USC Morning Buzz: When Will It Ever Be Normal Around Here?

SARK.WASH.2Is it ever just quiet and normal at USC? Consider players currently in their third season: There was Coach Kiffin. Coach Orgeron. Coach Helton. Coach Sarkisian. And now Coach Helton again. And who next year?

Here’s my story on a crazy day when the coach skipped practice. I can’t help but wonder what Orgeron is thinking after being spurned for the job. Or Pete Carroll, who fully endorsed his former assistant. Or new Villanova athletic director Mark Jackson, who gave Pat Haden a big endorsement. Or Lane Kiffin, who probably feels for his friend but enjoys whatever stress Haden experiences.

58 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: When Will It Ever Be Normal Around Here?

  1. Maybe Kiffin doesn’t. He might not be a vicious, pathetic “attack them when they are down” type of person like Wolf is. All this negativity has reached a new low.

  2. The administration at USC are a group of experienced professionals and should be familiar with the train wreck that alcohol and addiction can result. The right decision after the Salute to Troy event would have been to enact the indefinite leave at the beginning of the season and bring back Sark when he was healthy if that was even possible. The concern at USC appears to have been victory at all cost and look at the mess it is took the program too. Shame on USC. Many of us here were booed off the site for pointing out this result in advance. The only long term viable solution now is to offer whatever care can be given (assunming Sark is willing) and separate amicably per the terms of the contract. USC is bigger than one bad coach, don’t make a bad situation worse. Take the losses and move on. The players on the team are the primary concern. We owe them our support and they will get it. Fight On!

    • This entire situation today is due to Pat Haden and no one else. Pat was foolishly hoping that what he saw was a one time aberration rather that a hard core addiction.

      Question moving forward is how much did Haden know before he offered the job to Sarkisian.

      • No doubt that Haden is the man responsible for now a series blunders that reek incompetence, or worse; flat out corruption. However, Haden’s tenure has been so bad that now the president is equally to blame for keeping Haden around too long. SC is bigger than a bad coach, but is it bigger than Haden? It appears not at the moment.

        • Agreed that PH now has a target on his back and also that this issue goes to the top of the University, maybe even to the BOD. There strongly appears to be an alcohol culture at USC, particularly with fundraising and football which are inseparable. Until they put sunshine on this and clean out the rot that is there, nothing is likely to change. Its a shame because the football players and all the other athletes and student body are adversely impacted from the flat-out fundraising greed.

          • I agree that we need to rally around Pat and Steve. They just need a little more time. We are definitely headed in the right direction! Notre Dame is lucky Sark isn’t coaching against them because the 40 points per game offense was about to punish the Irish. Let’s hope the guys can go out and play respectable without Sark. FIGHT ON, brother!

          • Your one dimensional shtick wasn’t funny from the start and your still at it now?

      • Its possible that PH did not know that much at the time of hire but its also likely that the Salute to Troy was the first public demonstration of the problem that couldn’t be ignored or covered up any longer. Somebody just doesn’t get drunk and high on prescription meds out of the blue. PH don’t forget had the basketball coach to deal with so its not his first go at this issue.

        • Please. Sark’s propensity to drink has been well known for a while. All it took was a casual reading of the UW blogs to find this out. Haden would of course had much better access to this kind of information through even a remedial background check.

      • I totally agree with you about Sark just needing a little time to get better then coming back to the Trojans better than ever. FIGHT ON!

      • Don’t be an hypocrite! I’m sure you were one of the ones who were here that the salute to troy incident was a non-story and were shouting down anyone who would say otherwise. YOU AND THE USUAL SUSPECTS IN HERE!

    • Quite honestly, the Salute to Troy situation should have never happened. When you are hiring a guy for a very high paying job with a lot of pressure attached, you do an in-depth background check. It shouldn’t have taken long to find out about Sark’s behavior at UW. Somebody jumped the gun here and made a rash decision and that was Pat Haden. He hired an alcoholic going through a very public divorce to a high visibility position at a place that will dissect his every move. Both Sark and Haden are likable people. One is battling for his health and a relationship with his family. The other made a poor hiring decision.

      • Agree on the likeability factors with these two. Some of my best friends are likeable but I wouldn’t hire them for much. I’m not entirely certain responsibility the hiring of Sark stops at Pat Haden. It had to be approved and likely agreed or even as much advocated for by those above Haden.

