I am ok with the hire

willing to give Haden the benefit of the doubt. Sarkissian is not Lane Kiffin.....I want to give him a chance.

I will say this, however, we are looking at a very difficult year next year. Sark is going to find that the cupboard is quite bare. ucla returns almost their entire defense, most of the offense. They started three true freshmen in the OL, who got valuable experience, struggled at times, but kept us away from Hundley. Right now, it pains me to say so, but I think they have more talent than we do. They certainly have more numbers. The rest of the Pac 12 will be good. Sark is leaving behind a talented young team, too.....sixteen returning starters...ASU has a good team coming back.

If we lose a lot of juniors this year, going out early, obviously that makes it much worse, since we cannot replace those numbers....I think his first USC team is unlikely to make a lot of people here happy next year.

 

USC has a ton of talent returning next year. There is no excuse for Sarkisian's inevitable mediocrity.

 

That's the biggest loss with Coach O... he had the best chance of anyone at keeping our juniors who were on the fence... now I'm not too hopeful that they will stay if they were wavering... I'm not OK with the hire, but then, I'm just a fan, so I guess I'd better start finding ways to be supportive!!!

 

Pat Haden and Sarkissian's mother seem to be the only people happy about this. What a joke. two month search and we come up with entry 1A to Kiffin's 1B. This is beyond all belief. Haden is the worst. The absolute worst.

 

u washington fans are happy as well judging by comments on their boards-coupled with the universities failure to tryt o retain sark, what do they know that haden did not ? troubling isnt it....?

 

The Washington board is lit up with excitement. The ducks and bruins are simply laughing at us.

 

Asu is graduating like 15 starters or something… would not exactly call that a lot of returning talent.

 

I am an optimist and look at Sark like Tony Dungy. He took over a horrible Tampa Bay team and brought them to respectability but could not win big games. See all the playoff failure. His next job he took over a ready made team with talent and brought them a title. Maybe this is the same type of situation. Sark had a horrible UW team and brought them to respectability. Now he goes to a team with better talent that under achieved. Maybe it is a perfect fit. Very few coaches can go from nothing to titles so don't sell Sark short because he did not bring a title to UW. The fact is he has improved his teams. Lets built on that here.

 

Well, Sark is getting endorsements from Pete Carroll and Matt Leinhart. Keyshawn Johnson while not giving a rousing thumbs up at least says it is a "safe hire" and willing to give Sark a wait-and-see chance (which many posters on this web site seem resistant to do). Most writers in the paper and commentators on ESPN also give at least guarded benefit of the doubt on the hire. Many of the Trojan Nation are upset and yesterday was a day of venting. Okay, I hope you have gotten ahold of your fears and concerns and at least ready to talk about topics such as recruiting and/or coaching rumors, what is expected from Sark and/or the Trojans for next year, final thoughts on Coach O, etc. Like after a natural disaster, its' time to pick up the pieces.

 

Recruits are happy about it too - the responses i've read have been more than positive.

 

So am I. Especially when you compare him to the alternatives. I feel differently about it now from how I felt yesterday. I wish Coach O had stayed, but I'm not impressed that he didn't stay for the bowl game. Very bad form IMO, especially after all his talk about the Trojan family. He was offered a big raise for goodness sake.

 

Nothing against Sark, but I'm still disappointed that we didn't get the home run that Haden promised.

 

"Okay" is an apt word. I was hoping/expecting a little something more. "Okay" is "okay" for the UCLA's of the world. USC should aim higher with its hires.

 

For what it is worth - Pete Carroll, who is regarded as a God, requested and suggested for Steve Sarkisian to be the next head coach at USC when he left. As we all know, Mike Garrett went in another direction and we all know how that worked out. I do remember Carroll supporting the hire of Kiffin, but I believe that was a politically correct thing to do.

I for one, am not thrilled about the hire nor angry about it. I believe in the long run, Sark will work out better than CEO, but CEO had my emotional vote of confidence.

 

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't Garrett offer the job to Sark back in 2009 and he declined?

Carroll is buds with Sark, of course he is supportive. Sark is a decent guy and coach. Until he proves me wrong, decent will is the operative word here. Decent, okay, meh, average, safe... I've yet to see anyone point to any on-the-field evidence that shows this guy capable of anything above middling.

 

I am willing to support Sark and watch it play out. Any Pac 12 fan knows he is a mediocre play caller so i can only believe that he was hired for recruiting. Here is the bad news... I live in Seattle and most of my UW friends here are extreemly excited about this. They point to his lack of in game adjustments, struggling with wazzu and Oregon. They are thrilled he is leaving so read into that all you want. He is going to be dependent on recruiting. I am VERY anxious to see how he recruits this winter. If he brings in a top 5 class I think it would justify this decision.