Haden On Dee

Translation - We won't do anything to rock the boat.

if anybody bumps into Mike Garrett, be sure to address him on hands and knees. It's amazing the amount of vitriol leveled on the man for no justifiable reason. But, when his words foretell the corruption of the ncaa, the cowards in the press and in the blogosphere, can't find a couple of words to congratulate him on his stalwart defiance of the homeowners association run amok.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3n94UQVx5I

So far, Showboat looks like he's had his head up his @$$.

I'm really glad people are starting to see that Mike Garrett was falsely trampled by the media. All Pat Haden has done with the ncaa is bend over and take whatever the ncaa is dishing out. Pat Haden is sitting their and thanking Paul Dee for what he did to USC because if USC was exonerated like they should have been Mike Garrett would have never been fired. Mike Garrett was the only one who had the intestinal fortitude to tell the ncaa off because he knew that no matter what USC did to prove their innocence, that corrupt SOB's like Paul Dee were going to try and ruin USC. Now look at Haden. If you have noticed, all he has done for the past year is apologize for usc's "wrongdoings" and make blanket statements about how vigilant he has been with the ncaa. It seems to me the only situation that Pat haden is evaluating is his Golf swing.

Those who threw stones need to reacess their vibes and understand where Mike Garrett was coming from in his anti-NCAA remarks up to the time he was removed from his position with the University by a new president who was the former provost of all things, so a pupit could fill his shoes (I'm sorry if I offend anyone with that remark, but what have we been getting from Pat "we're just not sitting on our hands" Haden so far, can anyone answer that?). Mike Garrett is an honorable man, if you didn't see that in him all the years he was associated with SC as a player, alumn and AD, then you didn't know of him. He knew what was going on behind the scenes with the NCAA that we on the outside here will never fully get to know. But some of what he knew then, is coming out now. And that is the NCAA was and still is a mess with no leadership, full of hypocracy and is vendictive as hell. I just hope someday, Mike Garrett will get some apologies from people who were so quick to throw stones.

Unfortunatley hacks like wolf gobble up whatever comes out of Pat Haden's mouth.

The problem with Mike Garrett was that not a lot of people liked him and that matters. He was a loose cannon who was brutally honest but also, at times, clueless. I understand where you guys are coming from and I think history will treat his tenure as AD a lot kinder than his unceremonious exit suggested. I think he was right in standing firm against the NCAA but in the end, the NCAA wants people who bow to them. He is not one of those who will suck up to the NCAA but as you note, Pat Haden certainly is.

Some think Haden took the job to help his alma mater out of this mess. I think he took the job to improve upon his reputation as a well-liked man. By pandering to the NCAA and the USC-hating crowd, he is improving his reputation--even at the cost of screwing over his own alma mater. Our motto is "fight on." When we are wrong, we should accept reasonable punishment. But when we're screwed, we need a scorched-Earth attitude. We can't get pushed around and told that somehow if we have fewer fans at our scrimmages, it will prevent the next player's parents from making deals with an agent from his hometown. And that we should have monitored that situation better while Miami will say they did everything possible to monitor somebody they thought they knew quite well.

When Haden states that "we're certainly not sitting on our hands," I doubt his sincerity. Pat Haden has stated that we need to move on, that the appeal was the last frontier. Each time another major scandal breaks, Haden is getting more heat from alums to do something. We'll see if he's just blowing smoke or if something is actually going to be done.

Setting aside everything else that was said here that was right on the money (including by Trojanpete); I frankly can't believe my otherwise level headed Trojan is still trying to make the argument that, "in the end, the NCAA wants people who bow to them".

