Blame it on the Bossa Nova…..Pat Haden, the NCAA or Pete Carroll?

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You look up “Trojan Ends” and this is what you get….

Excellence in sports is something very hard to identify or specify.  Especially, when referees, school officials, drugs, political appointees and sexual preference all play such a magic roll in who wins…..for how long….with what awards, what aspiring student athletics are either paid off or given “certain enhancements to their enrollment in school activities and sports”!  The truth of the matter of course is that it is all about the economic value to the University of College of your choice.  Burlington College for example is a school that has 254 students enrolling annually – the same Burlington College where Presidential Candidate and current Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders served as President prior to coming to the Senate.  Burlington College has never had a football or any sports program that has competed at the highest levels..by the way!

We dare not look at major Universities such as Oklahoma, where Bob Stoops is the Coach, the University of Texas who just defeated the Okies….with black Coach Charlie Strong, the University of Nebraska where the old Oregon State Coach Mike Riley went to create a winning atmosphere, The University of Alabama with Nick Saban, the highest paid Coach in America, Jim Harbargh at the newly inspired Big Blue of the University of Michigan and of course the Ohio State Buckeyes, coming off a BCS Championship with Coach Urban Meyer.  All of these guys make huge multi-million dollar salaries.  The Alumni are seldom forgiving if the team loses and the whole system is predicated on the Billions that come into each University each year.  The USC Trojans for example get about $4.3 Billion dollars a year from their Alumni Organizations and in perpetuity grants from a variety of sources.  So when their Coach does several mega meltdowns in front of the Nation and home games are only filling about half of a stadium that seat 98,000……”Houston, you’ve got a problem!”

From the beginning when Lane Kiffin was brought on board after the wonderful Pete Carroll dynasty…..a dynasty we might suggest that had eclipsed the memories of “The Thundering Herd” of Howard Jones, or the “Student Body Left” of the great John McKay……the NCAA and the boyz hanging around the Pot Belly Stove in the General Store in Norman, Oklahoma could never let that stand.  Why you ask?  B Pete Carroll showed just how stupid the rules were being applied.  Pete Carroll worked the system and created arguably the greatest football dynasty in American history.  Bear Bryant, Knute Rockne…..oh sure…..but we are talking modern day football…where each and every player needs to have an identity – that is pushed by the Coach, the Alumni and the Sports Writers toward another Heisman.  So called Amateur Football Players do not or should not do Press Conferences to explain the current state of the team or their Coaches.  When College Players start getting bigtime professional money for every game played…..then they can state whats on their minds…..at their own threat and peril of being dropped or transferred from the program.

Lane Kiffin is “a junkster coach” and along with “a junkster junior coach” Steve Sarkesian who were constantly being corrected by Pete Carroll, although this was never done on the field of play, in public or in the press.  Pete Carroll has always shown great class, great ethical demeanor, great Administrative ability and all the attributes of a successful CEO ….anywhere in America.  Kiffin is hanging on by a thread as Offensive Coordinator at Alabama, and as long as the Saban Defense can sustain……..Kiffin will not look as bad as he is…..as the resident bag boy with a clipboard…..pacing the sidelines and paying attention to no one but the great Saban….himself.  So, why is Lane at Alabama?  Lane’s dad Monty is a very good friend of Nick Saban.  Get it?  So, why did Pat Haden hire Kiffin as USC Head Coach to begin with………”A junior Pete Carroll for half of what they paid Pete Carroll?”.  $2.2 million dollars a year, if you are interested!  When that didn’t work out so well, Haden in his great wisdom by passing the player’s favorite and winning Coach – Coach Orgeron (who is presently kicking it hard as Defensive Line Coach at LSU!), to go with Steve Sarkesian for a measely $4.2 million dollar salary a year.  To put this into perspective….Pete Carroll was making $4.4 million for doing the same job.  Look for LSU to be in the Final Four of the BCS, by the way!  Hey, let’s get Pete Carroll, Jr. Jr. “on the cheap”!

