USC Morning Buzz: Have Your Perceptions Changed?

So who was complimenting Snopp Dogg on Signing Day for his video with Jack Jones committing to USC but ripping him a year ago when his son signed with UCLA?

Meanwhile, I could not help but point out to someone at the Galen Center last night the way former USC assistant coaches Justin Wilcox, Peter Sirmon and Chris Wilson found amazing jobs for next season.

Wilcox and Sirmon became defensive coordinators at Wisconsin and Mississippi State while Wilson became the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive line coach. It’s significant because I don’t know if I ever heard more criticism about assistant coaches from within the program than Wilcox and Wilson the past two seasons. Failing upward!

64 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Have Your Perceptions Changed?

  1. From “within” the program? …..it came from YOU, too! Remember those endless repostings of the picture of Wilcox choking himself every time YOU passively criticized him?

  2. Wilcox, Kiffin, King Joffrey, Daddy Warbucks’ kid; failing upward has been common for time immemorial. Certainly annoying, but just the way of the world.

  3. Good for them finding work. Moving on from the disasters also known as Sarkiffin will always have distractions. Good luck to all of them and success in their new positions. They are going to be leading young men and I hope that they are ready to execute those responsibilities faithfully.

  4. USC basketball is doing well right now. Good job destroying the bRuins last night. So Cal Slamma Jamma on Figueroa!

  5. Actually, Peter Sirmon is the only one who’s in a better position than last season, because coaches use Wisconsin as a stepping stone, and can’t wait to get out of there. And most people think the Eagles coaching staff is weak , but from a financial standpoint, I understand why Chris Wilson jumped on it .

  6. Snoop Dog goes where the cameras are. He knew the kid growing up also.
    Sirmon took a step up, Wilcox took a step down, and Wilson took whatever was offered. Call it what you want, the fact is that two of them we are glad they are gone, and we salute Sirmon for his step up.

    • Anyone who knocked Snoop for supporting UCLA is an idiot. He has money and his family tied to UCLA yet he loves USC and always will. His Adidas endorsement deal prohibits him from wearing certain USC gear (Nike) publicly and encourages the wear of UCLA gear (Adidas) which probably isn’t hard since HIS SON goes to school there.

  7. Lot of people inside the USC program liked Sirmon. Thought he was very sharp.

    Doug Pederson was a last minute hire for the Eagles. His staff were last minute hires. Wilson and Pederson had an existing relationship. Coaching. It is not what you know, it is who you know.

    BTW: Pederson will be fired by the end of the 2017 season.

    Wilcox will be adequate at Wisconsin, where it is similar to Oregon in one very important aspect — their football philosophy and style of play had been established years before by a very dominant figure. Wisconsin plays the way Barry Alvarez tells his coaches to play. It is plug and play football, and as long as Wilcox schemes the defenses that Barry Alvarez says to scheme the defenses, he will do. Plus, unlike Aranda, he comes cheap (important for Wisconsin), and will not be looking for big pay days from SEC schools down the road.

    • Helton loved Sirmon and did not want to lose him, he just didn’t want him as D coordinator. Sirmon was staying unless he got a D cord position which happened. He was a very good coach

  8. USC has a GREAT night of basketball and this is what you post, 3 coaches who no longer coach at SC getting jobs elsewhere ?

  9. Good win for SC again last night. SC is a much better team at the current time and UCLA simply isn’t very good at all.

    Does anyone really care about Snoop Dogg?

  10. Or,maybe it is amazing they found jobs…being a ww2 baby,I am glad all those famous newsmen and reporters did not think it wrong to report on the war and not trashing the U.S. and its allies to prove some weird view it was wrong if we were doing a great job and effort by all…

  11. You replaced Coordinator level coaches at major programs with position coaches from mid-major programs! How is that an improvement?

    #howdeepdoestheholegoatsoutherncal

      • Great Charlie Bucket is in your head even after a win for your championship less basketball team. The Cadre though small by definition is a group of driven individuals dedicated to telling the truth about the imbecilic rants of rah rah’s as such as yourselves… Don’t go rushing out to buy any rope now!!