First, we know who Paul Dee is. Many Trojans didn't until recently. But everyone involved remotely in his areas (of collegiate sports administration, sports business and even higher ed administration) knew his background. The man is not some moralizing "tut tutting" good two shoes, though he sometimes implausibly will play one for the media. He is one of the most powerful and experienced media negotiators, one of the most influential conference leaders (in both the Big East and then the ACC), he was VP and legal counsel as well as the head of the UM booster club (yes crazy as it seems), and the AD of UM. He was also on every key committee of the NCAA and chaired most of them, particularly at crucial times. Dee has been on the Orange Bowl Committee as its de facto head for many years. And he was a long time lawyer worker as counsel to several major firms over the years and he put his son in a situation to also reap the benefits, as a lawyer with his old firm, real estate developer and booster. He has also been a long time member of the Miami Non-Group (look it up). And he has been a very active UF booster for many years as well.

Besides that he has overseen what has been the dirtiest program in history (and I believe there is more than enough evidence even just looking on various campus "eye witness"). I don't have to do much to support this, the stories are epic and have been the things of several documentaries.

Two things Dee is not-- a moral man and soft man. If you see the petty, inappropriate and rule breaking commentary that he engaged in while the USC appeal was made and was McNair's appeal was made you could only be shocked how personally involved the man was even to media reports, independent journalists commentary, etc. He was as usual a man with an agenda. Dee also broke NCAA rules not just by talking about the appeal but speculating and casting aspersion on what he thought also might be going on at USC, with no evidence or evidence to the contrary being available.

But we don't really need to speculate whether this was a case of agenda or personal umbrage (to Garrett) because Nikias and Haden gave Dee every opportunity to prove whether or not Garrett's alleged insolence was the part or all of the reason for the inordinate sanctions and unjust ruling. Garrett was publicly humiliated (stories were leaked about how "furious" Nikias was at him and how he could not wait to fire him (forgetting for a moment that Nikias not Garrett had a hand in USC compliance.) And Haden as everyone has seen, performed a contrition act about all that came before that would have astonished St. Augustine. Surely Haden's knees bleed at this very minute. Dee, rather than rewarding USC, not only affirmed but added far more chastisement to the appeal for his part (and throughout the process it was a significant part). He excoriated Haden not even throwing him his "cooperative" bone that he begrudgingly threw in his initial report while Garrett was AD.

What makes this funny is that even as the USC appeal was being reviewed a certain ponzi scheming con artist was threatening to rat on UM, and giving evidence that had to be at some level brought to UM to be corroborated. And in any event the high profile case involving the prominent booster and the related news stories of his threats could have not escaped Dee, who was intimately tied to the affairs of UM in ways that exceed any normal AD. Again the case was inescapable in Miami far before Yahoo regurgitated the specifics of the UM portion.

Yet Dee still decided to go at USC with a vengeance, perhaps imagining that no one would notice. After all, look at what happened under his watch at UM both as legal counsel, VP and AD and head of the booster club over the years. It is easy to speculate why, but to add some genuinely felt aggrieved self righteousness is just far beyond believable at this point.

If you don't like Garrett (and many people did), fair enough. The man was blunt, and he did have a pit bull attitude in defending all things USC, he was a boss that reportedly loved to pressure people when they were not winning, he took shots at UCLA in a way that normally only a fan might, he was public about his disdain of collegiate sports politics and he had a deep and well founded suspicion of what is a very antagonistic, fact-ignoring and sensational local press... But Garrett was incredibly successful and he did absolutely nothing to prompt Dee and the NCAA's agenda ridden punishment of SC.

Whoa, that was long, but you get my gist. Mike Garrett deserves nothing but respect for being a great and accomplished Trojan who took us to new heights both as a player and as an administrator. Fight on Mike!

Good stuff, timmay. You seem to like the midnight shift, so I will assume the early morning one.

There is a great deal of anger about the punishment rained on SC. But my question is how could it have turned out differently?-- Garrett's bullying or Haden's pandering probably would not have changed things one iota. And certainly nothing is going to change now, no matter how many "Miamis" turn up.

Timmay,

Excellent analysis. This post on one of the message boards(link below) establishes that Paul Dee likely was informed of the NCAA violations at UM and supporting documentary evidence of payments to players from the FBI themselves before Dee decided USC's case:

http://usc.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=521&mid=161659175&sid=995&tid=161631789&style=1

Timmay, EXCELLENT. I've been on MG's side since the beginning and a lot of people owe him an apology. SC should be punished for violations, not someone's personality. Ironic that convicted felons are the NCAA's prime "witnesses". Hilarious. And in the end, MG was right and should have told the NCAA to shove it up its @$$.

