J.K. McKay Surfaces

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Former USC associate athletic director J.K. McKay was on ESPN radio (710-AM) today. Some of the better parts:

On Steve Sarkisian: “The decision (to hire him) I regret looking back on it. There were very few people interested in the USC job at that time. The true story about Steve and what happened to him at USC have not come out.”

On Lane Kiffin: “It was not an easy decision. There was a lot that I can’t talk about it.”
On Clay Helton: “I know him really well. I am a big fan of him. I hear the rumblings he’s in trouble if he doesn’t beat Stanford. Clay deserves time.”
On Lynn Swann: “I think Lynn felt like, and I guess I felt like, that Lynn needed his own people there. It’s his deal now. Pat was leaving and I may as well leave at the same time.”
My take: Few people interested in the USC job? Yes, if you do not call them. Chris Petersen was interested. Kyle Whittingham would have been. Tom Herman would have been. Do some legwork and find someone.
And it sure sounds like he left more on Swann’s wishes than his own.

80 thoughts on “J.K. McKay Surfaces”

  1. I can understand him stopping short of discussing Sark fully with a lawsuit in SC’s face, but why grow silent with Kiffin?– SC only last month finished paying off the guy.

  2. I heard the interview live, but I take his support of Clay Helton with a grain of salt. After all it was J.J. and Hayden’s last official hire, and of course they want him to succeed, or else all the hires they made during their tenure failed. And it wouldn’t be so questionable if Clay’s supporting cast had more proven coaching experience. Just because you may be considered a great recruiter, doesn’t mean you can coach and develope players. We will see.

    • They ran an ad in the Pennysaver just before it went out of business. Coaches wanted must have drinking problem under control.

  4. What exactly were J.K. McKay’s job duties other than collecting a fat check? Based on his answers about nobody being interested in the USC job, tells me he is a lying fool, just like his best friend, Pat Haden. Because Jack Del Rio openly stated, that if offered, he would have accepted the job.

    • I doubt seriously if Del Rio was interested returning to CFB. The college recruiting and rules and regulations merry-go-round can be tiresome.

    • I don’t know that Petersen was as interested as people think. The SC job may not have been a fit for him. Maybe he didn’t want to work for Haden. Maybe he likes having more control than SC would give him. Maybe he doesn’t like dealing with powerful boosters and alumni. Who knows? But it is a big job and not as easy to find someone to connect all those dots. Since John Robinson there has only been Pete Carroll who was able to do all of that.

      It’s a similar situation with UCLA basketball. The job isn’t quite as dreamy as some of the supporters believe it to be.

      • Petersen didn’t really want the job, not at the end, once he found out all that it entailed. He was always skeptical about the L.A/USC fit and knew he was going to get 100 other offers. Haden’s other candidate, the drunk, would kill for the job and that swung it. Petersen wasn’t telling Haden what he wanted to hear. Sark was, so Sark won in a last minute comeback, because the day before the hire, Petersen was going to get the job.

        But both Haden and Petersen backed off. Were Haden smart, he would have assuaged Petersen’s fears and closed the deal with any sweetener needed. Instead, he just went to what seemed the simpler choice, the guy who would get no other offers, and the rest is history.

        • And he may simply be better off in Seattle with less pressure and a desirable place to raise a family. A lot of Bruins make noise about trying to get Mark Few from Gonzaga or Brad Stevens from Butler. Just don’t think Guerrero could pull it off and it just isn’t the job it once was.

        • He already had the perfect caretaker guy in Coach O. Until the effects of sanctions have been eliminated namely the 2017 season, go with Coach O unless he totally screws up, which he didn’t. Haden must’ve thought that SC was going to win championships with an undermanned team. If that is the case, it would confirm what most of us were thinking that unlike BO, Haden does Not know football!

          • With all due respect to Orgeron, any coach who thinks feeding cookies to his o-line is gonna fix any problems needs his head examined. Orgeron was strictly an interim fanboy all the way. The rest of the college world knows that which is why he was passed over at LSU too – for the def coord position! The dude’s just not a HC and there are thousands of Ole Miss Rebel fans who will back me up on that. Great recruiter though! One of the Trojans’ best ever in that dept. He could have been the next Marv Goux at USC if he hadn’t lost his cool at the end and, well, that’s another story.

          • My point is that what SC needed at that time was a caretaker coach until the effect of sanction were over or nearly over. Orgeron was a great candidate for that role. The Sarkisian era was a disater. And now we have Helton, who could’ve been a caretaker candidate but now is in the position of bringing the team up to the top level but has had no previous HC experience. At least Coach O did at Ole Miss. He stated that he learned from his mistakes there. Again, all that was needed was a caretaker. Coach O was as good a candidate as any and in fact better than most.
            Haden does Not know football as evidenced by the way the Coach O situation played out, his firing of Kiffin, his hiring and firing of Sark and his hiring of Helton.
            One can only hope that Swann is better than Haden.

