USC Morning Buzz: Some More Important News Than Sarkisian

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HADEN.FIRED.CARTOON

The Steve Sarkisian lawsuit means little to the future of USC football, but I’ve heard former defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast has been contacted regarding a return. It’s still too early to say Pendergast will be the defensive coordinator next season but he is a frontrunner. Another realistic candidate is former USC/UCLA assistant coach DeWayne Walker, the architect of the Bruins’ 13-9 victory over the Trojans in 2006.

Meanwhile, an NCAA appeals court quietly ruled Monday former USC assistant coach Todd McNair can proceed with his defamation lawsuit, The NCAA had asked the court to throw out McNair’s case.

The NCAA “report was worded in disregard of the truth to enable the (NCAA committee) to arrive at a predetermined conclusion that USC employee McNair was aware of the NCAA violations.”

The ruling, which can be read here, cast fresh doubt on whether USC should have received harsh penalties in the Reggie Bush case.

89 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Some More Important News Than Sarkisian”

  1. How can Mike Rae’s caddy still have a job after the appeals court ruling on McNair? Let him go back to South Bend to continue being a flack for the Irish.

  3. Here is all you need to know about UCLA

    “By accepting an invitation to the Foster Farms Bowl, Mora receives a bonus of $40,000, as outlined by his most recent contract extension signed after the 2013 season. The team’s eight regular-
    season wins also net him $10,000”

    8 wins and 3rd rate bowl get you a bonus.
    #lowexpectationsU

    • I heard Mora has no bonus clause in his contract for winning a National Championship because UCLA doesn’t consider that as a goal.

    • More good news for UCLA
      “If Lane Kiffin doesn’t get a head
      coaching job, strong rumors in the coaching world have him headed to
      Westwood as he will most likely be parting ways with Alabama at the end
      of the season. Jim Mora wants to bring in more of a pro-style offensive
      coordinator to work with Josh Rosen and Rosen’s parents are apparently
      close with Kiffin. Mora has been going after donors to raise the money
      necessary to bring Kiffin on board. Talk about adding another layer to
      the SC-UCLA rivalry…

      • All the bubble screens will drive you insane.

        Get ready for the football being thrown sideways 20+ times a game.

        I believe Wolf had a snarky blog post titled “Bubble Screen U” a few weeks back.

        • Kiffin’s re-arrival on the L.A. scene, as a Bruin no less, would be a dream come true for a certain sportswriter—driving him back into the Trojan fold, even at the cost of several hundred troll hits per week.

      • This would be a dream-come-true, a prayer sent from heaven. It’ll never happen though. Fairy tales sometimes come true, but this one never will.

      • Kiffin will be too busy testifying in the Sarkisian and McNair trials to be bothered with football.

      • How about Kiffin to UCLA as OC, then a year later replaces Mora as he moves back to the NFL…

  4. “The Steve Sarkisian lawsuit means little to the future of USC football” – unless you read the part where he wants his job back.

    “Meanwhile, an NCAA appeals court quietly ruled Monday” – what, they whispered the decision?

  5. Perhaps USC needs to receive a refund from the NCAA. Perhaps 5 additional scholies for 3 years, refund all cash penalties, reinstatement of all vacated NC’s, and a committee established to ensure NCAA does things according to the rules. Worth a shot? Seems the NCAA would be smart to settle and be done.

    • If McNair wins his case, you may have a point, but that would take a real AD to fight for that. I wonder where we could find one?

    • yes, and maybe you’ll get a time machine too – back to a time when SC wasn’t the most dysfunctional sports program in America!

  6. An NCAA appeals court ruled against the NCAA? Now that’s great reporting by Scoopin Scooter!!!!

    • You Trogans will never see any remedy for the sanctions. Doesn’t matter what happens to your crooked old coach.

      • Wrong, Trogan Fan. You can always sue when a governing agency acts without or in excess of it’s jurisdiction, or without observing it’s own rules of procedure. Maybe we sue the NCAA for $30, 000,000 and give little stevey 1% of the windfall so that he can find himself a nice studio apartment somewhere in the Nevada desert.

          • I like your style, Trogan Fan —hope USC’s Legal Department submits a brief containing your exact words, and not a syllable more, in the Sarkisian case.

  7. I think that is good news about Pendergast, and Orgeron on the DL will be a great add. OC is going to be critical, to find a guy with an offense that will work with the talent we have.