I never could understand how SC could have cooperated with the NCAA about Reggie Bush. Reggie was gone, Lake was never a part of the university as an employee or booster, and Reggie's parents had no reason to cooperate with SC. What the frack could SC have done?

What's the status of McNair? And didn't Dee falsely represent the date, thus taking away the 04 BCS title?

A little too soon to tell about Haden as an AD and only someone who has filed a suit against the NCAA re: penalties, procedures and infractions is able to evaluate whether SC should have done so. So far as I know no school ever has so that is uncharted territory. Re: Mike Garrett as a tailback: he was great. As an Athletic Director and administrator he was pathetic and anything, any means of getting rid of him was/is worth it.

Loved reading all these follow up postings, even the first part of barney's. It has been noted that Pat Haden refused the AD position twice before accepting it. There could have been some purposeful "bartering around" on his part as to how much power & responsibility he would have as AD. If what was said about him being in this for popularity purposes is true, might come back and bite him hard for being too much of a yes-man (something MG would not do if he thought it was wrong). For now, Haden's likeness will depend on how he deals with this coming period of "comparisons" in NCAA sanctioning of the 3 to 4 other programs in trouble right now. The administration should "never say never" in how they defend their brand. Haden could be a real loser here if he continues to irritate trojan supporters with his apologetic non-confrontational remarks towards a sanctioning body that only understands power.

thank you for recycling this story - it brings a smile to my face every time I'm reminded about the harsh sanctions handed down to southern cal.

cheaters never prosper, well they do for a few years, then they get caught, humiliated, punished, and then they disappear for a decade and the cycle repeats itself.

the story of SC's rich tradition in cheating err football.

@timmay..
Tremendous posting! Thank You! Fight On!
@miguelita..
I'll have fries with that tripe.
@TC..
Possibly done exactly to take away another NC in competition with the NC's of the Canes... also the entire reason for the over-sanctioning may have been primarily just to finesse the de-committment of Seantrel Henderson.

Fight On

Barney, my bet is Garrett wouldn't give you the time of day. His record speaks for itself. Haden will be lucky to do half as well. If you like a department without balls, you'll love this one. BTW, bet Pat won't give you the time of day either.

In trying to wade through the festival of "asskiss" that was bestowed on Mike Garrett in this thread, I'm having trouble figuring out how many unique users there are. Surely, there can't be that many people who fail to recognize Garrett's abject lack of talent as an AD. Did he hire Pete Carroll? Sure, but only because Pete practically begged for the job and even then, he was the third, fourth, or fifth choice (and was brought to Garrett's attention by Daryl Gross). Did he even know the names of legendary coaches around the country ("Who's Gene Keady?")? No. Did he even know the names of some of his own coaches? No.

Garrett was awesome on the field, but a disgrace as an AD off it. Anyone who suggests otherwise is engaging in some serious revisionist history.

By the way, to the poster who suggested compliance failures should lie at the feet of Nikias – I don't know how culpable he is/was in USC's failures to monitor their athletes, but that job ultimately belongs to the Athletic Director. He is the one who is the face of the program and he is the one who can hire/fire compliance people. It's impossible to deny that Garrett was asleep at the compliance wheel. To do so is simply being dishonest. (otherwise, why would I, Paul Freaking Dee, get the blame for Miami's garbage lax compliance?)

Triple Chin, you are a disgrace. Plus you have no clue what you are talking about. WHO the F*CK hired D Gross? Warren Buffet? You stupid moron. And who gives a $h!t about other programs and who the coaches are? That's what was great about MG. He's a Trojan, period and doesn't give a crap about any other program. AND MG wouldn't give you the time of day either. Paul Dee is smarter than you.

