Pat Haden Steps Down From College Football Playoff Committee

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USC athletic director Pat Haden is stepping down from the College Football Playoff committee because of health concerns.

Haden: “I am reluctant to step down, but my doctors advised me to reduce my traveling. With the weekly CFP meetings about to start and the travel commitment involved, I had to make this difficult decision.  I feel it is in the best interest of the CFP and also of USC, with our current football coaching change and our upcoming Coliseum renovation.”

“It was an honor to serve on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.  I have such high regard for the CFP process and for the committee members, who devote such time and energy to the great sport of college football.  It was a pleasure to serve alongside them.  I want to thank the committee members, as well as CFP executive director Bill Hancock and his staff.  They all do wonderful work.”

Larry Scott’s reaction is after the jump:

I want to thank Pat for his service to the College Football Playoff Committee. He brought extremely valuable expertise and institutional knowledge to the process, and helped usher in a great new chapter for college football as part of the inaugural selection committee.
 
I fully support Pat’s decision given his doctor’s recommendation and his campus priorities. I am confident in the 12 remaining committee members to represent the best in all of college football and to select the best teams for the playoff.

68 thoughts on “Pat Haden Steps Down From College Football Playoff Committee”

    • Not true in your case Rah-Rah. You’ve managed to leave eight immature opinions on this “Nothing to see here……” thread. Rah-Rah you need to cut back on your sugar consumption.

      • It’s caffeine…… not sugar…..impressed that you’re able to count to eight….your years of watching Sesame Street have obviously paid off….

  2. Too bad, I hope his replacement has Pac-12 ties. Otherwise we are left with Condi and maybe Ty Willingham.

    • I have no problem with neutrality. I think other conferences were objecting to Haden being involved. Just so long as the SEC doesn’t have someone in it.

  3. I’ve scrolled back through Scott’s most recent posts… can anyone direct me toward his analysis of tomorrow’s game against Cal?……even a small mention of it?….Reid Silverman, where are you?…. heck, I’d even settle for the Goooold Sheet……

    • The “Venerable” Gold Sheet, but they picked wrong last week so it might just be a “betting publication” again.

    • It’s not Wolf’s strength – analysis of football. He’s more interested in the chattering classes.

  4. A decision that should have been made the day Sarkisian was fired. Add the Coliseum fundraising effort and the boards Pat is on and this was way too much. Enough to focus on at USC right now.

    • Sounds about right. Maybe he will beat Kobe out to pasture
      once the football season ends. He probably gets a voice in the hiring process for the new Coach though.

        • My bet is that Haden will get this one right. He had a come to Jesus moment with lots of former players and the only goal is to make this a home run hire. A proven coach with a track record of winning football.

    • The foundation is $$$$. Pretty solid there. Cadre having a yard sale this weekend for football expenses?

      • I heard that they booted a couple of girl scouts from the front of a bank and a grocery store in an effort to promote their own cookie drive…..

          • The ongoing battle for the prime corners can get pretty ugly…..I’ll never forget the ingenuity of that one girl scout who set up shop in front of a medicinal marijuana dispensary… talk about genius!

          • Yeah, that was smart…..but genius would have come in the form of merger negotiations.

          • Good point…… although cross branding may have been more that the Girl Scouts were willing to do…..after all, getting a MaryJane merit badge would have been tough to explain to mom and dad…..

          • I thought they already had that one—the circular patch featuring the plant growing out of a pot against the nifty teal background.

          • And that’s the way the cookie crumbles…..BTW… I’m a thin mint kinda guy

  8. This is bad news for USC! In the future years, Pat Haden, will not be there to suck up to the rest of the committee, and grandstand for usc.

  9. That’s just super. The one area where he could uniquely help us and he steps down. It’s gotta be worth a lot to have your school represented on that committee. Any other Pac 12 representative is going to screw USC any chance they get.

    • I disagree, keep in mind that if a Pac-12 team gets in to the CFP, we all get paid. I am a UCLA fan and I liked having PH on the committee, it was better for the conference as a whole.

      • I just don’t trust our conference mates to do the right thing where we’re concerned.

