Steve Sarkisian Fired at USC

[silverscreenselect]

Just one day after taking an indefinite "leave of absence," (and four days after an embarrassing home loss to Washington) the leave turned definitely permanent. Sarkisian got in trouble in the offseason when he showed up drunk at a function.

He's the second straight USC coach to be fired mid-season following Lane Kiffin.

http://espn.go.com/losangeles/college-f ... head-coach

[SpacemanSpiff]

I wonder if the change from Sunday to Monday was due to all of the stories that came out about Sark's other times of public intoxication (Mrs. Spiff's opinion), or if the whole thing was just a going-through-the-process thing (my opinion) -- checking with the lawyers to see if he could be terminated, if it affected the buyout, if ADA could be invoked, etc. and that the end game was termination all along.

I bring up a similar situation with one-time Alabama football coach Mike Price, who had a perfect record: 0-0. He was terminated before the season started after he met his Destiny ("Room service? Can I have one of everything to go?"). He bellyached at his exit presser where he said "whatever happened to second chances?" Turned out that he was more like on his third or fourth chance. When he moved down to Tuscaloosa, leaving the wife to take care of things up at WSU while preparing for the move, he turned into a party animal, and the University and their Athletic Department basically laid down the hammer on his behavior. Of course, it made it a lot easier to terminate him because he hadn't signed the official contract (not unusual, as I understand it; they were dickering back and forth over buyouts and lots of mundane details); they simply withdrew the contract, and sent him on his way.

[silverscreenselect]

I wonder if the change from Sunday to Monday was due to all of the stories that came out about Sark's other times of public intoxication (Mrs. Spiff's opinion), or if the whole thing was just a going-through-the-process thing (my opinion)

If Southern Cal was 5-0 heading into the Notre Dame game, it wouldn't have mattered if Sarkisian had been filmed downing a keg of beer on the sideline during the game; he would still be coaching. Lose to Washington at home as a double-digit favorite and that changes things. Now, they have the perfect face-saving out if Notre Dame cleans their clock.

[SpacemanSpiff]

If Southern Cal was 5-0 heading into the Notre Dame game, it wouldn't have mattered if Sarkisian had been filmed downing a keg of beer on the sideline during the game; he would still be coaching.

Sadly, that is often the case, and not just with college athletics. If you're producing, a lot of sins get overlooked.

I'll cite this from Pat Forde on Yahoo! Sports where it happened before with Sark; a sign of things to come:

So Helton is back for his second stint as the interim guy. USC visits Notre Dame on Saturday. A year ago the Trojans whipped the Irish 49-14 and everything seemed promising. It wasn’t. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Sarkisian celebrated that win by drinking a bottle of Patron Silver.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Looks like I might have been more correct than the Mrs. on this one, based upon some articles.

First, it looks like AD Pat Haden topped his firing of Lane Kiffin on this termination; this one was done via emails and text messages, and not necessarily from Haden. Apparently he was in route to an out-of-state rehab facility, Haden couldn't reach him, and word got out. Sark started getting messages and emails from others about it.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.co ... -to-rehab/

Haden said he made multiple attempts to reach Sarkisian and those close to him, but was unable to make a connection. A letter was then sent to Sarkisian and his agent notifying them of the termination.

“I called him, I texted him, I called three different numbers of his agent, I called his sister,” Haden said. “I finally got ahold of his brother-in-law.”

Further, USC is taking the stand that Sark was fired "for cause." This is big because it would mean they don't have to pay anything remaining in his contract, saving the school (and costing Sark) about $10 mill over three years.

http://espn.go.com/losangeles/college-f ... -difficult

A school source told ESPN's Shelley Smith that Haden had instituted what was, in effect, a zero-tolerance policy concerning alcohol use with Sarkisian. When Sarkisian showed up to meetings Sunday seemingly intoxicated, that was a violation of the agreement, and it resulted in Sarkisian's dismissal.

An employee can't be fired for being sick or having an illness, the source said, but the guidelines Haden set up for Sarkisian made it clear a similar incident could not happen again, thus making Sarkisian's behavior a fireable offense.

A source close to the school later confirmed to ESPN that USC had fired Sarkisian for cause, meaning the school believes it does not have to pay him the remaining three-plus years of his contract.

And, as I suspected, someone at USC has covered their --- over the ADA.

http://thebiglead.com/2015/10/14/usc-do ... er-firing/

[BackInTex]

A source close to the school later confirmed to ESPN that USC had fired Sarkisian for cause, meaning the school believes it does not have to pay him the remaining three-plus years of his contract.
And, as I suspected, someone at USC has covered their --- over the ADA.

Unless they got a blood test showing his blood alcohol level, $10 million will buy a lot of attorney to argue he wasn't intoxicated and had not violated anything.

[Bob78164]

A source close to the school later confirmed to ESPN that USC had fired Sarkisian for cause, meaning the school believes it does not have to pay him the remaining three-plus years of his contract.
And, as I suspected, someone at USC has covered their --- over the ADA.

Unless they got a blood test showing his blood alcohol level, $10 million will buy a lot of attorney to argue he wasn't intoxicated and had not violated anything.

All they need to do is find one witness who saw him taking a drink. --Bob

[elwoodblues]

If Southern Cal was 5-0 heading into the Notre Dame game, it wouldn't have mattered if Sarkisian had been filmed downing a keg of beer on the sideline during the game; he would still be coaching.

Sadly, that is often the case, and not just with college athletics. If you're producing, a lot of sins get overlooked.

I'll cite this from Pat Forde on Yahoo! Sports where it happened before with Sark; a sign of things to come:

So Helton is back for his second stint as the interim guy. USC visits Notre Dame on Saturday. A year ago the Trojans whipped the Irish 49-14 and everything seemed promising. It wasn’t. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Sarkisian celebrated that win by drinking a bottle of Patron Silver.

A good example of this is Bobby Petrino, the coach who left Louisville to coach the Falcons, left from there during the season to coach Arkansas and was fired from there after a scandal.

He is coaching again...at Louisville.

[SpacemanSpiff]

A good example of this is Bobby Petrino, the coach who left Louisville to coach the Falcons, left from there during the season to coach Arkansas and was fired from there after a scandal.

He is coaching again...at Louisville.

After he spent a short time in coaching purgatory (Western Kentucky, I believe?)

A decent opinion piece about Sark on SB Nation today:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... ed?ref=yfp

Going forward, Sarkisian has two options. He could do nothing. He can accept what's happened, more or less admitting that USC was right to fire him for his alcoholism. He'd be forfeiting millions upon millions of dollars and owning up to the fact that his drinking problem cost him his dream job. This is not a good option.

The other option is to fight USC's decision in court, perhaps arguing that firing someone in rehabilitation violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. If this happened, Sarkisian would have to publicly discuss the details of his alcoholism. USC's lawyers would surely force him to admit to the embarrassing nature of the things he's been accused of. He'd have to bare all his flaws with no guarantee he'd win anything. It would be ugly for all. This is also not a good option.

There is no pleasant solution. With alcoholism, there are no pleasant solutions.

Then again, it could be worse (q.v. Lamar Odom).