        • Your spelling of likable vs my likable made me wonder if my spelling was off and looking at an online dictionary shows both to be correct.

          It could run up to Nikias or he could just have trusted Haden to make the call. I don’t know the dynamics of their working relationship, but at the end of the day, somebody did a poor job or looking into Sark’s background.

      • I agree and what makes it even worse is how Haden claimed he used a search firm at the time. It sounded bad then and looks far worse now.

        • Sorry, but that sounds like BS. Did he really need a search firm to find Sark? As an AD, you should always have a list of candidates in the back of your mind and you may use a search firm to reach out quietly. However, you must have a way to do a background check.

      • I don’t think the divorce had started yet when Sark was hired (although it seems like Haden should have known about rumors of womanizing at UW, if there were such rumors). But as questionable as the hiring decision was, the strange handling of the Salute to Troy incident has now led to a total fiasco, and was arguably the bigger mistake of the two decisions. People on this blog have suggested that Haden transition to being the “chief fundraiser” for Coliseum improvements and let someone else take over as AD. I hope that happens by year’s end.

        • I think the red flag would have been the drinking more than the womanizing, unless it involved other employees.

  3. First is was Dillon Baxter, now Sark – “Morning Buzz” has a very unique meaning at USC.

  4. Can’t wait to see Wolfie’s article on the upcoming sanctions at USC related to the improper announcement of Daelin Hayes as a Trogan.

  5. We need to let Sark get better over the next couple of weeks then welcome him back with open arms. His leadership and offensive scheme cannot be replaced. Sark will then lead us to another bowl game and continue averaging 40 plus point points per game. FIGHT ON and WIN FOREVER!

  6. Quote from the LA Times article this morning “…Chris Petersen, who replaced Sarkisian as Washington’s coach, won’t do events that involve drinking” So no you have 2 coaches passed over, Coach O and CP who don’t allow alcohol around their players who were passed over. Anyone see a pattern here?

  7. Sark sounded like he was “not healthy”? Does Haden realize how dumb this sounds? At least the few remaining recruits and their families can be assured that the admin will do anything to brush even the worst situations straight under the carpet. Btw, is Helton allowed to bring alcohol back into the locker room?

  8. As much as I like Pat Haden, I have to agree with those blaming him for the mess. He is the one who said he had vetted coach Sark. He didn’t do a very good job on this front.
    This is not the new normal in college football!!!

  9. Minus the hiring of Pete Carroll, and keep in mind he approached the University about the job , the Athletic department has been a joke over the last 20 years . And basically because the University refuses to hire qualified athletic administrator’s, but they need to understand that you do not have to have USC roots to run a successful athletic department. Pat Haden is one of the highest paid AD’s in America earning over 2 million dollars annually, but he’s also one of the worst . The baseball, basketball, and now the football program have been a joke under Haden.

    • Actually Fred, baseball is on the right track. They were eliminated by the eventual NCAA champion in the regionals.

      • BFD that the baseball team made the regionals. What sport pays the bills? What sport is 100% inseparable from fundraising (shouldn’t be so but is)?

  10. Here is a little comic relief for all of us this morning, which we all need. Anyone remember the opening scene from Animal House where Dean Wormer is addressing Marmalard about the Deltas?
    “Greg, who is the worst house on this campus?”
    “Well, sir, they all each have their individual qualities.”
    “Cut the horse s**t son, I’ve got their disciplinary files right here.”
    “Who dumped a truck load of fizzies into the swim meet?”
    “Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the Alumni dinner?”
    “Every Spring, the toilets explode.”
    “You must be talking about Delta, sir.”
    “Of course I am you twerp.”

    Now here is the same exchange between Nikias and Steve Lopes this morning.
    “Steve, who is the most incompetent athletic administrator at USC?”
    “Well, sir, they all each have their individual qualities.”
    “Cut the horse s**t son, I’ve got his file right here.”
    “Who told Bill Plaschke of the LA Times he supported Lane Kiffin 100% after the UCLA debacle of 2012?”
    “Who didn’t fire Lane Kffin after the Sun Bowl debacle in 2012?”
    “Who made a half a** youtube video supporting Lane Kiffin?”
    “Who fired Lane Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX after the ASU debacle in 2013?”
    “Who back doored Ed Ogeron after holding the team together for the remainder of the 2013 season?”
    “Who paid a million dollars to a search firm, and then went with his gut and hired Steve Sarkisian, without doing any vetting whatsoever to Sark’s apparent alcohol problems?”
    “Who didn’t suspend Sarkisian after the Salute to Troy fiasco and get him the help that he needed?”
    “Who fired another coach in the middle of the season?”
    “You must be talking about The Capper, sir.”
    “Of course I am, you twerp”
    “Find me a way to get rid of The Capper. Put Neidermeyer on it. He’s a sneaky little sh** just like you.”

