. I’m totally happy with USC football and USC in general. Good times for us Trojan fans and it’s always fun to pile on helpless Wolfie and Trolls like you.

            Guys like you cry and moan all day about USC. So sad for you and your pitiful whining. Get some therapy. The world isn’t really mad at you. We feel sorry for you crybabies.

          • Sticky, furious and highly aggressive, barks like a rabid chihuahua. Methinks Stinky has ingested too much sugar.

        • We have to give Jackie Girl the brony some credit, at least she can spell “:pea brain”, unlike SoCal_Scrub_69er.

      • Clever Stinky, not only do you furiously chew on Mr. 12’s pant cuff, you “hammer” English syntax with “ridiculous stupidity.”

  4. Do you think Scott has his snarky column for Sunday written already questioning why USC scheduled Arky state?

    • olllynoidz, we already know from reading this blog that Texas A&M dropped the game because they were afraid that an opening season loss would knock them out of the playoff. Did you drop too many Jolly Joes at the San Souci Saturday night?

  5. So Brilliant,: take our minds off first game week excitement..!!! ..No reason to discuss the long interview Sark gave about the14 freshman”;likely to play and 11 likely to redshirt….Silly to discuss all 3 freshman running backs to see carries… No reason to even talk about the game right?? After 8 months our first game. NO because your obsession with Haden, Sark and the “Event” will uncover the conspiracy that could bring down the house of cards……And then there’s Adoree wanting to jump through spring …keep that a flame too.I know that’s on Jackson’s mind this week.SW you are the Champion for all those Football widows.

  6. Sark better own it. Only time will tell if he really gets the message. I’m just glad he’s not calling the plays anymore, outside of what any head coach would reserve the right to influence.

  7. Haden this is what you get for hiring a drunken idiot on psych meds … not like Udub fans didn’t warn us of this loser

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