USC Morning Buzz: Lynn Swann Takes Center Stage

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Lynn Swann will be at USC today. And he should be congratulated for an amazing feat: He was hired as athletic director after USC considered more than 200 applicants for the job. More than 200 people applied and USC determined the most-qualified person was someone with no experience as an athletic director. Did Swann even interview for the job?

“Lynn Swann will be able to immediately fill Pat Haden’s role as golf-trip organizer for the USC rich and powerful boosters,” radio host Petros Papadakis said. “Don’t sit here and lie to people and say you hired a search firm. They obviously don’t want to hire anybody with any kind of administrative experience. They want to make an image hire. Don’t tell me about your search firm.

“I don’t think USC cares what anybody cares or thinks about anything anymore.”

90 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Lynn Swann Takes Center Stage”

  1. Gee Petros tell us what you really think huh? Oh yeah – well there goes your and daddy’s campaign to be even seen anytime soon on campus i.e. loaded guns and microphones.

  2. Petros is right for once. The Search firm is a joke. Also consider the timing of the Swann announcement on Kobe’s last game and the Warriors win streak. Is SC trying to slip this under the radar? Something is rotten on Figueroa..

    • Well it is possible they wanted to name an A.D. before the spring game…. And not a QB until after

    • Why would they want to slip the hiring of Lynn Swann under the radar? He’s one of the best Trojans ever, and anybody who can’t see that he is more than capable of being an Athletic Director is a joke themselves.

      • Ya, it’s funny how none of us knew Swanny was hired within the same two minutes around the world. What a secret. It was the main topic of conversation and press coverage until Kobe took the floor.

        • How anybody could see the return of Lynn Swann, along with his incredible background/experience in both sports management and politics, to USC in ANY administrative capacity as anything but terrific is nuts

          • It boggles my mind how smart some of these idiots think they are. They seem to even think they should have been in on the hiring process. Funny stuff. Many of them wouldn’t even know how to hire a gardener or a maid.

          • Well we all know that Ucla produces some of the finest gardeners and maids in the business!

  3. I think Petros has been bitten in the nether region by the dense beard of justice. A lawyer with a name which sounds like burgers has Petros make commercials for him and you can Petros salivating over his lines.
    And just now I realize Petros is right USC doesn’t care what he thinks .
    That’s why they didn’t hire him.

  5. The hiring of Swann clearly demonstrates that Nikias is secure in his position & is firmly in control. And Haden still has influence. All strong leaders make decisions based on what they think is right and pay little attention to the nay sayers. That said, I am less than enthused with the choice and hope against hope it pays off. But again, if FB wins no one will care who the AD is.

    • Based on an account in the LA Times I was wrong about one thing–Haden does not appear to have the influence I thought he did. He apparently was backing Lopes for the job. I don’t know if this makes me feel better or worse about the decision.

  6. Not sure the story line that Swann has no sports “administrative” experience is quite correct. From 2011 to 2014 he was a co-owner and executive board member of the Pittsburgh Power, an arena football league team. Board duties would likely have included hiring and firing coaching personnel and handling HR issues with employees, as well as financing of the team.

    I think Swann is not only a good fit at USC, but a high profile person needed to work with wealthy donors to renovate the Coliseum and the alumni association. USC can always find an assistant administrator but not someone the caliber of Swann. And what a great message he embodies to players and their families.

    My biggest regret is that Swann didn’t turn down the USC job and run for governor of California or US Senator from California.

    • Plenty of time for him to do that. He has to establish himself back in California first. A black Republican governor or senator would drive California liberals insane!

    • Pat Haden served with a Private Investment firm and served as a director for several portfolio companies. He is also on the board of director with several companies as well.

      If what you say is true, why wasn’t Haden a success? Face it, USC is insular and the search firm was a sham.

      • Hey YoYo, another idiot sympathizer with the conservatives. Swann is a figure head for fund raising
        which will be his main job. Maybe he turns out okay!

    • You must be locked up somewhere. Republicans winning a major office in California is more than remote. His fame in Pennsylvania got him nowhere in his bid for Governor losing to a Jewish candidate. Never could understand why an Afro-American would support the most hateful party around who cares nothing about minorities.

      • No party is more hateful than the party of Hitlery,Luis Guitierrez, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Reverend Al Sharpton the race baiter and Black Lives Matter. You Democrats love keeping blacks in a state of dependency to big government.

