If Thursday night's 17 to 12
loss to Washington is not enough to create a major shake up at USC
then nothing short of a catastrophic earthquake will get the Trojans
to embrace the future by letting go of the past. In case they have
yet to notice, the Pete Carroll era is dead. Nothing is going to
bring it back. However, try telling this to the alumni who
desperately long for those days. Try convincing Athletic Director
Pat Haden who, if he could, would hire his old coach John McKay if he
were not dead. Why is it USC fans see this while those in charge
remain in denial?
USC football is exactly what
its three wins and two losses indicate; a mediocre team. They are
the end result of what happens when four and five star recruits are
coached by men who lack the ability to develop the tremendous talent
they have recruited. On paper, there are only a small handful of
teams that should be able to beat USC in any given year. However,
the USC coaching staff has been unable to convince its players games
are not decided on paper before they have been played. You actually
have to go out and execute a superior game plan if you expect to beat
an opponent.
Current USC head football
coach Steve Sarkisian is no better than his old pal Lane Kiffen.
Both were considered boy wonder geniuses when they were assistant
coaches under Pete Carroll and both have proven they are unable to
succeed beyond a mediocre level as a head coach.
Since Carroll left USC to
coach the Seattle Sea Hawks, the USC football team has only played
consistently hard for one person, Ed Orgeron, the man who served as
the interim coach between Kiffen's firing and Sarkisian's hiring.
Orgeron was also the man who served as Carroll's top recruiter and
managed to restore fun into SC football while simultaneously getting
players to play above their heads. Unfortunately, Haden passed on
hiring Orgeron permanently, as well as other top candidates, and USC
is no where further along today than they were the day Haden fired
Kiffen.
How does Steve Sarkisian
keep his job after losing to a much less talented Washington squad
who is coached by one of the candidates Haden interviewed and passed
on in order to hire Stevie Boy Wonder? In fact, how does Haden keep
his job as Athletic director? If these two questions are being asked
over and over again by SC fans, they certainly have to be being asked
by influential alumni as well as the University's president. If not,
then there is no future for USC football to look forward to.
At a time in which the NFL
has all but promised next year relocating one or two teams to Los
Angeles, USC football runs the risk of becoming as irrelevant as its
basketball program. To stick with the status quo is only telling
fans the University is pleased with the direction of its football
program. If this is the case, then there was never any reason for
the school to fight so hard against the sanctions it received from
the NCAA.
Fight on! Not even the most
loyal USC fan can claim there is any fight in the Trojans. With
Notre Dame, Utah, and UCLA left to play, USC will be lucky to escape
this year with just five losses. Teams that begin the year ranked in
the top five do not end up with five losses if there is any fight in
them.
USC has to say good-bye to
both Pat Haden and Steve Sarkisian. Together, they only serve as
reminders of what USC once was and never will be as long as either
one sticks around. Now is the time to be bold and to find a new
Athletic Director who only cares about the future and not the past.
Perhaps they need to roll the dice, and the big bucks, and go
convince Chip Kelly he is much better suited for USC than he is with
the Philadelphia Eagles.
Smart people cut their
losses early and know when to move on. Aggressive people pounce
without warning. USC football has been neither smart or aggressive
since Pete Carroll left which explains why they flounder.
Fight on? Are you kidding?
Flounder on best describes what is now USC football.
No comments:
Post a Comment