Haden could have gotten Raiders Coach and USC Alumni – Jack Del Rio for about $4 million a year, bringing some superlative Coaches and putting the USC Defense on track to vie for the top Four National at the BCS.  However, maybe it wasn’t about the money as much as it was about the control of the team, the plays, the wins and losses.  Heck, during the Stanford game “The Sark” has to call “his Daddy”…..Pat Haden to come down from the Press Box to roust on field officials?  You might expect a little more responsibility from someone making $4.2 million dollars a year as a Football Coach for a major University?  Ya think?  Nick Saban makes $6.9 Million this year…by the way!

Being cheap has become a USC way of life since the current President of the University of Southern California was hired away from, of all places UCLA.  The Medical Program, the Administrative issues, the Sports Programs…..you name it have been affected by poor leadership and the “Think Cheap” “Bean Counter Mentality”…..that can only be highlighted by bringing the Announcer for Notre Dame Football Games (Pat Haden and his best buddy J.K. McKay in a two-fer deal)….again for the short money to become Athletic Director at USC.  From the beginning you could tell that the Administration was “deathly afraid” of hiring a Coach for anything that had their own minds.  Unless these Coaches were willing to the play the “Pot Belly Stove Game at the Newman Center”…..things were not going to last for long.  Finally, when the no-shows of Season Ticket holders at the Colesium started to make those National Television audiences wonder…..then they had to look at “the real Steve Sarkesian”.  Look, a couple of weeks ago after his meltdown at Songfest……they took away his Offensive Leadership and put that into the Press Box…upstairs.  He recent divorce, drug problems, alcohol issues, incredible stress from fans, sports writers and even other coaches and serious lack of skill at running the Football Program finally put the whole thing into the dust pan….hopefully – once and for all.

So. here is there very stupid secret “Master Plan” for the future.  Pat Haden either stays for another year or doesn’t.  J.K. McKay takes over as Athletic Director and calls Pat Haden every night for guidance.  They put an ad in the LA Times for another Football Coach, willing to take less that $800,000 dollars a year.  They are looking strong at Florida State Coach Will Muscamp and of course anyone in the SEC, including bringing Lane Kiffin back.  These “Great Minds” are like so many others with more education that common sense.  They always wonder why their “Great Plans for Future” never seem to pencil out.  They all seem “entitled” to do whatever they want, wherever they want and could care less about the fan base internationally, the greater alumni or even the Sports Writers.  These people to be very blunt will “Squat on your front porch…..and then ask for a handout!”  We need Marcus Allen as our USC Athletic Director.  Maybe even Jim Brown!  Maybe Mike Garrett is still available?  But hey, we have no illusions here:  We know USC has “Exceptional Minds….doing Exceptional things!”….right?

No we will not be putting out our USC Banners on gameday just yet.  No, we will not be wearing the four boxes of collected USC Tribal gear right now.  No, and we will not be buying up any tickets to the USC/UCLA game either.  It will be really interesting to see how many empty seats that haven’t been “Compt’d” are actually bought this year and how many will remain unsold….for sometime into the future.  The fix…you ask?  Of course, we need a good Pro Defensive Coach to come to USC.  We need the best defense in America…just ask Jim Harbaugh as he shuts out three teams in a row with his stifling “Big Blue” Michigan Defense.  As, we used to say to tough teams in the 1960’s:  “Better be nice to our Offense you guys, or we will put in our Defense to score on you!”.  Yes, but then we had George Tirebiter, Travelor the First, the Great Trojan Marching Bank and John McKay.  Today to have C,L. Max Nikias, who makes about $1.5 million a year, Pat Haden at $2.2 Million dollars and they both don’t want any squirrley Football Coach to make more money than they do.

So we can: Blame it on the Bossa Nova…..Pat Haden, the NCAA or Pete Carroll?  That 7 and 5 record this year will be just fine for keeping those seats emply for some time to come!  Haden, J.K. Mckay and Nikias…..need to go…….immediately = if not sooner!  Time to clean out the Newman Center out….once and for all.  We want our Lutheran/Methodists back!