MG wouldn't give me the time of day? Well that settles it. The unwillingness to give another human being the time of day is most certainly the most accurate measure of a man. His is great and I am sheit, right? That makes zero sense... but anyone who's read your blog posts the past few years already knows what to expect from you. You're angry, man. I don't know if you need to go get laid or what, but you should lighten up a bit.

By the way, it's nice that he was "Trojan-focused" but a basic understanding of the athletic world is usually a requisite of being an "athletic director" – it's in the title and everything. Nobody is suggesting that he know every D-I coach and coordinator, but dude should at least know the important ones. And, might I add, he ought to know every coach at his school – including assistant coaches. I do not think that's too much to ask of an athletic director.

Geezus nobs, get a life. Only you would put a post every 10 minutes on the same subject, none of which are at all intelligent or insightful.

What a great name....Barney. Are you a dog? You're REALLY insightful...and stupid. You know nothing and are a big loser.

There are many curses that infect SUCks, but the most pathetic is mononubsieitus. Similar to syphilis of the brain, patients often suffer from delusions of grandeur, and believe they have SUPERHUMAN qualities. Most patients with mononubsieitus are harmless as they spend most of their time "spanking the monkey", watching cartoons, and posting frequent incoherent messages on "Inside SUCks".
fit on Torgan!
ThaiMex
Acting Commander in Chief
The Cadre (T.C.C.)

Pancho,beaner, whatever your name is. Commander Douche Bag of the Cadre, you are a joke. Period. The only thing that sucks is your mama. Out.

@Mr. P.D.T. Chin- Most of us have heard sayings to the effect that it is better to be quiet when one is not sure. All of us lapse in following that advice from time to time. I don't think that should mean we have to research unfamiliar facts for informal postings about sports. Perhaps when speaking of someone's professional reputation, meh, it's advice worth considering.

Garrett did NOT control compliance at USC and never did. It was completely independent of him as is the usual practice to prevent conflict of interest. Compliance fell under the Provost's office, which during the entire time of the controversy was Max Nikias. Perhaps as you suggest, some casual sports fans recognized Garrett and thus he became to them "the face of the program"; but that does not rearrange the positions on the management chart.

The Compliance Office fell under Nikias as Provost, with his Associate Provost, Ellen Ferris being the person who headed the Compliance Office directly, though compliance was listed as part of Nikias' duties. Incidentally Ferris, and several others who were tasked to work with Compliance (as well as Nikias himself) were given promotions following the debacle.

One assumes that Nikias was promoted for more weighty reasons, but it is a common practice to elevate (in salary and title if not in influence) Compliance Directors or their equivalent following severe sanctions. They know where the bodies are buried and are the last people a school wants to go around aggrieved and unemployable. I know our UCLA friends will accusingly nod here. Don't.

The truth is ANY program under such sensitive conditions should presume that their compliance officers may know of some internal dealings that are not according to Hoyle. The same would normally hold true for the AD. But it is apparent that Nikias rightly assumed that Garrett was not a risk for squealing or backbiting or even criticizing, with as much vested in, and attachment to USC (and its athletics and football program, as well as his tenure as AD under his close friend Sample).

The man has, in fact been remarkably quiet even when Nikias was leaking how "furious" he was and how he supposedly dealt with him. Surely that has taken some forbearance for a person as blunt, pugnacious and proud of his standing with 'SC as Garrett.

From here on I'll leave others like Wolf to try and diminish the 'SC accomplishments of Garrett, Carroll, etc., etc. because they will say and think what they will regardless of the facts.

www.president.usc.edu/files/.../Announcement.President.elect_.Nikias.pdf

Timmay, clearly you know more about specific USC policy in terms of delegating compliance, as most of my experience has involved playing "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" in Coral Gables, however, "Principles of Institutional Control as Prepared by the NCAA Committee on Infractions" states the following regarding delegation of compliance:

"...it is usually left to senior subordinates, such as the director of athletics, to delegate various duties regarding compliance with NCAA rules."

So you can see where my confusion would come from. Perhaps if MG had paid attention to the COI handbook, some of these problems could have been avoided.