      • Sure it’s a big job. But if that bothers a coach then he probably isn’t the right person for the job. The great coaches strive on that kind of pressure. Was Peterson interested? Sure he was. Why travel 850 miles to interview twice for a job he wasn’t interested in? After two interviews, he probably decided that he didn’t fit here but I think it was PH who convinced him of that. They probably put so many constraints on him in the interviews as to what he could do and what he couldn’t do, he probably went away thinking “they’re trying to tell me how to coach”. No great coach is going to put up with that. If they want a great coach they had better drop all the constraints. Pat Haden convinced him that LA was not a good “fit” for him because he wanted Sark. That’s why after Washington had beaten SC in the coliseum and a reporter asked him how coaching at Washington compared with what might have been(namely, coaching at SC), his answer was….”it’s all about fit”. He was just being sarcastic and I don’t blame him. If you’re an AD and you can get a coach who you really want to hire to come that far and interview twice for the job and then you are not able to hire him, you’re either not a very good AD or you probably did not want the guy in the first place. In Hadens case, I think both are true.

  5. “Do some legwork and find someone.” Coming from Scott?
    Word travels thru the grapevine. The job Haden was doing was probably enough to scare good coaches from coming here.
    He should have fought the NCAA, but seemed content to keep SC mediocre. To build a strong dominate program would probably be seen as boastful and evil, according to Haden.

  6. I think they call those “settlement agreements” where neither party can discuss the details. J.K. doesn’t need a lawsuit.

    You don’t know for a fact that others were interested – that’s just silly. A team on the verge of heavy sanctions is not a desirable place to build your career. No sugar-coating it.

  8. JK is lieing! I can’t believe Korn Ferry came back with zero! Impossible! JK sounds unhappy about losing a cushy job doing nothing except cashing fat USC checks! Welcome to the real world JK! Go get a real job! Don’t leave any money on the table wherever you land! Good riddance!!!

  9. I’m sure few coaches want to deal with the short leash they would be placed on, while dealing with sanctions and players they did not recruit. That’s a bad combo and that’s why SC should definitely give CH time.. .I just hope we beat Stanford so everyone can shut the hell up.

    • Don’t forget! We’re a “work in progress!” That’s CH speak for the losses are coming! I want a refund!

        • I know you hate that expression! I’m just translating CH speak! Everyone insists on CH! Remember—10-15%! The fan base is angry! You wanted the truth earlier today! Here it is!

          • Helton needs to work on himself. That much I’m in total agreement with.

            If he loses to Stanford, he’ll start to understand just how much trouble he’s in, ’cause I don’t think he quite gets it yet.

  10. How does it benefit McKay or USC to talk about the Kiffer? It doesn’t and McKay also said he and the Kiffer are still friends and they still talk. It sounded like he regretted the decision to fire the Kiffer and that’s the way the radio hosts took it too. Said it was a close call, especially because nobody wanted to replace the Kiffer while USC had an angry fanbase and was only signing 15 new kids a year.

    McKay clearly suggested USC has a lot of dirt on Sark and emphasized how he was strenuously vetted before the hire.

    It sounded like Sark might be afraid to show his face in L.A. again if the details of what led to his dismissal ever get out – but McKay predicted they would get out eventually. He also acted surprised that Sark bombed out so badly.

    McKay was paid 800+ K minimum a year to do nothing, so he can’t complain. He had the cushiest job in America. That was another disgrace. But his wife makes bookoo bucks and he doesn’t need to work.

    • Man that is a lot f scratch for doing nothing ‘cept giving interviews on the way out the door. Maybe JK can get a gig over at the Mayr Foundation – I hear they pay for doing nothing to.

  11. It seems Pat was the one who grew tired of Lane, and wanted change. Pat probably thought Steve was the better choice moving away from the sanctions. Sark had baggage that was overlooked and of course it blew up in face. I do remember reading Del Rio and Peterson had interest if asked, Jeff Fisher was even asked, but said no. Pat and the admin, hired a YES man, and usually when that happens, things get even worse. Nikias is the other issue.

    • Jeff Fisher? Whew – thank goodness that never happened – he still thinks he’s a top tier NFL coach and based on Monday night he proved it.

      • He was the mover, now Kroenke will find the right guy. Who is out there Herman or lol Sark or Kiffin. Fisher was kept for one reason to help with the move to LA.