        • If the profit sharing bowl system we have doesn’t make you partial to a Pac-12 replacement I doubt there is anything I can say to ease your mind on that. But, let me ask you this: would you prefer a guy like Bill Moose (WSU) or Greg Byrne (Arizona) replace PH, or an SEC or Big 10 guy?

          • I’m not saying I don’t want a Pac 12 rep, I’m saying I want it to be us. We can be trusted to work on behalf of our conference mates and our conference mates can be trusted to work against us. You wouldn’t understand unless you’re a USC fan and you’ve been subjected to it over the years. They are more concerned with us dominating the conference for years to come than getting a one time influx of cash.

          • I understand why you would say that after the way the sanctions played out, but I will agree to disagree with regards to the playoff committee.

          • Condi is already serving, but I like the sound of neutral. I’m not sure we can count on neutrality and I wanted one of ours in there. We still hold more clout than any of our conference mates anyway.

      • I think both of you are pretty close. I’m going to go 45-27.
        Interceptions this week in secondary. Both Davis and Jones take it long to the house.
        Continued improvement both lines.

        • I agree…. Iman Marshall should hopefully have a breakout game…….and maybe the other LB’s will be inspired by Cameron Smith’s performance last week….The play at safety will be critical……TE’s are still a mystery……

          • I’m looking at the other Linebackers stepping up this week. If they all play football like Cam Smith it would be the best in college football.

          • I agree… It’s good to see Lamar Dawson accept his role as a spot player….. Masina and Gustin didn’t have the benefit of spring camp like Smith did, as an early enrollee…..Sarao is as good as he’s going to be….I was hoping to see more out of Hutchings, Ruffin and Felix, but there’s still time left in the season…..and, to no one’s surprise, Cravens is a beast…and Powell is a special teams monster…..

          • Will be interesting to see our coverage. Su’a I think would be the LB to get int. Think pressure on QB in pass rush very important.Cal’s WR are not that strong. Secondary will be doing a lot of work.Think Su’a will see more drop back.

  14. I just get the feeling Pat Haden isn’t going to leave without some sort of a shove out the door. He probably thinks if he can get this next choice in a head coach right, everyone will forget all the other poor decisions he has made since being gifted by Max Nikias when haden absolutely no experience or qualifications to get this AD position. I have come to believe Riki Ellison when he said Haden supported Nikias to become the next USC president and now, Nikias is returning the favor even if Haden continues to destroy the football program. Then you have the “paid mouthpiece” of the sports department Tim Tessalone denying everything. What a wonderful Ivory White Tower this is ladies & gentlemen!

  15. Pat’s a good guy he also has stretched himself way beyond what is prudent health wise. If he hadn’t chosen Sarkisian I doubt half of this would be posted here but he DID choose Sarkisian. Having said that time to step back and see how the season runs out.

    • Hiring Sark was not his first mistake as AD, it was just the most obvious one that caused the blind to finally see Haden for what he is, a fraud.

  16. He really should step down as AD also. He made a monumental mistake in hiring a football coach. At USC that was a decision of all decisions……one that you can’t make a mistake on. People say “why wasn’t he aware of Sarks alcohol problems”? That’s beside the point. There are a lot of people in society who are alcoholics and yet are very successful at their respective careers. They may die of kidney or liver problems eventually but until then, they are very productive on their jobs. Haden should have known about Sarks alcohol problems and that should have disqualified Sark but the real problem was that Sark just wasn’t a very good HC. There was other outstanding coaches out there who would have taken the job but PH had already made up his mind about Sark. Whatever other interviews he did was just window dressing for the media to make it look like he really did look long and hard for the right guy.

    • What WOULD be a shock is if Scott were ever to get around to talking about tomorrow’s game against CAL !!!!

      • Rah-Rah, please for your own sake, quit the half wit act, slowly read the title for this specific Wolf thread.

        • I realize that you’re a product of Wang’s blog, but doesn’t it strike you as odd that it’s 4:45pm on a Friday and no mention is made about tomorrow’s game?…….no mention at all?…. none?… nada?…. zip?…zilch?

          • I suppose, but Rah-Rah isn’t the KU/Cal game considered a KU creampuff FB exercise?

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