Not only am I a blogger with plenty of opinion, I can also do some first person reporting. The air of compliance that has surfaced around USC is nothing short of miraculous. A program famous for it's open door attitude and anything goes mentality has become essentially silent. I was roaming around campus the other morning with some colleagues when we realized practice was going on. Knowing that all practices are closed now, we took a little initiative to head up the peristyle towards the baseball stadium that overlooks the practice field. Here, a couple observations were made:
- There was not a soul out there that was not a player, coach or athletic department member. Not one. It really is amazing the discrepancy from a crowded, Disneyland-style atmosphere of the past 9 years to no one on the sidelines.
- After about 10 minutes, a gentleman approached from the other side to shoe us away. 10 minutes. Standing on the peristyle. Impressive. On an area that is not overly visible from the field and definitely not in the normal line of vision, Coach Kiff (Coach K is already taken by some guy at Duke apparently...) took seemingly almost immediate notice and sent a minion to take care of it.
A couple of other perceptions between a short view and a lot of reading:
- Where is Coach Kiff anyway? The man that made headlines far and wide just about everyday at Tennessee has become as mild mannered as Bruce Wayne and tight lipped as his mentor's processor Bill Belichick. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, in fact, it is probably the best thing that could have happened and something Pete would never have been able to pull off. Waiting to do the talking on the field is clearly the best thing for the program at this point.
- Know what else USC has avoided? Bryce Brown. If you are not familiar with the name, he is the former Tennessee running back and former #1 high school player in the country (according to rivals.com). That's right, the best player in the nation just a little over a year ago is not on a college football team. You'd think of any team, USC would be a perfect suitor. Ignore the depth and talent at running back, I'm referencing the coaching staff that successful earned a commitment from him once is now mostly at USC-- and not touching him. A brilliant call. Nothing but bad things would come from a player who may have more ties to agents than Bush does now, not to mention all of the other extra baggage he is carrying with him. Let him go off to play at K State with his brother Arthur, another heralded recruit just not living up to the enormous potential.
-Simply put, the upside down shake down the athletic department has experienced, coupled with the compliance expansion and outside firm hired to oversee everything runs properly and smoothly is the most clear symbol anyone could point to. No need for opinion here, the actions speak for themselves.
Like it or not, a new era of compliance is upon us, and it will be for the best. I applaud you all, from the top with President Nikias, AD Haden and Coach Kiff to the new officers moving quickly to get things done. Now, let's just resurrect Auburn '93.
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