Was USC Coach Steve Sarkisian Sober At Arizona State Game?

SARK.CELEBRATE.ASUMultiple sources, including a USC assistant coach, claim Steve Sarkisian was not sober at the Arizona State game. “His eyes were bloodshot, he was acting funny, you could tell something wasn’t right,” a source said.

Several coaches reportedly pulled Sarkisian out of a team huddle on the sideline because they believed he was drunk, a coach said.

135 thoughts on “Was USC Coach Steve Sarkisian Sober At Arizona State Game?

  1. While I hate to see Sark suffer here, I love to see Trogan fans in pain. I hope Sark gets the help he needs.

  2. I don’t believe this. Pat is such a wonderful man. He cares deeply for Steve and his family.

    • Oh no, not THE Daelin Hayes, who bags groceries at the Winn Dixie in Flint, Michigan!?! This is the worst news I’ve heard since I found out I was too old to do Cosplay.

  3. In all seriousness, alcoholism is nothing to laugh at…If this is true, people who profess to care about Sark needs to get him some help before he hurts someone or himself!

  4. Hey wolf, name your sources for once. Everyone knows you are out to get Steve sarksian, and completely exxagerate things. Put some big boy pants on and name your sources for once. Until then, I will firmly believe that you are just trying to stir up the pot.

    • Hey Cool32… Sark has exhibited classic signs of alcoholism. Getting drunk even though he knew he needed to speak in public. Denying having a problem even though clearly he can’t control his alcohol intake. He needs help. If I was rooting for southern cal to just tank at football this season, I would root for Sark to keep his job because he is an alcoholic and a terrible coach. He will always find a way to screw things up… that is what terrible coaches and alcoholics do!! They need to get him some help!

    • him and ESPN, and the LA Times and everyone else. Big pot – needs lots of stirrers.

    • On the one hand, xtracool32, let’s all admit that Wolf saw this coming before anyone else. From the very beginning he’s been saying that Sark was in way over his head and something was sure to snap. On the other hand, now that it’s happened, he’s beside himself with glee. Time for Scott to show a tiny bit of humanity.

        • I give Wolf a ton of credit for seeing this stuff coming, Marv. I just hope he doesn’t go into too much of a lather over the fact he’s smelled trouble—twice–before any one else. A little “tone” is called for on this one.

    • A great many sources go to the press on deep background, not for attribution with their tips and info.

  5. I heard during the Washington game Sark was blasting rocks off the crack pipe behind the Big Fogg machine on the sidelines, and the 2nd hand smoke was getting sucked into the machine and everyone on the O’line was getting a charge from it, and they were F’ed up beyond belief. I’m not afraid to name my source either, it was Dinnerbucket that told me, and he stay on Jefferson and Buckingham, behind the Fish shack, just ask him bout it.

  6. Hey Wolf – didn’t you interview him after the game? Didn’t he do a presser?

    Many on the Twitters are calling you out on these allegations, saying it will never make the print edition. Many are calling you a shady journalist.

    • Im pretty sure Scott has a verifiable source on this one. Kudos to him for waiting to break this news. Sark needs help so he can help himself. However, he is not fit to be a leader of men and should be removed. Some other team will give him a chance when he cleans up his act.

      • Wolf is close to our Sports Information Director. He feeds Wolfie hot news off the press. Its a shame USC insiders have to spread the manure when a man is down.

        • Sark has hit rock bottom but this problem didn’t happen overnight. UW insiders are commenting in the Seattle Times and in the Dwag Pound about Sark’s escapades in Seattle, some stories are pretty unsavory.

    • Arash Markazi just reported on KSPN that Sark will never coach another USC football game. Go tell that to your twitter girlfriends.

  7. I believe there is a big alcohol culture at USC most people dont want to see. PH is, IMO, covering it up so fingers dont get pointed beyond Coach Sark.

    • It’s sort of a national problem, don’t you think?

      I doubt that USC is notably unusual in that regard.

      • I believe the culture is tied to fundraising. Thats why donors get to drink at games. There was alcohol in the locker room. Cant hurt USC any worse than to reduce or hamper fund raising. That is the hypocrisy here. They dont really GAF about Sark. Just trying to cover their own butts.

        • First, full disclosure, I barely drink at all, and gave up “the illicits” 20 years ago.

          Second, in L.A., social drinking and drugging is quite popular. Regarding UCLA, for instance, I have heard “organized” binge-drinking tales from some participating students who worked for me. True, there are rumors that Haden does drink socially.

