October 12th, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 5:46 PM ^
Pat: "Steve, we are going to put you on a leave of absence."
Sark: "OMG, this is terrible! Really, a leave of absence?"
Pat: "No, just kidding, YOU'RE FIRED!"
Sark: "That was really mean, Pat."
Pat: "I know, sorry."
P.S. All joking aside, I really do hope the guy gets help with his addiction. It is a monster, and I know from lots of experience...
October 12th, 2015 at 5:52 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:45 PM ^
Pat Haden is a former USC player with no prior experience as AD, who loves to fire people suddenly. What can possibly go wrong?
October 12th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:55 PM ^
You lost your UpVote Virginity Today. Welcome to the Club.
October 12th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
the best
October 12th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
Are you seriously saying bothe Kiffen and Sark did not need to be fired?
October 12th, 2015 at 5:00 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 5:02 PM ^
Perhaps Sark went on a bender last night and drunk texted Haden?
October 12th, 2015 at 5:06 PM ^
You up?
October 12th, 2015 at 6:34 PM ^
in the face of evidence of his problem, fired him today when it became clear that the recent behavior amounted to a fireable offense--e.g. they learned something more he'd done or got a clear read from their lawyers that they had good grounds.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:11 PM ^
Don't mistake me, i would have. But isn't there some law or something about not doing that for someone that has what many people see as a disease?
October 12th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
I was wondering the same thing as Wolverine1987. My guess was that if Haden had just fired Sark without the leave, it would have been fine. But it may present a problem now due to the obvious acknowledgement of a health issue.
My ultimate guess: he gets a nice payout, goes to rehab, rebuilds his rep and eventually gets another D-1 job.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
in his case during games or press conferences, my guess will be yes, and this probably will also save USC a lot of money (breach of contract), but what do I know?
October 12th, 2015 at 5:39 PM ^
But it also says that if you can't acomplish your job, they can fire you. If you have a problem, say you get drunk at a booster event, the boss calls you in and takes steps to help you, you don't comply and continue to show up at work drunk, unable to do your job they can let you go.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:53 PM ^
Sark already showed up at a booster event earlier this year drunk, and supposedly was drunk during the ASU game this year. I'm pretty sure if you are showing up drunk on the job, especially when your job is coaching kids, you can be fired regardless of why you are drunk.
October 12th, 2015 at 7:18 PM ^
spot on
October 12th, 2015 at 9:12 PM ^
Breach of Contract, number one ...
Private University, number two ...
Let Sark try to sue ...
I think everyone knew "leave af absence" was euphemism for "He Gone"
October 12th, 2015 at 5:04 PM ^
He must have been channeling his inner David Brandon....
October 12th, 2015 at 5:55 PM ^
Sark needed a Brandon to tell him what to do
October 12th, 2015 at 6:52 PM ^
and it never gets any less creepy.
October 12th, 2015 at 7:01 PM ^
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October 12th, 2015 at 8:04 PM ^
What's wrong with his mouth?
October 13th, 2015 at 9:29 AM ^
It's full of lies.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
Former athletes as ADs have worked so well in the past for USC.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:48 PM ^
"No former USC player ever made a terrible decision." O.J. Simpson
October 12th, 2015 at 7:15 PM ^
to be fair...I don't think Sarkisian's alcoholism was known when he was hired...the move was widely celebrated. Seems unfortunate, but unless this was known around UW, then I don't know how you blame Haden for this
October 12th, 2015 at 7:48 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:48 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 5:06 PM ^
Here's what Pat Haden said to me the day he hired Steve Sarkisian: "I might be wrong. We'll see.'' #USC
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) October 12, 2015
If you are keeping score, this is third major sport coach Pat Haden fired in midseason (Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Kevin O'Neill) #USC
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) October 12, 2015
October 12th, 2015 at 5:31 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^
Chop-chop!
October 12th, 2015 at 6:02 PM ^
Did anyone else catch Matt Millen's Flintstones reference?
A Judo. A chop-chop-chop.
October 12th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
Dan Quinn is looking pretty good so far.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^
Quinn is part of his Seattle coaching tree. His SC coaching tree is not really a thing.
October 12th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
Kiffin & Sark are offensive guys that worked under Pete, but Pete is a defensive guy by upbringing.
I think you can draw their roots back to Norm Chow (BYU '75-'99, USC OC '01-'04) / LaVell Edwards and the heyday of BYU.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Chow
This is a different branch of the same tree that developed the "Air Raid" offense, lighting it up in college football today (Baylor, TCU, TTU, WVU, Oklahoma, Cal, WSU, ECU, Bowling Green):
"Note that Mumme, Leach, and company famously made many pilgrimages to BYU during this time, including back when Mumme was still at Copperas Cove as a high school coach. There they studied everything about BYU’s system and essentially stole it verbatim, except they eventually began adding their own wrinkles based on their experiences: they began using more and more shotgun, more spread sets, ceased flipping their formations, and generally tailored the offense to what their players — high school and small college athletes — could do."
- See more at: http://smartfootball.com/offense/the-air-raid-offense-history-evolution…
#themoreyouknow
October 12th, 2015 at 10:14 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
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October 12th, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
No successful NFL coach ever goes back to coach college, don't you know that?
October 12th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 6:47 PM ^
Their wives will never let them move. They love it where they are.
October 12th, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
October 12th, 2015 at 4:44 PM ^
Urban Meyer?
October 12th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^
Stranger things have happened. He's behind Saban and Harbaugh on the highest paid ranking. Pretty sure USC could load up a truck for him.