  7. Boom!
    From the mouth of a Trojan.
    It will be interesting to see whether the new AD tries to make peace with an increasingly hostile media (except SoCal groupie & Sark fan Coward Colin of course)

    • J, I don’t live in the LA area so I don’t see all of the articles and hear the talk shows regularly. Is the media hostile or questioning? I think they are two different things.I do read SW a lot. From my reading of his blog & his articles I believe he is unfairly negative of USC and minimizes their attributes while maximizing their negatives.I think a fair conclusion is he is hostile to USC. But is the rest of the media?

      • Trojan5,
        It’s mainly Petros & SW with Petros being questioning and SW annoying. The local broadcast media doesn’t bite the hand that feeds them, even during Garrett & Carroll’s reign of non-compliance and through two bust head coaches in a row. SoCal is a ESPN team so they will always get love from them. The interesting thing is that the two most hostile (Petros & SW) are SC alumni who seem to be embarrassed by the behavior of their Athletic Department. The culture of arrogance during Carroll’s tenure is what got SoCal on NCAA probation and it will be interesting to see if that changes with Swann. Seems to me to be the same formula.

        • Your take seems reasonable. I listen to a lot of national shows and read a fair share of national writers–all seem to wonder what the hell is going on & question why USC doesn’t hire a name brand coach or AD–but they don’t make it personal and also try to acknowledge their are always multiple sides to an issue. I have friends who are still furious with Haden for not fighting the NCAA–I think that doing so would have been a fools errand and had little to no chance of meaningful success. The arrogance that helped lead them to the path of destruction was a major reason Haden (with NIikias blessing) took the stance he did. Haden screwed the pooch with Sark & made a few dumb moves , but he also helped bring USC back into compliance.

    • I remember when the great Mr. Haden was hired! High profile, great football playing resume, and Rhodes Scholar to boot! Haha.

  9. Petros is right about one thing: SC doesn’t care what anybody thinks……..And RIGHTFULLY so. Including what Petros thinks.

  10. Oh! buhhhhhhhhhh-BAM!!!

    Petros LAYING it DOWN to the SOUNDS!!!!

    And when I say buh-BAM, i mean like how George Atkinson used to knock Swanny out cold every game!!!

    #HeadsUp

  11. Petros can be blamed for hype in saying outlandish things with the best of them. But in this case, in what he said about USC’s search for a new AD, I think Petros is “spot on” and it doesn’t take any intelligence to see this! Again, I keep saying it, its all about the USC Ivory Tower in that they know everything and their s**t don’t stink. I will tell you something else and you better believe it. The real power at USC and at most Universities, is the faculty. They can collectively make mountains move in any decision made. If you don’t believe this, your head is in the sand brother.

    • Those two hated Swanny with a passion…Atkinson knocked him out cold two consecutive games, and neither time was the ball even thrown Swamny’s way!!

      Atkinson is a well loved broadcaster for Oak, while Swanny, well Swanny campaigned AGAINST Obummer TWICE!!

      #NotHisKindOfGuey

      • Man the Swanny stopped Obama’s campaign right is its tracks – very similar to an AJ matador style tackle.

        • Gotta wonder what the players will think when they find out Swanny is so Anti-Obummer. They don’t know who the heck Swanny is, but they know and like Obummer I wager!

          #HugeStreetCredIssue

  13. Stick your head back up your tailpipe Petros where it belongs. No one that matters really cares what you think.

    • Petros is a southern cal alum… former captain of the football team… That kind of pedigree and achievement deserves your respect and your attention.

      Petros and WoIf are my favorite trOJans!!

    • He’s an ugly buffoon who drinks a lot. Some things never change. He’s also perfect for the Trolls, his main audience.

      • Your envy of the Papadakis clan is stunning!! Is it because they are famous, successful and people pay good money to hear Petros’ opinion??

        You must consider yourself a big failure in life…explains the jealousy. well, DEAL WITH IT!!

        #PapadakisPower

        • You may feed off Papadakis troll talk, but he has to be nice and politically correct because he works for a bruin radio station. I wouldn’t take his flirting very serious, remember he was a BAD football player on one of the worse teams ever at USC so he only has that to turn to in his wisdom. Not a very thick portfolio.

          • your bias is amusing. Petros is HUGELY successful. he has his own radio show, is a weekly regular on several TV shows, was a CAPTAIN on Sothern Cal’s team, and is #16 all time TD list for what i’m sure you consider an illustrious football program.

            now i don’t know you or the cross dressing Jaquie, but i have to guess neither of you is NEARLY as successful in your chosen field as Petros is. so the fact is, you crybabies ranting about Petros this and Petros that is just sour graped jealosy, pure and simple!!

