UPDATE
In a master act of class now former head coach of USC Steve Sarkisian publicly acknowledged his struggles and wished his former team best of luck. Read the tweets here:
This is a very difficult time for my family and me. I am facing these challenges the best I can and your support helps immensely.
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) October 14, 2015
I would like to thank everyone for their huge outpouring of support and well wishes.
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) October 14, 2015
I wish my Trojans the best against Notre Dame and for the remainder of the season. No one will be cheering them on more than me. Fight On!
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) October 14, 2015
Less than two weeks before #4 Utah heads to Los Angeles, USC announced that head coach Steve Sarkisian had been fired. Yesterday the school had announced that Sarkisian had been placed on “indefinite leave of absence” but updated that status to fired this afternoon. Sarkisian was just in his second year with the PAC12 school, which started this year ranked #8 in the nation.
ESPN reports that the firing came on rapidly after Sarkisian was seen at a booster meeting drunk, using inappropriate language, and slurring. The day after the meeting he made a public apology to the boosters and his team. Pat Haden, USC’s Athletic director, also said that he spoke with the coach and expressed his disappointment in him.
All seemed forgotten as the team started the season but with two ugly defeats to unranked teams, Standford and Washington, the issue of Sarkisian as USC’s leader surfaced again.
Clay Helton has been placed as interim head coach, but the question is how well can he do coming into a season already tainted with two disappointing losses? We’ve seen plenty of teams lose a coach across all sports how are unable to recover their season with the change in leadership. Or could this be a positive for USC and give them some extra passion as they face the Utes next weekend. Either way it will be a fun game to watch.
