I’m not buying what Riki is selling.

Rikki Ellison on Facebook
“Take the emotions out of it, the reality of a budget strapped Univesity that has three lawsuits coming down on them with a 200 million plus first settlement, a search for a President that is ongoing, a overcommitted renovation of the Coliseum, a budget constructed Athletic Department that has a economically viable contract in existence with the Head Coach and a Board and the University just not focused on the football program. Added, a new Athletic Director that doesn’t want to go down Hadens way. And the reality Football doesn’t run our University, the University runs our football and it’s not a priority for them right now. They have bigger issues to figure out than one subpar poor performance season. To run around and react and try to get someone great in here in a unstable environment with no money to pay for him - who would really want to coach here, right now with all the restrictions and focus along with character and integrity of the Head Coach which we will never go down the path we did again for the University’s vision of character based leadership. Just sub par coaches and desperate ones - we are better than that and yes we have to wait it out till our Univesity is settled down and this gives a year lead time with no pressure on searching for that right person if this program remains the same. We were all spoiled for the dominance we had in the country of the game. We have had too many NCAA sanctions that have crushed our program, bad hires and bad management- take this as a positive - Clay is on the Hot Seat and we could suffer another year but that will be the end of it- we are not ready or capable to move on this year - deal with the reality

Fight On”

 

Why not? He's exactly right... maybe not every detail but the truth is that USC is just not focused on winning football championships anymore... look at the coliseum renovation... it centers around catering to rich donors, not fans... the whole university has completely changed its trajectory from 10 years ago... no more parties on the row, USC "ambassadors" on every corner, a student body that is fenced off from everyone else during homecoming "tailgating", etc... USC is just no interested in anything fun...

 

There is some logic in that paragraphless mess of bad grammar. :)

 

I usually do not agree with him much, but I think he is spot on here. Lynn Swann cannot really be this dumb, can he?

 

I am buying it, agree with him.

 

Riki is right ... not the time, as disgraceful as the season was, due to the lawsuits and fear of another coach fire/search fiasco. Let Helton take the fall vs that brutal schedule next year. In a season that he must produce, something he simply is not capable of doing. No amount of arse kissing can save Helton next year. Swann forced him to suspend and bench players which comprises his soft nature and player/coach buddy buddy culture. Swann also forced Clayton to call plays, a great test of his supposed ‘24 years of doing this’ and the results, as we all knew were awful ... simply put, the guy is a fraud.
Now a new staff will be paid for ( we will see if $$$ is the problem, I think not) to try and save this miserable hire, who is so out of his element it is painful to watch him attempt to be in it. Now Helton has to work, something he has been able to avoid all these years through his ‘nice guy’ routine. Now he has found WE don’t give on damn about his family, faith , but really give a damn USC football.
Helton survived for multiple reasons but unfortunately for him, it was not for good football ... not even close. And good football is something he is incapable of producing. So hang in there, Helton will never be able to handle the booing and being criticized for weeks on end. The fraud is out and there is nothing saving him now.

 

I always get a kick out of Riki’s mangling of the language.

 

USC Freshman Writing 101!

 

Beyond the rules of grammar, he conveys his message.

 

Anything liberals put their hands on turns to shit, just like most of the other colleges around the country.

 

There has certainly been a change of direction in the last ten years, Academics, Culture and Athletics. As it’s said ‘Nothing is Forever’

 

He's spot on. I had a feeling that the legal mess, the lack of a president and Swann's ill-advised extension to Helton would buy CCH another year. This year, unfortunately, was not an ideal time to replace the football coach, so we will have to deal with another year of mediocre football...

 

That was actually one of his more lucid posts

 

Seems Rikki is spot on to me.

 

Albeit a colorful statement, I think Riki is spot on. As much as many on this board think Lynn is stupid, he is quite the opposite, a shrewd man. I think he saw something that gave him hope that Clay was growing - beating Stanford twice in a year when they were quite good will do that. I think he was desperate for some continuity in the football program. With Clay heading into the last year of his contract, an extension needed to be given for the sake of recruiting. Too bad it was too much of an extension. I think as things unfolded, that he saw that Clay wasn't the coach he had hoped for - I think the weekly meetings tried to address his and his staff's shortcomings. I think it is very important to Lynn that the process seem fair - especially to potential future coaches. I think making Clay take playcalling from Tee and the firing of Calloway were two ways he paved that road. It will be interesting to see what changes come next. A new OC, a new QB coach, a new DB coach, and a new RB coach all need to be hired and replace those who have left or need to leave. They need to get an outstanding staff to back up Clay and provide more of the hands on running of this team. That won't be easy. This at a time when the university is in chaos. I have never seen SC in such bad shape. Riki is correct - you will never hire the coach we need at this time; I will bet a lot of money that Lynn tested the waters and found that there was no interest out there. I doubt even Lynn is around at this time next year, which actually makes a hire next year with a new President and hopefully excellent new AD in place. In the meantime give Clay a chance to do the best with some quality assistants. I would really think about Norm Chow as at least a QB coach, maybe Kennedy Pola, someone with a take no prisoners attitude, because the prisoners have taken over the prison.

 

I am wondering what is the 200 million dollar "first" settlement?

 

Yep, he may be right on this one.

 

Hire a new coach. Really not that difficult . It was just haden. He made the easy look difficult. Because he was a fraud. And didnt know what he was doing. Didnt do his homework. Just listened to too many people and voices, instead of knowing the mechanics of a process.

 

I'm not at all convinced Swann himself will be around much longer. just a feeling . who knows.

 

From October...

"USC said Friday it had agreed to pay $215 million to former patients of Dr. George Tyndall, the first in what is expected to be a wave of payouts stemming from the sexual abuse scandal involving the longtime campus gynecologist.

The proposed settlement would provide $2,500 to any USC student treated by Tyndall during his three-decade tenure and up to $250,000 to those who allege they were abused by him. As many as 17,000 students and alumnae are eligible, a university lawyer said.

The deal applies only to a federal class-action lawsuit and does not automatically resolve more than 400 other patient suits playing out in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Lawyers in those local cases lambasted the settlement as paltry and premature, and promised to continue pursuing their cases. They said the class settlement did not allow for a full accounting of USC’s handling of Tyndall. The doctor was allowed to practice at the student health center for 27 years despite numerous complaints that began in the early 1990s.

“They want to shut it down, close the loop and end the inquiry on the documents showing who knew what — because it’s bad,” said John Manly, an Irvine-based attorney representing 180 of Tyndall’s former patients. “If you are in favor of secrecy about sexual assault and in favor of protecting sexual abusers, this is a great day for you.”

$215M for one class action lawsuit.....400 others still pending (and Riki thinks it's 3, lol) . Good luck with selling that bullshit, Wanda.

And I have to question the concept that Clay's contract is economically viable. Those contracts are signed with the expectation of positive results and investment return, plus an assumption that his services are wanted by the consumer. Attendance is declining, seats went unsold, fans don't want Clay. Lynn and Riki can dress this up any way they want. Unfortunately it looks more like it all comes down to making the easy decision and walking away from it. If the contract extension sucked, and it did, who is/was holding Swann accountable? If Swann thinks Clay is moving in a positive direction, which he isn't, who is holding Clay accountable? USC is spinning. And Max is sitting pretty with his Cardinal Emeritus cap. Just fuck all that, really.