It’s really as simple as this: Steve Sarkisian showed up drunk for work.
At most jobs this would be met with significant consequences. Even Sterling Cooper had its limits.
But not at Pat Haden’s USC.
For telling offensive jokes while making the rounds at Salute to Troy clearly intoxicated, for getting on stage in front of alums, boosters, parents, children, his bosses, and dropping a f-bomb before being yanked off stage, for showing up drunk at work, all Sarkisian has had to do is some calisthenics known as “up downs.”
“He did up downs at a practice?” Desmond Howard, the former Michigan Heisman Trophy winner, said on ESPN’s GameDay over the weekend. “That’s laughable.”
Indeed Haden’s USC has become a national joke.
A season that was supposed to signal the Trojans return to national prominence has become a 12-game punch line; an autumn full of chants of “Cutty Sark” in Tempe and South Bend, “Seven Win Sark” taunts replaced by “Six Pack Steve” in Eugene, “(Expletive) Fight On” T-shirts in Westwood.
Make no mistake the joke is on Haden, the Trojans athletic director, as much as it is on Sarkisian. It’s on Haden that the Trojans start the season with a national embarrassment on their sideline.
When Haden, the former Trojans quarterback and Rhodes Scholar, returned to his alma mater in the summer of 2010, he was widely portrayed as the white knight riding to the rescue of USC after it had been decimated by NCAA sanctions and Mike Garrett’s reign of terror. It was as if he arrived at Heritage Hall aboard Traveler wielding a golden sword: St. Patrick.
Haden, we kept hearing, would be a stabilizing force to a Trojans athletic department marked by NCAA rules violations, corner cutting, bullying and arrogance under Garrett. Finally, we were told repeatedly, there was a grown up now in charge at Heritage Hall.
Instead under Haden, Tailback U has become Up Down U.
In the 10 days since Sarkisian staggered into the lead story on SportsCenter, many USC alums and fans have been questioning whether he should be allowed to coach the Trojans this season if at all?
A more important question is whether Haden should still be leading the Trojan athletic department?
Haden, who has an annual salary of $2.39 million according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service, gets high marks for hiring track coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. It’s not a question of if Smith Gilbert wins an NCAA title at USC but when and how many. (In hiring Smith Gilbert, Haden also stole the obvious choice to be the next coach at UCLA, her alma mater.)
But not even at Oregon and Colorado are ADs ultimately judged on the success of their track programs and otherwise Haden’s record has been mixed at best. The Trojans have captured 10 NCAA titles during Haden’s tenure, all of them won by coaches hired by Garrett. Under Haden, USC has not won an NCAA tournament game in either men’s or women’s basketball or an NCAA baseball regional. The Trojans men’s basketball program is 25-65 in conference games during the Haden era. Andy Enfield, hired by Haden after the 2012-13 season, is 23-41 overall, 5-31 in conference play.
Haden had to fire his hand-picked baseball coach for violating NCAA rules. The Trojans are 64-81 in Pac-12 play since Haden returned to campus.
Not that the Trojans haven’t put up big numbers under Haden. During this period of stabilizing the program, USC has incurred at least $60,000 in fines from the Pac-12.
Haden’s leadership style has been inconsistent; impulsive at times, non-existent at others. There have also been more than a few signs of the same arrogance so prominent in the Garrett era.
Upset with by Washington State AD Bill Moos’ proposal to change the Pac-12’s revenue distribution, Haden suggested during an October 2010 conference meeting that USC would explore leaving the league, according to Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian in “The System.” But then Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby, the authors wrote, “had no patience for Haden’s bluster and called his bluff, saying everyone knew that wasn’t going to happen.”
Haden was quick to suspend basketball coach Kevin O’Neill for what turned out to be one game at the 2011 Pac-12 tournament after he was involved in a confrontation with an Arizona booster in a hotel lobby. Alcohol was involved in the incident. There is no record of how many up downs O’Neill was required to perform.
Haden stood by Lane Kiffin after a 2012 season in which the Trojans finished a 7-6 campaign with three straight losses and a team locker-room altercation at the Sun Bowl. He then fired Kiffin in the middle of the night on an airport runway five games into the 2013 season.
But Haden’s tenure will ultimately be judged by the end result of his most important decision since returning to USC — hiring Sarkisian.
The hire was always a gamble. Sarkisian came with plenty of question marks on the field and baggage off it. Sarkisian was 8-18 against the Top 25 at the U-Dub and never finished more than a game over .500 in conference play. While Sarkisian said Oregon and Arizona State (and Notre Dame) “suck” during his Salute performance it’s worth noting that as a head coach he is 0-9 against the Ducks and Sun Devils.