            #GreenEyedBabies

          • He may be funny. I admit that he makes me laugh, but he was a turd rolling around the toilet when he played at USC. Bruins tend to gravitate towards turds.

          • Classic Petros moments….

            When Matt Stevens would choke the life out of him on the air for USC/UCLA week.

            #PRICELESS

  14. The sports administration at USC think their fans, and followers are a bunch of fools, and they are so full of BS that its transparent. I predicted the outcome of all of their buffoonery moves, from the hiring of Lane Kiffin, and Steve Sarkisian, to the fake phoney search for an athletic director. And until the administration stops thinking they are smarter then everybody else, they will continue to have comical endings to these head scratching, hires.

    • Sounds like you think you’re smarter than everyone else too. Maybe you should work for USC. Then we would have hired the perfect football coaches, the perfect ADs and then you could somehow wrangle a new president for SC.

      By the way, who cares if the search was phony? Frankly, it’s none of your business if it was. And so what if it was? Lots of things are totally phony in society, including about 25% of the things we say to other people every day, for professional and other purposes.

      Actually, USC is filled with many people who are substantially smarter at their jobs than you would ever be. Funny thing is, you’re not smart enough to grasp that.

        • If so then why am I not second guessing every USC hire, like I know better? Why am I not complaining about the so-called phony search, which I had no business knowing about anyway? Why am I not accusing USC of thinking all its fans are dumb and foolish, when clearly we’re not and clearly USC doesn’t think so? Nice try, no cigar. Try harder next time.

          • Do you even know any other hires in the sports program the last few years. Been to a men volleyball match this season? Doubt you could name the head coaches for every team in the athletic dept. w/o looking them up online, and where they came from before USC.

          • If, off the top of your head, you can name every head coach in USC athletics and know where they came from, check yourself into a hospital as asap and request heavy medication. You’re funny, obviously.

          • You’re the always strange poster who doesn’t even know what “couldn’t care less” means. Google it and maybe you’ll get it down.

          • Ask and ye shall receive.
            “I couldn’t care less” is hyperbole. “I could care less” is condescending sarcasm.

            I appologize for making the assumption that you had a tad more sophistication than that, and would have opted for the sarcastic version.
            In the future, I will attempt to refrain from getting your panties in a wad. I will gladly defer to Mr. Bucket, who, in an above post, appears to have your undergarments down pat.

          • You couldn’t upset a flea. You still can’t even figure out what “I couldn’t care less” means. In your mind, you still think it means somebody cares.

            Actually, you remind me a lot of the Trolls around here, especially Crotch Boy, Just Squats and ToyBoy22, going on about “undergarments” and such. No surprise you’d be into that stuff.

          • Have a nice day.

            See you tomorrow at the Gray Lady. I will be the one in the USC hat.

      • I’m totally amazed at how my comments rile you up to the point where you have to reduce yourself to insulting people , like most gutless, cyber bullies do. Now that’s funny as hell, because I have plenty more where that came from, so I strongly suggest you ignore some of them, to prevent yourself from going into cardiac arrest.

        • Don’t get so upset. You deserve to be insulted because you don’t know what you’re talking about. Bring it on junior. If you don’t like my responses to you, too bad. You can choke on them. You smart enough to grasp that? Good.

          • Jacqui is so hilarious in her passive aggressive bully tactics! Remember Jacqui, “Friendship is Magic!” LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          • I actually like your responses , I just don’t wantt you to hurt yourself on mine . And I didn’t how effective my comments are on you …lol Bravo !

          • I don’t know why you made such a big fuss. All I said was you weren’t so smart and that I couldn’t care less if the AD search was phony. Now I’m a cyber bully.

            Well, if you can find me a Petros Papadakis mask for Halloween, I’ll lay off.

  15. I think the question to be asked after paying millions for a search firm is whether we had a lot of people turn the job down before we settled on Lynn Swann. If over 200 candidates applied or showed interest i asked the same question as this years presidential election. ” is this the best we got?”

  17. I agree that Max no longer gives any f^(%$.

    At this point, he is essentially trolling all the whiny SC fans that have emailed him countless times over the past four years.

  19. Hahahaaaa! I know USC doesn’t give a sh** about what Petros Papadakis or SW think about them. Lol! Oh yeah, neither did Pete Carroll or Matt Leinart.

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