    I have decided to really pi ss off Ted and celebrate today the firing of Wilcox. Pina Colada’s after the bloody mary’s for breakfast and this evening Jack on the rocks in front of the fire.

    • It sounds like the local prices for alcoholic beverages might be going up after today, huh? lol.

    • How about Clay’s brother Tyson? He’s done some good stuff at Western Kentucky. Could be an up and coming coach.

    • While I love Orgeron as DL coach and recruiter, didn’t he leave USC because he wanted to be close to his family in Louisiana? Why would he want to separate from his family again? He also said he would only accept a Head Coach position but we won’t go there.

      Don’t worry about Tad… he’s delusional.

      • “didn’t he leave USC because he wanted to be close to his family in Louisiana?”

        I can certainly respect that, however I believe that it was more the dropkick to his crotch by our AD that caused him to…
        ‘Make like a British pyromaniac, and get his arson gear’, culminating in ‘making like an exorcist and getting the he ll out of here’.
        …eschewing the more familiar, however mundane, ‘dog and flea’, ‘tree and leaf’, ‘banana and split’, or ‘shepherd and getting the flock outta here’
        references.

        Perhaps we could lure him back with the promise of gumbo as well as cookies at the training table?

        • I sure hope we can get him back; we have a talented DL that is not producing. Plus he brings recruiting skills that might make up for Pendergast’s lack of skills should he return also.

          • As long as Mr. Haden remains our AD, I very much doubt that will happen. Nor would anyone with a modicum of self-respect come back into the fold after being strung along. So EO …
            made like Traveler caca and hit the trail. I guess one could also say that he made like a baby being born, and decided to head out.

        • Wouldn’t you leave if the AD was stupid enough to hire a fall down drunk instead of you? Who would want to stay around and have a drunkard boss you around?

  8. Wolf, regarding the 2006 13-9 debacle against UCLA. There is no doubt that UCLA played a great game defensively, but to call DeWayne Walker the architect is a bit of a stretch. The real MVP of that game was Lane Kiffin, who refused to make a single adjustment the entire game. This was the first time that the ego of Kiffin was on full display. It was if he was saying that it wasn’t his offensive scheme that was struggling, it was all the players fault.

    • True, that. His comment on the interception that ended the game for SC was that the UCLA linebacker was out of position. What????
      That’s a boy that can’t admit he is ever wrong. Dumb & Dumber both hired as head coaches at SoCal.

      • Sad to say, but at this point, it does seem that Sark is the “Dumber” to Kiffin’s “Dumb”. Sweet Jesus!

  9. Hearing that Sark’s litigation plan will be to out all of the dirty laundry the NCAA wasn’t able to find. This is going to be good!

  10. Scottie, let me get this right… we hire a coach because of one game on his resume and ignore the other 60 games?

    Wolfian logic, baby!

  11. Firing Sark when, why and how he did was one thing that Haden got completely right. Anybody think there wasn’t good cause to fire the public drunk without pay, especially after he’s loaded at practice and already been publicly warned he’s at the zero tolerance level? Really?

    Hopefully, we make Sark pull teeth before the insurance co pays the tab. In the meantime, USC is off and running from that leech. If he should be compensated for anything, it should be for wrecking himself with booze and and forcing USC’s hand early.

    Big issue now is Helton’s staff, especially the DC. He’s gotta nail it. I’m not sure why everyone wants the itinerant Pendergast back. He won’t recruit and he’s part of the unsuccessful old guard. From that group, Helton is about all I can take. I hope Helton finds somebody better. And different would be a good start.

    • I’m not so sure that was the smart move – not discounting the foolish decisions made by Sarkisian but considering Haden is an attorney the cause of the sacking was and is Sarkisian’s continued use of alcohol.

      To terminate falls into the ‘disability’ region that attorneys like to frolic in.

      We all are glad Sarkisian was sacked but it would have been far more beneficial to have fired him and paid two years of his future salary.

      I realize this is hindsight but we would have been rid of this clown and sadly now we are once again, in a period of two weeks where few if any games are being played – this is now what reporters live for i.e. a story to run with.

      This never should have been a possibility – the door should have been sealed shut properly on the 12th October instead of on the 7th December this bombshell reminiscent of the sneak attack from the French Frigate Shoals some 74 years ago.

