Last Answer
Here's the last of the Open Forum questions.
Q: It appears from the linked USC Student Affairs organizational chart, which is publicly available, that the Song Girls are under the Student Affairs umbrella. As you have previously mentioned, the position for IM-Director is currently open. So, if I read the chart correctly, the supervisory position to that one is held by Don Ludwig, the Spirit and Traditions Executive Director, who reports to Denzil Suite, AVP of Student Affairs - dsuite@usc.edu. With Denzil Suite's awesome name, I am assuming that he is a good guy. Do you know if Coach Nelson is reporting to Suite or Ludwig while the IM-Rec Director position is open, do you know anything about the backgrounds of Suite or Ludwig, and do you know if they are very hands-on with the Song Girls' system? Or, are Coach Nelson and Coordinator Gilman treated as more of an autonomous unit with little to no administrative oversight? Thanks Scott. The Song Girls are the face of USC and there simply is no more important subject to true Trojan fans right now than SG-gate! At least until fb practice starts in August.
A: I do not know Mr. Suite. From what I've heard Don Ludwig was not heavily involved in the selection process and his new job is less hands on and not as connected to the day-to-day activities. So I don't see him as an influential player in all of this.
But it is an interesting flow chart and gives the readers a little better idea of Michael Jackson's power at USC with so many people reporting to him.
Patrick Bailey is a guy to look at, especially since he is the interim recreational sports director.
You got called out about all the cheerleader posts on air Scott!?!? Thank you Petros!
And you subsequently blamed the posters for posting pictures of cheerleaders? Not surprising.
Here's the thing Scott - Your blog's become a joke and the things you decide to post here will eventually affect how you are perceived when you write your actual "serious" articles.
Like I said a couple months ago - with your access to the #1 program in the country you should be turning this blog into the must visit place for all things USC. You could have parlayed the last 6 years of unprecedented USC success into a lucrative career and probably could have used it as a jumping off point to better things. Who knows you could have probably replaced Shelly Smith as USC beat reporter by now. (Classed up ESPN a bit now that they got rid of the other Trojan.)
Instead your borderline idiotic choices are actually costing you access little by little to the program (and I don't even think you see it - Pete's laughing at you not with you Scott) and now you are left with nothing but a site full of cheerleaders from other schools and stories broken 2 days after the other bloggers that actually take the opportunity seriously and appreciate their access. I'm fully expecting to see Malcomson pop up on College Football Live next year - just like I saw another USC blogger talking about OJ Mayo on ESPN news earlier this year as well (why wasn't that you Scott?)
You just wasted half my summer posting idiotic stories about song girls not being attractive enough and you keep pandering to the 5 horny posters that keep asking for more pictures to be posted because it's the closest they can get to watching porn at work. It reeks of poor decision making. Get your sh*t together. You're a much better writer than Malcomson...
Shut up, Tyler. You're just a tool who adds nothing to this blog. Go cry somewhere else with your bleeding heart routine that no one cares about.
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/private/docs/stuaffairs_orgchart.pdf
Link to the Student Affair's org chart above. Thanks, Scott. Patrick Bailey looks like a good, albeit very busy, guy - linked below. We obviously need a talented, permanent employee in that position for IM Director. Here's an open plea to Mr. Bailey to help us find a solution to the SG-gate crisis. Please, Patrick, the alumni need action on this issue. Thank you for helping us to be the best university - in all facets - that we can be! Just take a look at the UofO spirit program, and you should be able to quickly see that our program has deteriorated substantially over the years.
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/leadership/patrick_bailey.html
Well-written Tyler. Could not have said it better myself. There are tons of leads to chase and doors to knock on. Appealing to the readers' prurient interests is just not solid journalism.
Ok, I understand it's not fun to read about how unattractive and physically unfit the Song Girls are. I get that. But in order for things to change, we have to accept that they ARE unattractive and demand change. Why does Scott get blamed for people being upset and outraged at the sorry state of the Song Girls. The fact is, many people are unhappy with the level of attractiveness of our squad.
I'm glad Scott doesn't censor people's opinions because there's no reason for the Song Girls to not improve just to protect a group of people who seem to have turned nepotism and cronyism into a new art form.
I agree with Tyler.
I'm not sure if Adam Rose is the particular blogger he's talking about but Rose is a good example. Just a few years out of school and he already blogs for the LA Times and has been all over ESPN and NBC Sports. Scott Wolf should at least be at that level - probably much higher.
Wolf has proven in the past that he is more than capable of giving insightful answers to many of the questions posted in Daily/Weekend Forums. To do so he must have access to a great deal of the inner-workings of the program, the ability to comprehend it all and translate it for the readers. Yet, for some reason hasn't taken advantage of his situation or his abilities.
Obviously Wolf has no problem clashing with the school. Why wasn't he the one to break the OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush controversies? He could have been the one instead of guys outside the program. I think some of them ended up with promotions at work and book deals.
Instead, Wolf focuses on something relatively meaningless and will be forgotten a few months from now.
He'll burn all his bridges and lose access to the program, just to change the way Song Girls are selected.
Where does that leave him?
Scott should be able to post on this blog whatever the hell he wants. You can say the same thing with the athletic dept. How absurd of them to possibly take back Scott's access to the program just for reporting on the Song Girls. I'm actually wierded out that the program is going this far to stop this Song Gril thing.
The solution lies with them, not from us or Scott.
USC has received the message loud and clear. Expect to see an appreciable upgrade in the SG's appearance at the next selection.