Title. Just wanted to make a separate topic to specifically heap praise upon our king, the GOAT AD Mike Bohn and his right hand man Brandon Sosna!
I was livid when he retained Helton and did not mince words then, but it's clear from everything he's done since that his hands were tied with that decision at the time and also that he definitely knows what he's doing. Pete Carroll took USC to the top of the college football world in spite of the powers to be at USC, but Bohn has pretty much singlehandedly created the situation for USC football to thrive WITH the powers that be. He was the adult in a room of self important children who knew no more about running college athletics than they did about maintaining a prized asset at the university. He has the potential to have an even greater impact on USC football than Pete did, and he just took the biggest step yet with the Riley hire.
Every few minutes since the news started leaking I still sit back and admire what happened with this process. Everyone was questioning the silence after the necessary but odd timing of the Helton firing, and all the questions were expected from us fans who have been let down more times than we can count - what was going on? Did nobody want the job? Did Bohn miss on the timing? The night was darkest before the dawn with the rumors that Campbell wasn't coming. But Bohn said "hold my beer" and landed the biggest getable fish in the whole ocean, one who we fans talked about off hand as nothing more than a pipe dream. The same guy who just turned down the biggest college football coach contract EVER from LSU. And we got him! With no leaks, and almost no media coverage (in a good way) - up until almost the morning of, all the attention was on other high profile jobs and the only "hints" about the USC job were total guesswork. This was only possible because Bohn & Co. are incredibly intelligent, strategic, opportunistic, and most of all - hopeful! He had to believe in the USC brand, the willingness of fans to show up for a winner, the ability of the right coach to turn things around, and that the desirability of a job was still high enough to attract someone of this caliber - and he did! It's very possible that at no other time in no other year would this have been possible.
But he went out and did it, and USC football's future might have never been brighter. I hope he's here for a long time, and continues to bless all of our athletic programs with the magic touch. I haven't donated to USC once since graduating, at first cuz I was young and more worried about my own savings, then in the past few years because I saw nothing to support at the school, but this might be the first year I change my mind and it's pretty much all because of Bohn!
I was livid when he retained Helton and did not mince words then, but it's clear from everything he's done since that his hands were tied with that decision at the time and also that he definitely knows what he's doing. Pete Carroll took USC to the top of the college football world in spite of the powers to be at USC, but Bohn has pretty much singlehandedly created the situation for USC football to thrive WITH the powers that be. He was the adult in a room of self important children who knew no more about running college athletics than they did about maintaining a prized asset at the university. He has the potential to have an even greater impact on USC football than Pete did, and he just took the biggest step yet with the Riley hire.
Every few minutes since the news started leaking I still sit back and admire what happened with this process. Everyone was questioning the silence after the necessary but odd timing of the Helton firing, and all the questions were expected from us fans who have been let down more times than we can count - what was going on? Did nobody want the job? Did Bohn miss on the timing? The night was darkest before the dawn with the rumors that Campbell wasn't coming. But Bohn said "hold my beer" and landed the biggest getable fish in the whole ocean, one who we fans talked about off hand as nothing more than a pipe dream. The same guy who just turned down the biggest college football coach contract EVER from LSU. And we got him! With no leaks, and almost no media coverage (in a good way) - up until almost the morning of, all the attention was on other high profile jobs and the only "hints" about the USC job were total guesswork. This was only possible because Bohn & Co. are incredibly intelligent, strategic, opportunistic, and most of all - hopeful! He had to believe in the USC brand, the willingness of fans to show up for a winner, the ability of the right coach to turn things around, and that the desirability of a job was still high enough to attract someone of this caliber - and he did! It's very possible that at no other time in no other year would this have been possible.
But he went out and did it, and USC football's future might have never been brighter. I hope he's here for a long time, and continues to bless all of our athletic programs with the magic touch. I haven't donated to USC once since graduating, at first cuz I was young and more worried about my own savings, then in the past few years because I saw nothing to support at the school, but this might be the first year I change my mind and it's pretty much all because of Bohn!