      • As an attorney, I disagree. USC is correct to stand on its rights to discharge without pay an employee who violated his employment K despite prior legally appropriate warnings. It’s their duty in fact, unless they want to set precedent with all their employees that they don’t need to adhere to university policy.

        I’m not worried about the PR and distraction factor like you are.

        What makes you think USC can control what Sark does? Anybody can sue, and for any reason.

        Most of us knew Sark would sue if he didn’t like USC’s employment termination offer. Well, he didn’t. USC knew this was coming, despite their announcement yesterday, and it’s because USC refused to meet his demands. So, the school put him to the test. I think that’s great. Good for the school.

        • Your position is there is no cause I accept that and your noting the message it sends to future actions currently employed by the school – I get that.Ok but I still don’t see a ‘precedent’ – sack him for being a lousy coach just as Kiffin was and be done with it.

          Cutting him a check and being rid of this whole mess as a final sealing rather than ‘anticipating’ the move by Sarkisian (yesterday’s filing) –

          This could have been handled better and I now have to ask was this a unilateral decision by Haden with no other input from anyone else?

          Frankly as warranted as the sacking was the swiftness of it emits a scent of emotion – I’ d hope, in the future, there would be a bit of oversight to discuss options rather than what was done 12th October.

          I don’t get is the gain here – this is going to drip drip drip and be fodder for that which lives for such.

          • Why you would ever suggest Haden made a unilateral decision here is beyond me. That’s not how it works. Haden doesn’t cut the checks. This is a legal decision made by USC’s in-house counsel, any special outside counsel and the insurance co.

            Who cares about drip, drip, drip? You must be really affected by this. Sorry. It’s just business as usual in the corporate world and USC doesn’t want to pay to Sark what he demanded. Since you have no idea what he demanded, I guess you know better than USC’s legal counsel. More power to you.

          • I agree with you. Even if they had cut some kind of deal with Sark as they were giving him the boot, he could still be filing suit and claiming that he lacked capacity to enter a settlement because he was in withdrawal, or high as the moon, SC took advantage of him, etc. I’m not sure why anyone is surprised that he sued. There was nothing SC could have done to guarantee that he wouldn’t sue.

            If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your practice area? I’m in general business litigation, for lack of a better word.

          • I’m retired now but I was a civil litigator. Stressful work. I can’t say I miss it. Too much of a jealous mistress. Knew lots of attorneys who drank like fish and could probably put Sark under the table.

          • Jackie,
            Obviously you don’t worry about the drip, drip, drip, you’ve been living with it for years. I still say you are impossible to embarrass.

        • I thought it was interesting that the case revealed Sark was terminated via email (not via text as Scottie claims) while he was on the plane heading to rehab. Was there a timing issue where USC had to terminate Sark prior to him entering rehab and that’s why it happened this way?

          • Kind of like a race to the courthouse. Not sure of the implications, but I am sure each party decided their next move had to be immediate and they were concerned about legal outcomes. And who knows where Sark really was when he got the email. Might have been really hunched over a toilet.

            USC was finally fed up and Sark was desperate after having the big pow wow with his family who told him to get into rehab pronto, I’m guessing.

            Overall, I’d say it works against USC, but it won’t matter in the end as the settlement decision will depend upon much broader principles IMO and what any initial investigation by both parties reveals.

          • Hey, don’t knock it….Scott does some of his best work hunched over a toilet…..

        • I think most people who side with Sark don’t understand the concept of “reasonable accommodation”. USC gave him plenty of rope – instead of using it as a lifeline he turned into a noose.

          • From what I’ve observed of most alkies I’ve known, they need to hit bottom and bounce, or “slip” as they call it, several times before ever righting the ship, if they ever do. Manipulation is the name of their game and they definitely have their own definitions of most concepts, all designed to serve their egos and needs. With the alky, it’s all about “me.” And yes, they’re experts at hanging themselves too, over and over again.

    • Pendergast may have been part of the old guard, but under his leadership, our defense catapulted to the second best defense in the Pac-12 virtually overnight…granted he’s not the best recruiter, but I’m confident that others will pick up the slack…..

    • Whoever wrote a policy that insures SoCal Management against damages if they do the wrong thing is an idiot or just not paying attention.

  13. That could happen! I know Kiffin, and his family loved California. I don’t know what there going to do about the Kennedy pola/Lane Kiffin rift. Maybe pola will go back to USC.