But it was a lot more than questions about Seven Win Steve’s X’s and O’s that prompted a collective sigh of relief around Lake Washington when he took the Trojans job. Just about anybody even remotely familiar with the inner workings of Husky football knew there were concerns within the UW program about Sarkisian’s drinking.
Haden could try and plead that he was about the only person in the Pac-12 who hadn’t heard tales of Sarkisian’s drinking if he hadn’t claimed in Seven Win’s introductory news conference that he and the university had done “significant due diligence” before making the hire.
During that same news conference, Haden also said he was looking for a coach who was “committed to academic success, life skills development and NCAA compliance” and “connects with people in a positive way be they student athletes, parents, alums, faculty, fans and USC students.”
A coach “who will create a culture that embodies treating people fairly and holding them accountable and accentuating the USC values with total commitment to team, the community and student athletes.”
“We believe, I believe,” Haden continued that day, “Steve Sarkisian is a person and coach whose skill set aligns well with the attributes in which we were looking at in a leader of young men and football coach.”
It’s unclear if Haden still feels that way because he has largely gone AWOL since Salute To Troy. We do know that Sarkisian has not been held accountable at least publicly, other than the up downs, since that night. How do you suspend O’Neill immediately and take no action, again at least publicly, against Sarkisian?
If Sarkisian indeed has a drinking problem, then addressing it should be his first and only priority now and he should be relieved of his coaching duties for the season while he takes care of it. You can’t deal with a 24/7 problem with a part-time approach. Haden and the university are doing both Sarkisian and the USC players a disservice by allowing him to try and juggle two major tasks at the same time.
But you can also make a very strong case that Sarkisian did irreparable harm to his ability to lead USC at any point and should be terminated. That would give USC a chance for a fresh start, a start that should begin without Haden as well.
Here is the column from this morning:
Haden and university officials can say whatever they decide to do with Sarkisian is a private matter. The only problem with that is Sarkisian’s private life stopped being private the minute he staggered into his Chris Farley bit at USC’s “Saturday Night Live”. You can’t a send a message to your team, your alums, your university by privately dealing with a very public embarrassment.
The Salute To Troy debacle wasn’t the first time Sarkisian and Haden attracted national attention by embarrassing the university. During a game at Stanford last season, with Sarkisian unhappy with a series of officiating calls, Haden left his stadium suite and ran across the field to the Trojans sideline, where he joined his coach in confronting the game officials.
Ten days after Sarkisian’s latest disgrace we still don’t know if Haden is still standing by his coach. Or if he stands for anything at all.
Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com
At most jobs this would be met with significant consequences. Even Sterling Cooper had its limits.
But not at Pat Haden’s USC.
For telling offensive jokes while making the rounds at Salute to Troy clearly intoxicated, for getting on stage in front of alums, boosters, parents, children, his bosses, and dropping a f-bomb before being yanked off stage, for showing up drunk at work, all Sarkisian has had to do is some calisthenics known as “up downs.”
“He did up downs at a practice?” Desmond Howard, the former Michigan Heisman Trophy winner, said on ESPN’s GameDay over the weekend. “That’s laughable.”
Indeed Haden’s USC has become a national joke.
A season that was supposed to signal the Trojans return to national prominence has become a 12-game punch line; an autumn full of chants of “Cutty Sark” in Tempe and South Bend, “Seven Win Sark” taunts replaced by “Six Pack Steve” in Eugene, “(Expletive) Fight On” T-shirts in Westwood.
Make no mistake the joke is on Haden, the Trojans athletic director, as much as it is on Sarkisian. It’s on Haden that the Trojans start the season with a national embarrassment on their sideline.
When Haden, the former Trojans quarterback and Rhodes Scholar, returned to his alma mater in the summer of 2010, he was widely portrayed as the white knight riding to the rescue of USC after it had been decimated by NCAA sanctions and Mike Garrett’s reign of terror. It was as if he arrived at Heritage Hall aboard Traveler wielding a golden sword: St. Patrick.
Haden, we kept hearing, would be a stabilizing force to a Trojans athletic department marked by NCAA rules violations, corner cutting, bullying and arrogance under Garrett. Finally, we were told repeatedly, there was a grown up now in charge at Heritage Hall.
Instead under Haden, Tailback U has become Up Down U.
In the 10 days since Sarkisian staggered into the lead story on SportsCenter, many USC alums and fans have been questioning whether he should be allowed to coach the Trojans this season if at all?
A more important question is whether Haden should still be leading the Trojan athletic department?
Haden, who has an annual salary of $2.39 million according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service, gets high marks for hiring track coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. It’s not a question of if Smith Gilbert wins an NCAA title at USC but when and how many. (In hiring Smith Gilbert, Haden also stole the obvious choice to be the next coach at UCLA, her alma mater.)