          Third, I hear it’s popular outside of L.A., too. Less so in Utah (probably), but I observed quite a bit of it in Texas and Nevada. Perhaps no one does that at U Mich, or Mich. State (and perhaps not). My friend who teaches at Oxford drinks more than I would advise her to drink. It’s the world, not USC.

          I’m sure Haden is concerned about Sark, but quite naturally, he is more concerned about USC. I’m sure Haden is concerned about the problem of excessive drink and drugs in the U.S., but quite naturally, he is more concerned about USC’s good relations with its donors, and that the donors have a good time at USC events. I don’t think those are bacchanals; the donors & boosters were not happy with Sark at the Salute to Troy.

          USC is a private university, remember, with a pretty good ranking, and no public trough to tap.

          The big problem here is not that USC is a leader in “the drinking culture.” The big problem here is that Haden is a trainee AD, who is making a lot of trainee errors.

  8. was he sober when he announced the “signing” of Hayes etc. before they actually became Trogans? More sanctions coming? LOOOOOL.

    http://theadvocate (dot) com/sports/lsu/11707183-123/records-lsu-slapped-with-recruiting

    • Why are you here? Go celebrate like you always do, and come back Thursday after Stanford beats you for the 5TH TIME IN 4 YEARS!

      • btw, enjoy the next round of sanctions, because they are coming. Haden may actually self-impose this time though because there’s no way to hide Sark’s transgressions.

        • You know the problem moron you don’t have an ‘avatar’- that’ll make it easier to scroll by you

      • At least we will get to enjoy that. On KSPN Steve Biggs show they said the team is excited about Helton coaching the team and they were predicting the team will upset the Irish this weekend.

  9. HAWR-HAWR!!! borrOcho is weak and gutless, just like most trOXans!! Clown U IMPLODING as PREDICTED!!

    Gee, I wonder if Mique will DECOMMIT this week or NEXT??

    trOXan bones feel GOOD under my Bucket Boots!!!

    #GetReadyToScatterThePieces

  10. Wolf is nothing but a BS TMZ wannabe. Sark is a solid coach with the offensive stats to back it. We are in line for 7 maybe even 8 wins and a fun bowl game. Sark is the future trolls.

  11. Everyone here knows the intense dislike we have for each other in this rivalry, but in this case, a human being’s life matters more then any rivalry. I’ve posted my share of posts that made fun of Sark’s inability as a coach. But this is about a life of a human being. Sark is in for a long fight, actually for the rest of his life to stay sober. He has kids! for goodness sake! I’ve seen alcoholism destroy too many lives and familes.

    My sincere prayer and thoughts go out to Sark and his family. Hope you beat this thing! I never rooted for you as a coach…but I root for you to beat this terrible disease.

    • Have to admit Ted you were calling Sark out as an alcoholic after the Tribute. Haden tried to cover it up by being his enabler. This has blown up in Haden’s face big time. He did no service to Sark and deceived everybody outside McKay Center. Got to feel for the players who had to what the double standard.

      • Not really glad to say I was right… I’ve just seen too many tragedy around me due to alcohol. Hope Sark could fight his way back.

  12. I’ll bet he was drunk at the Wasington game the other day too. Would explain the 3 pass plays in a row instead of running the ball and all the other questoinable calls he’s made. The guy was never in his right mind. This is why he made so many horrible decisions.

  13. Question – what if any documented treatment since the Salute To Troy was held did Sarkisian attend?

    • That may just be confidential information. Why does anyone need to let everyone know of their medical records?

      • The school had the highest paid employee intoxicated in public after the fact state he would enter rehab – this is not some minor employee.

        • It’s a private matter between the individual employee and the university. There is no public right to know.

  14. Scott Wolf you need to shut your website down. Shame on you to pile on a man who’s sick. You can tell that to your buddy feeding you this trash inside the Sports Information Office as well.

    Keep it up however if you get a rush or a thrill out of it. Keep feeding your UCLA Trolls as well. It shows many of their true colors after many from USC and our Athletic Director gave praise last week to one of their own, Myles Jack, wishing him well after his injury.

    • Wolf certainly enjoys this, but accusing him of “beating a man while he’s down” is like accusing a cop of doing the same for arresting someone who’s driving drunk (or pick your favorite crime). This is the heavy price one pays for taking a public job making several million dollars a year to coach football drunk. All the while, presenting yourself of as a leader of young men in which Sark’s alcoholism has had a very negative effect on. I wish Sark the best, but he’s a big boy. He knew what he signed up for. He’ll take his licks in the coming days. However, the reality of his situation is that a low level beat reporter “piling on” is the least of his concerns.