  12. I’ll tell you what perception should be changing is the people on here constantly blaming PH for everything that doesn’t go exactly right. Baseball, basketball and football were in shambles when he got here. Everything has not panned out, but where are we now…baseball a top 10 pre-season ranking, basketball not only making the tourney, but could make a run in it and football finally has a guy in charge that looks like he can recruit, coach and lead. Coming off of the sanctions we are in position now to make our return. A bunch of people on here claimed CH couldn’t recruit and would end up w a terrible class. Top 10 class that would be higher if we had more scholies to give. PH hired and guided all these sports transitions. If we are being fair he has actually done a very good job as AD

    • But he was not hired to fix basketball and baseball. He was hired to guide to football program through the sanctions, with as little drama as possible, then return them to prominence, ala Alabama. And he falied at that, such that Max had to step in and essentially hire Helton to at the very least eliminate the drama and silliness that emanated when Haden allowed Kiffin and Sark to run the program, and to also fix the serious mistake in hiring Sark over Peterson and Orgeron.

      • If you think Sark was hired over Peterson then you truly have no inside inside info. Peterson was never coming, just like he was never going to ucla when they wanted him. Hiring a coach isn’t like going to the store and simply selecting whatever you want. Sark was a mistake…a mistake that also brought in the #1 recruiting class last year. Haden was brought in to fix all of it. If you think it was only football then you should stop posting. It was about the entire athletic dept and managing SC into a premium position in regards to upgrades at the colisseum which he’s done. Finally, SC is headed back in the right direction. Coming off of sanctions isn’t like flipping a switch it took Bama much longer with far fewer sanctions.

        • Hiring a HC at a top-10 football program like USC isn’t that hard if the money is right. You can make excuses about Haden all you want. How many ADs make Haden’s kind of salary? What are his qualifications in being an AD? Evidently, it was supporting Max Nikias in being named President as a trustee! You cannot deny that. The fact is, in regards to the football program, he has made one blunder after another. Football at USC is the flagship, nothing less. You can fix the coliseum and dust off the other programs into respectability. If your football program is mediocre, mired in 8 & 5 records, the tail is wagging the dog.

        • Wrong, stupid.

          Peterson came all the way to LA to INTERVIEW. It is and was offt-reported. Means he was interested, especially since top coaches in demand rarely interview. Sumlin, for example, refused to interview.

          The interview went poorly because Peterson though he was going to be sold USC, while Mark Jackson aggressively quizzed him about dealing with the LA media, pressure at USC, etc.

          If you think Haden was brought in to fix baseball, find a new track coach or women’s BB coach, then you are dumber than soup.

          • So successful coaches at USC don’t have to successfully navigate the LA media? That’s the strategy you’re going with. Peterson was never coming. Football is the biggest piece of the puzzle but not the only piece. You clearly have no idea about big time collegiate management or management at all. Football is actually in pretty good position right now considering what was handed down by the NCAA. Never missed a bowl opportunity despite dressing 1/2 to 3/4 the scholarship of our competition. Haden reigning June 30 so you have your wish

          • OBVIOUSLY Haden wasn’t brought in to fix the other sports that you’ve mentioned, but why do you steadfastly refuse to even concede that he’s had a positive impact on USC sports, other than football?

          • I have been on the board for a long time, and I have defended Haden, especially from “Iron Mike” and his various iterations, who was slamming Haden after he was barely into the job for one year, because of the dumpster fires that were Men’s B, Women’s BB and baseball, all of which were caused and made worse by the extremely lazy hires of Mike “Don’t interrupt my 2:00 pm nap” Garrett. So yeah, he kind of got lucky with Hobbs (Haden also hired Frank Cruz, don’t forget), Enfield was an inspired, out-of-the-box hire, and Cooper at least has women’s BB in a place where they are competing and not treading water. Plus he had to prepare for the eventual retirement of Ron Alice.

