re: Steve Sarkisian asked to take leave of absence, Clay Helton interim USC coach

I feel badly for him. It's a disease.

Maybe this is why Sark finally gave up play calling duties this year. I gotta magine it's pretty difficult to read a play chart when you're blitzed out of your mind.

• Sark is done at USC, but hopefully gets control of his disease. Clearly, behaving in this manner demonstrates the grip alcohol has on him.
• I have not cared for Pat Haden in his role of AD as I repeatedly found him to be arrogant in his comments and decision making. I never root for anyone to loose their job, but could make an exception in this case......
• Haden seems to think like Jerry Jones in that "any one of 500" guys can coach this team. Kiffen to Sark...what's next?

Considering the stress and time commitment that goes with being a head coach in college or the pros, I'm surprised this isn't more common.

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Calling it right now, no joke: Jim McElwain.

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No way Foley gets punked like that by Haden. It would be hilarious though.

FWIW, there were at least 2 posts from Husky fans who said he had a similar problem there & was close to being run off. Both said there were no tears shed when he left. And what adds to Hayden's problem is he interviewed the HC of Washington now,Peterson, & did not offer him the job. Peterson not only has a spotless history, he's also well regarded as a HC.

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Following the Trojans' dismal home loss to Washington on Thursday – a debacle lowlighted by Sarkisian's atrocious endgame decision making – it suddenly didn't seem too early to question whether he should be fired after his second season. That's because Sark was a questionable hire to begin with, not arriving with enough accomplishments to earn himself any kind of honeymoon period.

He lost a minimum of four games in all five of his seasons at Washington, raising the program up from lousy to competitive but never taking that next step. Last year at USC, Sarkisian presided over losses to Boston College (as a 17-point favorite), Arizona State (as a 12-point favorite), Utah and UCLA (both as a slight underdog). It was a pretty mediocre debut season, following the mediocre pattern established in Seattle.

Expectations were much higher this year, with a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, an experienced offensive line, a major talent at wide receiver and multiple NFL prospects on defense. This was the year USC was supposed to get back to owning the Pac-12.

Instead the Trojans are 1-2 in league play, with both losses coming at home. The bottom-out against Washington featured a baffling decision by Sarkisian to attempt a field goal from the Huskies' 28-yard line with four minutes remaining and the Trojans trailing by five, 17-12. The only defense of the decision would have been if USC had all three of its timeouts in order to kill the clock and have time for another drive, but it had only one.

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LINK

This might have been posted but it pretty much trumpets what everyone has been saying in this thread.

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Drinking problems aside, it was a bad hire for USC. It's not like he had a stellar track record as a head coach. I guess he did ok at Washington, but if you're going to fire your coach at an airport I figure you'd have someone better lined up. You are USC not Oregon State.

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Too many schools make catastrophic mistakes staying in-house and/or hiring the guy who has ties to the program because they know the culture. Sometimes the culture needs to be changed.

Haden didn't hire Sarkisian because he was the hottest commodity. He hired him because he was Pete Carroll's OC. It's also why Lane Kiffin was a FAIL.

Look at how many times teams took giant steps backward with the safe hire or the hire that makes the boosters happy. Sarkisian/Kiffin. Brady Hoke. Mike Dubose/Mike Shula. Larry Coker. Frank Solich. Ron Zook. Mike Archer.

Sometimes you succeed. A lot of times you succeed short-term and then fail miserably. A lot of times you just flat-out fail.

You have have an obsessive personality to work 20 hours a day on one thing and nothing else. With a degree of success, at least.

When the season is over, you either have to stay all in or you trade one addiction for another.

i can see the commercial now lol

"When i'm beating the shite out of ASU there's only one drink that i use to get shitfaced, and that's patron""