While Haden didn’t provide specifics on Sunday, it is widely believed that the decision was related to Sarkisian’s issues with alcohol.
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Sarkisian’s termination comes one day after he was asked to take a leave of absence after Haden found out that Sarkisian failed to show up at Sunday afternoon’s practice.
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio and Rams coach Jeff Fisher both played at USC and have both been mentioned in the past as potential USC head coaches, although both seem like extreme long shots at this point.
Sarkisian was on the USC coaching staff for seven seasons prior to coaching Washington for five, from 2009-13. The school announced that Sarkisian is taking a leave of absence after missing today’s practice.
Current interim head coach Bill Cubit is doing a great job corralling the troops and competing every week. In September USC, now with a 3-2 record, beat Arizona State.
‘They still have a lot of things out there that we can attain, ‘ Helton said of his players. St. Louis Rams coach and USC alum Jeff Fisher also extended well wishes.
Proud and lucky that I get to work.
He is the son of Kim Helton, the former University of Houston coach.
Helton moved from Houston to the University of Memphis and spent 10 seasons there. After serving as an assistant for several years, Moeller took a head coaching job with Illinois in 1977. Sarkisian later apologized and said he had combined alcohol and medication, but promised not to drink again during the season.
Sarkisian’s ouster follows an ugly first half of the season for USC.
Sarkisian rebuilt the Huskies into a regular bowl team, but couldn’t lift them among the Pac-12’s elite. Sarkisian was hired a year ago to revive the Trojans.
Pat Haden, the school’s athletic director, announced the firing in a statement Monday.
The imperious Kiffin created or endured numerous controversies before getting fired by Haden at the airport after a game in 2013.
With all this revealed, my mind can’t help but go back to Haden.
That is until Monday, when a day after putting him on indefinite leave, something changed – more bad stuff that we don’t know about perhaps – and Haden finally pulled the plug on the relationship. Carroll, now the coach of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, told 710 ESPN Seattle on Monday that Sarkisian’s situation “breaks my heart.” “And I think half the time everybody piles on and doesn’t really know the full story”.
“I’ll be there to support him”, Carroll said.
The Trojans then had four head coaches in 2013, with interim coach Ed Orgeron quitting in protest after Sarkisian was hired over him.
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The headquarters guesses that Sarkisian’s legal representation will be chasing an ADA case in the near future, but that’s just us…