        • Good luck if you think Kroenke will ‘…find the right guy…’ he found the right ‘guy’ – City of Inglewood and the NFL owners – they’re the ones that got the team moved.

          As to retaining Fisher as a transition unless Kroenke fires the fool that picked Goffs this team is going no where….i.e. the Rams could have traded down or even gotten picks in the 2017 draft – there is no foresight running this franchise.

          • I live in Charger country, grew up a Rams fan. I know they are a ” work in progress”. It will be several yrs for them, hey haa I follow all LA teams except the teams in the OC and not a Clipper fan.

    • What happened to ucla’s supposed boy wonder QB and Chimp Mora, who can’t win a conference title for the life of him?

      #twomoreuclaflopsonthewoodpile

      • Lol.. .both Brown/Sammy have combined for 400yrds while the boy wonder has over 600yrds, how much longer will we wait for #ClownU to win the conf. I mean it’s been 4 HC in 5 years.. .ha!

        #Ohitstrue

        • What’s true is that you haven’t played Alabama. Would love to see it as you couldn’t even beat A&M and Rosen bombed big-time yet again.

          As bad as Helton is, he still owns the Chimp 40-21. Hah, hah, hah.

          • #UCLA 2 – 1 vs #BAMA all time, how has #ClownU done?

            I don’t know what’s worse a QB having a bad game or an AD having hired 4 bad coaches in a row.. .I’ll wait for your answer

            #ClownU vs #STA CAN’T WAIT.. .

            #takeyourtime

          • Well, if all-time matters most to you than 47-31 is all I need to say. That was so easy, plus USC owns the Victory Bell right this very moment. The present is what counts, then comes history – both on USC’s side, as usual. Hah, hah, hah.

            #loserlittleguttiestotheend

          • UCLA: 11 BB NC’s won in tournament competition.

            bozo u: 0 forever, the ONE and DONE tournament Queens.

  13. This entire interview reeks of double speak and excuse making for the current state of USC football; but did you expect anything else from McKay? He knows, as well as everyone else, that the Capper was going to hire Sark come hell or high water, and then the whole thing blew up in Haden’s face. The search firm, the Peterson interview, etc. was sham from the get go. As far as Helton, what else is he going to say? This is why there needs to be a complete housecleaning in the football program of anything and everything that has the brand of Patrick Capper Haden.

    • The USC BOT and Nikias hired Helton, not Haden. Frankly, I don’t think Nikias will be fired EVER. He’ll leave when he’s good and ready.

      And the USC BOT is already at the top of the food chain. Nobody can fire them.

      What I’m saying is, forget the housecleaning. Not happening.

  14. •Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry 55m

    Carroll expresses remorse about the NCAA sanctions that USC received. Says he would’ve never been able to leave if he knew that was coming

    #LMAO

  15. JK is the biggest sponge there ever was. $900k ahead due to his buddy Patty Boy. What a joke the guy is. He’s truly a FOOL.

  17. “There was a lot I can’t talk about”
    Really Why?
    Court order?
    Restraining order?
    Mafia code of silence?
    #Fredoyoubrokemyheart

  18. Of course there were people interested. This is USC not Cal Poly. We passed over Peterson and we will regret that in the future, mark my words. I’d have to check this out but I was told that during the 8 years that he coached at Boise, he had the best record in college football, better than Meyer and Saban. If you are going to pass over a guy like that then at least hire a guy from back east or the south or the midwest or some school we won’t have to play. We could have hired one of our own assistants like coach O. But you have to use your common sense. You have a great coach here looking for a job and whoever you decide to hire is going to open up a job at his former school which Peterson might be interested in. So don’t hire somebody in your league especially from the Pacific northwest, an area that Peterson has said that he likes, especially a 34-29 coach. Now you have inherited a 34-29 coach with an alcohol problem and you have to face a 92-12 coach yearly for years to come. That is total stupidity and incompetency. American education is the only place that you can be totally incompetent and still hold on to your job forever. If this were a major corporation Max and the boys would have been fired by now.

      • Well, if CH doesn’t make it as our HC then maybe a good candidate for the next HC is VOILA…..Dr Rachel Maddow! Let’s see how well she does.

    • You idiot. What school taught you grammar and tense?
      Ever hear of a period to maybe end a sentence.

  21. Listen Mr. McKay….. if USC stopped being so cheap in what they offer a top Head Coach, I wouldn’t believe your statement in the least! Candidates would line up and you know that!
    McKay & Haden did alright in padding their own wallets you better believe it. It will be seen if Lynn Swann takes his job seriously enough or I think dear old Max needs to be relieved of his picking future AD’s so another Clay “3-star” Helton doesn’t follow in.

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