But not even at Oregon and Colorado are ADs ultimately judged on the success of their track programs and otherwise Haden’s record has been mixed at best. The Trojans have captured 10 NCAA titles during Haden’s tenure, all of them won by coaches hired by Garrett. Under Haden, USC has not won an NCAA tournament game in either men’s or women’s basketball or an NCAA baseball regional. The Trojans men’s basketball program is 25-65 in conference games during the Haden era. Andy Enfield, hired by Haden after the 2012-13 season, is 23-41 overall, 5-31 in conference play.
Haden had to fire his hand-picked baseball coach for violating NCAA rules. The Trojans are 64-81 in Pac-12 play since Haden returned to campus.
Not that the Trojans haven’t put up big numbers under Haden. During this period of stabilizing the program, USC has incurred at least $60,000 in fines from the Pac-12.
Haden’s leadership style has been inconsistent; impulsive at times, non-existent at others. There have also been more than a few signs of the same arrogance so prominent in the Garrett era.
Upset with by Washington State AD Bill Moos’ proposal to change the Pac-12’s revenue distribution, Haden suggested during an October 2010 conference meeting that USC would explore leaving the league, according to Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian in “The System.” But then Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby, the authors wrote, “had no patience for Haden’s bluster and called his bluff, saying everyone knew that wasn’t going to happen.”
Haden was quick to suspend basketball coach Kevin O’Neill for what turned out to be one game at the 2011 Pac-12 tournament after he was involved in a confrontation with an Arizona booster in a hotel lobby. Alcohol was involved in the incident. There is no record of how many up downs O’Neill was required to perform.
Haden stood by Lane Kiffin after a 2012 season in which the Trojans finished a 7-6 campaign with three straight losses and a team locker-room altercation at the Sun Bowl. He then fired Kiffin in the middle of the night on an airport runway five games into the 2013 season.
But Haden’s tenure will ultimately be judged by the end result of his most important decision since returning to USC — hiring Sarkisian.
The hire was always a gamble. Sarkisian came with plenty of question marks on the field and baggage off it. Sarkisian was 8-18 against the Top 25 at the U-Dub and never finished more than a game over .500 in conference play. While Sarkisian said Oregon and Arizona State (and Notre Dame) “suck” during his Salute performance it’s worth noting that as a head coach he is 0-9 against the Ducks and Sun Devils.
But it was a lot more than questions about Seven Win Steve’s X’s and O’s that prompted a collective sigh of relief around Lake Washington when he took the Trojans job. Just about anybody even remotely familiar with the inner workings of Husky football knew there were concerns within the UW program about Sarkisian’s drinking.
Haden could try and plead that he was about the only person in the Pac-12 who hadn’t heard tales of Sarkisian’s drinking if he hadn’t claimed in Seven Win’s introductory news conference that he and the university had done “significant due diligence” before making the hire.
During that same news conference, Haden also said he was looking for a coach who was “committed to academic success, life skills development and NCAA compliance” and “connects with people in a positive way be they student athletes, parents, alums, faculty, fans and USC students.”
A coach “who will create a culture that embodies treating people fairly and holding them accountable and accentuating the USC values with total commitment to team, the community and student athletes.”
“We believe, I believe,” Haden continued that day, “Steve Sarkisian is a person and coach whose skill set aligns well with the attributes in which we were looking at in a leader of young men and football coach.”
It’s unclear if Haden still feels that way because he has largely gone AWOL since Salute To Troy. We do know that Sarkisian has not been held accountable at least publicly, other than the up downs, since that night. How do you suspend O’Neill immediately and take no action, again at least publicly, against Sarkisian?
If Sarkisian indeed has a drinking problem, then addressing it should be his first and only priority now and he should be relieved of his coaching duties for the season while he takes care of it. You can’t deal with a 24/7 problem with a part-time approach. Haden and the university are doing both Sarkisian and the USC players a disservice by allowing him to try and juggle two major tasks at the same time.
But you can also make a very strong case that Sarkisian did irreparable harm to his ability to lead USC at any point and should be terminated. That would give USC a chance for a fresh start, a start that should begin without Haden as well.
Here is the column from this morning:
Haden and university officials can say whatever they decide to do with Sarkisian is a private matter. The only problem with that is Sarkisian’s private life stopped being private the minute he staggered into his Chris Farley bit at USC’s “Saturday Night Live”. You can’t a send a message to your team, your alums, your university by privately dealing with a very public embarrassment.
The Salute To Troy debacle wasn’t the first time Sarkisian and Haden attracted national attention by embarrassing the university. During a game at Stanford last season, with Sarkisian unhappy with a series of officiating calls, Haden left his stadium suite and ran across the field to the Trojans sideline, where he joined his coach in confronting the game officials.
Ten days after Sarkisian’s latest disgrace we still don’t know if Haden is still standing by his coach. Or if he stands for anything at all.
Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com