    • USC kept Nansen. Doubt Pola is coming back for reasons too numerous to mention. I certainly wouldn’t mind it but I don’t think USC has a specific need for him. USC’s runners look great for the most part. No complaints there.

      • One thing I know is Layla Kiffin prefers living in California, by a long shot over the sec. If she didn’t like living in Knoxville, Tennessee then I know she doesn’t like living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

        The only hurdle in bringing Kiffin to ucla as oc, is Kennedy Pola. We all know they had an ugly divorce. I think Kiffin would be great hire for ucla. The guy wasn’t a very good head coach, but the guy can recruit like crazy. One thing I heard is that lane Kiffin was the unsung hero of all those dynamite Pete Carroll recruiting classes at USC. I think mora wants to take it to the next level as far as recruiting goes. Hiring lane Kiffin would do that!

          • He was a joke as a head coach, but the guy can recruit with the best of them. He made Pete Carroll’s job a lot easier in regards to recruiting when he was at USC.

        • Now that might work. It had occurred to me, but I didn’t think that UCLA would pull the trigger on such an outrageous move. I like it.

          • The guy can recruit like crazy! If ucla wants to compete for national championships they are goin to have to increase their talent. Jim Mora didn’t come to ucla to go 8-4! That guy is competitive as hell. He makes Rick neuheisel look mellow! It would not surprise me at all, if mora pulls the trigger on this!

  14. “Fresh” Doubt? The big question no one seems to have addressed is while the NCAA aka Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger, who ordered the Hit on USC? One early example, the LA Times wrote that “the USC 2006 Pro Day was regarded as the Pro Day to End All Pro Days by NFL and College people alike”. Shortly thereafter, the NCAA banned recruits & the public from attending Pro Days on the premise it gave certain schools recruiting advantages. I doubt the NCAA did that on their own, but had a request. The suspects include certain new ND coach that does things the Patriot Way, along with the Big Ten and SEC TV Partners who were getting tired of constant Double Digit Beat Downs.

    • Again so what. The issue is moot. What do you expect the NCAA do, issue KU a get out of jail free card, for use the next time KU gets nabbed.

      Had Emperor Garrett kept his big mouth shut and played the game, KU might have skated with minor sanctions.

      • So when your wrongfully accused of murder you should skate with a manslaughter charge? Google NCAA Investigator Rich Johnningmeier and see what type of scumbag was involved in this. Not the first time he has been sued for Defamation

  15. what DOUBT??? the Sanction are done and OVER!!

    this is like a lady with five squalling brats declaring “there’s a fresh DOUBT that i was ever pregnant!!!”

    trOXans, you HAD the baby already, it was a breached baby that came out feet first and it was UGLY!!!!

    #UnholyProcreation

  17. “Therefore,we need not analyze McNair’s likelihood of prevailing on this cause of action”

    all this means is the case goes to trial: and the CADRE is a winner no matter what, because the dirty laundry will be SPLASHED all over the sports pages!! the NCAA will call Bush, Bush’s daddy, McNair’s estranged star witness, McNair, Carroll, by the time they’re done, Paddy Boy will wish he had another year of sanctions rather than undergo this shaming!! and all for NADA!!

    #BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor

    • The NCAA will have more dirty laundry than USC, like who and how they obtained their information. Still trying to keep certain emails sealed I believe.

      • not a bad idea!! they will be out to shame Southern Cal, that’s for sure. borrOcho may confirm McNair knew AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL about the Bush scheme!!!

        #PossibilitiesStaggerTheMind

    • Bush will have to take pointers from Roman Polanski on how to ditch the law.

      Just think, McNair may have to fess up he mentioned Bush’s $$$$ payoffs to Little Petey. Of course Little Petey didn’a know squat. Trial on KU fans.

  18. Thai.
    Remember our coke zero bet? I forgot who did what to whom. All I can recall is that Utah was involved. If it was the USC game, I won. If it was the UCLA game, you won.
    You may be a persona non grata to some, however I trust your veracity.

  19. Maybe Pat Haden can ask his hero (Brad Otton #10 painting) for some advise on the Sark lawsuit. Otton is experience in being sued. www[dot]tmz[dot]com/2013/11/05/brad-otton-usc-quarterback-lawsuit-pizza/

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