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Thoughts on Pat Haden as Athletic Director

Think it's a great hire overall.  Here are the positives and negatives I see:

Positives

- Public relations will go way up.  We have a very smart man as the face/brain of SC athletics.  He's going to manage the media significantly better than Mike Garrett.

- Donations will go up.  Pat is deeply connected in the LA business world with private-equity firm.  He's also been a long-time trustee and will get a lot of rich alums and fans to donate to the school.  This will be big in taking on overdue projects like the new football facilities.

- Pat understands the role and importance of SC football.  He was a former SC legend and a fan since he was a young kid, he knows SC football is the heart & soul of the athletics program.

- SC baseball will return to its glory?  Maybe Pat will hire a competent coach.

Negatives

- Time will tell regarding Pat's stance on athletes/academics.  This is my only real concern with this hire especially after Pat used Stanford as an example of athletics and academics succeeding together and making it an initiative to provide a richer learning experience for student-athletes in his press conference. Will Pat try to turn SC into a Stanford or Notre Dame?  Not that I have anything against taking student-athletes more seriously but when you're talking about building national championship caliber football teams, you almost always have to take some fringe athletes.

What do you think?

How Long Before Mike Garrett Gets Fired?

Allowing embarrassments like this to happen is unacceptable: http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2010/07/usc_athletics_director_apologi.html

Joke of the Day: USC Hires Kevin O'Neill as New Head Basketball Coach

Good one MG - good one!

If we're going to make a temporary hire, which I'm guessing (and hoping) is the strategy here, we might as well taken a chance on Jim Cleamons, who repeatedly showed interest in the job.  At least there you can play the Lakers angle and ride off their momentum, instead of trying to sell recruits on an old fashion tomato-head coach who got laughed out of Arizona.

Reggie Theus? We Bringing the Bibby Era Back?

Hello?  Who's at the door?  Mediocrity?  Thought we were trying to shake you off. Wait, you got LA and AAU ties? Hm, that's nice and all, but can you coach? Yeah, I know you're from the SC area, but can you coach?  Yes, I heard you starred on the Bulls, but again, can you coach?  ...Hello?

Bring Jeff Van Gundy to USC

I've officially jumped on the JVG bandwagon.  Whether it's realistic or a complete pipe dream, if JVG is in contention SC must absolutely close.  Names like Theus, Bennett, Eustachy (they joking w/ this one?), and Robinson need not apply, JVG runs circles around those coaches.  Jamie Dixon?  Yeah, he'd be another great selection, but he still rides passenger seat.

Forget his recent NBA stint, which was still pretty damn good, anybody that followed NBA basketball back in the mid-90's knows what JVG is capable of:  he is flat out the hardest working coach when he's on his game and one of the brightest basketball minds in the business.

Take that hard work-ethic and straight-forward/non-BS approach and you got the makings of a great college coach.  The man genuinely lives and breathes basketball; the talk that he's made strictly for the pros is absolutely true, but I think his love for the game would perfectly suit the college level.

Make it happen MG.

USC No Longer Recruiting Renardo Sidney

From ESPN.com:

The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Renardo Sidney earned a qualifying SAT score.

But he won't be playing at USC. A source close to the program confirmed that the Trojans are officially no longer recruiting Sidney, who had verbally committed to USC. The decision, according to the source, came from within the administration. UCLA also backed off in its recruitment of the 6-foot-9 power forward out of Fairfax High (Calif.) in a similar fashion, even though there was a strong chance the Bruins were going to land Sidney prior to him committing to USC.

Anyone who read my post the day Renardo committed to SC knows that I'm ecstatic to see us pull out of this race.  This was an absolute disaster to begin with picking up a player that 1) has had a long history of poor work-ethic and attitude towards the game and 2) a significant history of questionable dealings and baggage.  Although I can't confirm any of the stuff I've heard from various sources, let me just say they are nothing short of ridiculous.  Even on the surface, his move to CA with family and relationship with Reebok should automatically throw up red flags.  People can spin it however way they want, it doesn't add up in my book.

Most fans will probably be disappointed by this news, but I am absolutely confident that this is a blessing in disguise.  It's not like Renardo would have led us to a championship, so why risk an NCAA smackdown and/or more negative PR on this kid?  Glad the administration finally came to their senses.