      • This is big news, for better or worse. But I was sad to see that on his twitter feed, Wolf couldn’t resist cracking a joke about how “maybe Sark coaches better when he’s not sober” about the ASU win.

      • Baloney to compare a drunk driver who could kill someone on the road to Sark who basically is only embarrassing himself and the school. This has no comparison to life and death.

        Steve is the guy being psychologically damage by this illness and to have Scott pile on the man in his desire to get more clicks to his blog is out of line.

        • Are you certain that Sark was not drunk or impaired this morning when he drove over for practice? Lots of drunk drivers are on the road and lucky until their luck runs out.

      • everyone loves Paddy O’Hadden (except the _______’s on this blog). we are kicking the trOXans, not Paddy Boy….he’s alright. and as i RECALL, Chucker Bucker was one of the only peeps defending Paddy Boy when some bums on this blog were taking vile shots at his boy……

        #ItsLikeThat

  15. The jig is finally up for this farce, and, among other things, I would
    say that Pat Haden should fall on his sword before the end of 2015. But the guys cracking jokes about this mess — your posts have got bad karma written all over them. Who really knows what
    Sark is doing tonight; unless someone from USC or Sark’s family
    physically “took custody” of him, so to speak, and took him to treatment
    (meaning a hospital, because the DT’s are going to be on their way
    soon, if he really is going to quit), I fear that this situation could
    get much worse for the guy. .

  16. dint everyone SCOFF at the wolfman when he DECLARED borrOcho should be in treatment, and NOT coaching????

    yet ANOTHER example of the WOLFMAN being DEAD ON correct!!!!

    they did not listen, they’re not listening still

    #PerhapsTheyNeverWill

  17. I have no quarrel with a man that has a taste or two of spirits after a long day at work.
    Apparently, St. Pat felt the same way when he hired Coach Sarkisian who he knows quite well.
    I guess my question, were I an SoCal fan would be: What changed, St. Patrick?

  18. where were these helpful Asst coaches when borrOcho crashed and burned at Salute to Troy???

    they kept pouring him shots and let him end his career by going up to the mike….i smell a trOXan rat

    #IsThereAnotherKind?

  19. Oftentimes in management there is an apparent situation and an inherent cause. In this case, the university inherently let down Sarkisian, it seems. The administration, led by Haden as the AD, should have taken the proper, aggressive steps prior to the season to see to the mental welfare of their coach. Most of you know better than me whether or not the right amount of attention and action was taken that might have averted this crisis. It’s the old adage my first boss taught me: “When does crisis occur?” In this situation, the crisis occurred in August–or well before then, not in mid October. Best to you, Coach Sark. May you find the help and hope you need to regain your health, your career, and a sense of peace and stability in your life.

    • You can’t make someone get sober who doesn’t want to. Fact. You can lock ’em up, but if they’re involved in any outpatient thing, it’s anybodies guess what they’re doing when alone when many find ways to use.

      USC let down Sark? You got it backwards. I’ve seen my share of alkies and druggies, like most of us. Most manipulative, stubborn individuals on earth. And no treatment will work on someone with a problem who still really wants to drink or use. They’ll go right to the gates of hell if necessary.

      Sark let down himself, his family and lastly USC. And if he doesn’t assume that complete responsibility and blames anybody else, he’s in for a lot more trouble. Sounds like he should be an inpatient somewhere now. It was never USC’s responsibility to put him there. It’s his, as an adult addict and parent who is probably also a very accomplished liar.

      • I am reasonably certain that Sark’s substance abuse problems would have contributed to his divorce.

  20. I still say that this all falls at the feet of Pat Haden. We should never have been in this situation in the first place. Our coach should be Chris Peterson. To pick Sark over Peterson was to pick a coach who was only 34-29 over a guy who was 92-12. Haden must have been smoking something when he made that decision. He should have known that Sark had marraige problems and drinking problems. You might say that SC has no right to investigate his personal life. But Haden was about to sign a deal paying Sark 4 million a year for 4 years. That’s 16 million dollars. That gives him a right. PH should have known these things. It’s pretty obvious that we are going to have to find a new coach. But before we launch out into that search, we had better get rid of PH. Otherwise, we’re going to end up with another 7 win coach.

  21. If Scott knew there were “multiple sources” claiming Sark was not sober at ASU, how come he sat on the story until now? This is more TMZ style crap.

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