Posted on 12/02/2013 3:30:23 PM PST by Hotlanta Mike
USC athletic director Pat Haden had two months to decide on the best possible candidate to replace disastrous coach Lane Kiffin. Should it concern Trojans fans that the guy he chose, Washington's Steve Sarkisian, has a lower career Pac-12 winning percentage (.539) than the guy Haden fired (.586)?
It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Kiffin took over a program just a year removed from a streak of seven straight BCS bowl seasons, albeit one that would soon be hit with crippling NCAA sanctions. Sarkisian, Kiffin's close friend and former co-offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll (aw-kward), inherited a Washington program that had just gone 0-12.
But that was five years ago. While no one would question Sarkisian had it much tougher rebuilding the Huskies than Kiffin did reloading the Trojans, Sarkisian's landmark achievement this season was that he finally won eight games at a major West Coast university with sparkling new facilities and a 1991 national championship trophy on its mantle. With that as his pedigree, Sarkisian now moves to a program where eight-win seasons are cause for termination and national championships are an expectation, not a fleeting moment in history.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Leach is an amazing coach, although I’ll never forgive him for beating Texas on that last-second touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree in 2008.
Amateur (?) American-style football.
Why would Jim Mora leave UCLA for Washington?
If I were Washington, I’d take a good look at Dan Quinn, the Seahawks’ Defensive Coordinator.....He was the only reason the Gators went 11-2 last year.
Coach O was a good fit for 'SC. He is a great motivator and an excellent recruiter. I just don't see how an x's and o's guy like Sarkesian is better. I think that he is better than Kiffin, but only just.
Craig James is a douche bag. full of himself with the phony Christian spiel and father of a spoiled brat of a little boy that ran to daddy when the mean old coach made him work.
I”m an Aggie fan, and the joy I’m going to get is when Leach somehow manages to get Tech into a game.... I will pull up the popcorn and the calculator, cause that boy knows how to make an offense hum.
I heard he killed five hookers.
I have a conspiracy theory that the top brass at USC wants to to pull a Robert Hutchins--that is, drop football in favor of more emphasis on teaching and research as Robert Hutchins dis in 1939, when he was president of the University of Chicago. The Chicago Maroons of the Big 10 had only a few years before produced the first Heisman trophy.
If they announced today that they were dropping football, the reaction from students, fans and alumni wold make the Columbia University riot of 1968 look like a bocce ball match at a retirement home. But if they hire a coach who will develop a mediocre team, the fan base will go down and when they finally do drop football, no one will care.
You mean the University of Super Champions!
You mean Will the Thrill was not solely responsible for the defense last season for the Gators?
Oh I’m sure he went around yelling “BOOM M—— F——!” everytime somebody made a good play on defense.
Do you have any idea how much $$ the program brings to USC? We are not talking peanuts. The USC endowment is massive and in large measure was built on the success of this football program. It is a private school, not state and as such charges a small fortune for tuition.
Your theory is interesting but I have a tough time buying into it. Money talks, especially southern California.
Men’s bb rankings out. Three Big Ten teams in the top 10. Gators at No. 15
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/year/2014/poll/1
And for a good part of its history, it was a Conservative school -- or at least Republican. Don Segretti, Herb Klein and Ron Zeigler are among the SC alumni from the Nixon era.
...and if that weren't enough, the Trojan band played on Tusk! :)
I second that motion! Hell I third and fourth it!!
USC began trending left around 1980, when James H. Zumberge became the president. Shortly before that, I was doing graduate work with the School of International Relations, whose faculty was divided between a liberal left faction and a more conservative faction, which held a preponderance of power until the mid-1980's. I doubt if there are any conservatives left on the faculty.
USC did as good as they could.
As much as sports media chirps about the USC job...it isn’t even one of the top 20 coaching positions or largest programs. Some Hollywood money keeps it going, thats it
They have attendance issues at games...Their stadium lacks club and suites (bring in revenue), the campus is located in a ghetto (practices have been sprayed with gunfire before). Facilities are better at many schools
Pete Carroll did an excellent job at USC even though SEC schools are better supported and funded. Carroll actually made USC “sexy and hip” again. It will be hard for a coach to duplicate that
I think your right. I grew up in SoCal and went to numerous USC games at the Coliseum and some UCLA games at the Rose Bowl in the 70’s and early 80’s. The Coliseum was in a ghetto back then even...the only redeeming factor was a Tommy’s burger.
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