  11. ..or Colin Cowherd who just last week laughed at “the media” for doubting Sark. Who’s the fool now, CC?

  12. I know PH isn’t going to want to walk away from the mess he has created at USC. I understand not wanting to leave the school worse off than when you came, but it’s sure looking like fall on your sword time for Haden. I realize my insight into his job performance is limited, but I’ve never been happy with what I’ve seen. If Salute To Troy hadn’t happened it would be one thing, but now someone besides Sark has to burn.

  13. There were so many red flags surrounding Steve Sarkisian that you have to wonder why Pat Haden ignored all of them . I know you can’t pay attention to rumors when making decisions, but where there is smoke there is fire , and there was talk up in Washington that Sarkisian was a heavy drinking party boy who had a reputation with the women. So if you connect the dots of his life since his arrival, the rumors appear to be true. Another red flag was the fact that almost every assistant coach that he initially approached to join his staff declined his offer, and the ones that ended up joining him , were grossly over paid . Bob Connelly was the only offensive line coach Sarkisian could come up with, and that didn’t raise a brow with Haden ? Keep in mind this is USC we are talking about , one of the premier football programs in America. UCLA’s offensive line coach Adrienne Klemm makes $750 thousand annually, and Sarkisian offered a million, and he also refused to join the SC staff .

  14. Explains the play calling this year. Because Steve Sarkisian has a long history with USC it is appropriate to give him an indefinite leave of absence so he isn’t publicly fired and he can transition into something else down the road after he gets help

  15. There are more than a few rumors and experiences with PH being not healthy, so I can see how that happened. People have remarked upon it here.

    But being a little glassy eyed after a “meeting” with a booster is good ol’ boy and fine. Being slooshed and incapable if working isn’t.

    Not being able to see where the difference is with your highest profile, highest salaried employees and not correcting it until it becomes a huge embarrassment? That means you’re enabler and have no business making big personnel decisions. Bye to Haden, bye to the Greek.

  16. Hypocrisy in this blog knows no end! Majority of you Rah Rah’s were acting as though Sark’s episode at salute to troy didn’t point to the fact Sark had alcoholism issues. But now you want to bash Haden for not suspending Sark at the time? Give me a break! Have some sense of decency, Sark’s life is on the line and all you care about the lack of success your football team has… Well maybe they should get new fans… because with fans like southern cal has, who needs em’

    • We’re not bashing Haden for not suspending Sark. We are bashing Haden for not handling the situation once he became aware that there was a situation. We’re also bashing him for not properly vetting Sark. Whether he suspended him in August or caned him, this situation needed to be handled behind the scenes where it counts and it wasn’t.

  17. There are more than a few rumors and experiences with PH being not healthy, so I can see how that happened. People have remarked upon it here.

    But being a little glassy eyed after a “meeting” with a booster is good ol’ boy and fine. Being slooshed and incapable if working isn’t.

    Not being able to see where the difference is with your highest profile, highest salaried employees and not correcting it until it becomes a huge embarrassment? That means you’re enabler and have no business making big personnel decisions.

    Not just the repeated stuff with Sark… Look at the O’Neill drunk fight in public incident that Haden had to see coming up- everyone saw O’Neill melting down.

    Then look at the handling of the CLK firing.

    Then go back to the bad PR from Sark putting out a story he knew wasn’t true with Shaw- where was the oversight?

    And the manner in which Haden gave Orgeron the shaft knowing his connection with players and their connection with him.

    And Haden publicly yelling at and dressing down boosters til they went public and started questioning his “health”.

    There was Haden publically coming down to the field to lobby for a call (!) during the Stanford game.

    And Haden sideline rage against Lendale White on a pleasant day that turned into a media thing.

    And Haden insisting on injecting his personal politics in the name of the school during he Indiana religious freedom controversy.

    Bye to Haden, bye to the Greek.

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