            The Coliseum lease (not the renovations, which is a different story) is Haden’s biggest and most important achievement. I don’t think commenters appreciate what a big deal it was to take control, and how one-sided the lease deal is. USC had tried for years to get better terms and more influence, and were rebuffed at every step. The Coliseum was the biggest long term threat to the competitive nature of the football program, and it was something that Garrett could not fix (in part because of his gruff nature, in part because Garrett and Bernie Parks, USC’s biggest nemesis, hated each other). Granted, Haden was helped by a termed-out Parks and the deep, intense corruption of the Coliseum Commission, but it took an operator like Haden to smooth over egos while still hammering out an extremely favorable, one-sided lease.

            But Haden will forever be remembered for the mismanagement for USC most visible institution, the football program, and that he will wear it to his grave.

          • Unless Helton pulls a rabbit out of the hat…….so I’ll ask you a loaded question, then….who would have done a better job navigating the football program through these unprecedented sanctions imposed by the NCAA?…. my opinion that anyone would have failed, but Haden had thick enough skin to take the heat on behalf of the school……and I completely agree with you about the Coliseum lease…

      • Haden was brought in to stop the bleeding. He is a PR, lawyer type that Max liked. Sample got screwed because he and Garrett took the rap for the NCAA boondoggle. That truth on that will eventually come out and Sample at least will be exonerated. My beef is that both Haden and Nikias are the PC type and don’t want to stand up and fight. They just want to let sanctions pass and be thought of as a law abiding citizen again. It is all PR and image. We should have had some cojones and sued the NCAA until they were blue in the face. The only glaring mistake that Haden made was hiring Sarkisian, and it was a huge one at that.

      • Haden was brought in to stop the bleeding. He is a PR, lawyer type that Max liked. Sample got screwed because he and Garrett took the rap for the NCAA boondoggle. That truth on that will eventually come out and Sample at least will be exonerated. My beef is that both Haden and Nikias are the PC type and don’t want to stand up and fight. They just want to let sanctions pass and be thought of as a law abiding citizen again. It is all PR and image. We should have had some cojones and sued the NCAA until they were blue in the face. The only glaring mistake that Haden made was hiring Sarkisian, and it was a huge one at that.

  13. ”Meanwhile, I could not help but point out to someone,” simply means he was talking to himself.

  14. #1–I was in favor of revamping the coaching staff. Wilcox had to go, if for no other reason than he had become so toxic to the fan base & in the media. That being said, another perspective on the coaches getting legitimate jobs–as fans we are passionate about our teams and often let that passion impact our objectivity. We have a pack mentality & when blood is in the water we join the feeding frenzy. While we only see negatives, the more dispassionate observer (hiring coaches & AD’s ) is looking at the whole picture. Thus our garbage becomes someone’s treasure–maybe. And a final thought–the most unqualified coach//AD is infinitely more qualified to judge a coaches qualifications than 99.9% of those who post on blogs & call in talk shows. IMO

  15. Or… Perhaps you were wrong in your constant belittling of these guys. I’ve said it before – you MAY not be the best evaluator of coaching talent.

  16. What a great win for the Trojans, last night it was another solid win against a UCLA team that was at full strength, and were not on sanctions or did not have a revolving coaching door!!!,,(Wink, Wink), considering where USC BB program were at the last X amount of years, this is really great they should be proud of themselves and hopefully they can build off this and be more consistently competitive in the future. As far as Snoop is concerned he was always a Trojan fan but once his son, committed to UCLA he had to be loyal to family, and I get it!! If Snoop wants to come back to the Trojan family, in my opinion no problem. As far as the Coach’s are concerned, I can’t remember if it was Fred Sampson, or not but he said “I’m sure Wilcox wasn’t Wisconsin’s first choice, maybe fifth”, and maybe that goes for the rest of the coach’s I do not know, but what can you say at least they have jobs to support them and their family, All I know is it was time for them to go and I’m happy their gone.I was disappointed Marques Tuiosopo did not stay on, but if Cody Kessler was a sample of his quarterback coaching ability’s then maybe it was time for him to move on ….FIGHT ON!!

    • Exactly. If USC could always get its first choice, staffing would have looked, and would now look, rather different.

      And implied in your BB remarks is something that has gotten lost: PAT HADEN MADE A GOOD HIRE. Maybe his m.o. there should be reviewed more carefully by Nikias for future use.

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