By Myke Williams
Sports Reporter
USC head football coach Steve Sarkisian ran into a large bump in the road while coaching the 2015 Trojan football team. That bump is called life.
He was the coach of one of the most prestigious universities in the world and making millions of dollars. Unfortunately for him at this time of his life that job put him in a glass house where he could not make any major mistakes.
Fortunately he had a boss that stood firmly behind him until the bitter end. USC Athletic Director Pat Haden tried his best to support an employee who clearly had a drinking problem until the problem spiraled out of control last Sunday during practice. After Sarkisian attended a morning meeting and failed to show up for practice a few hours later, Haden, who was at the Galen Center for a basketball event was informed that there was a problem at the Howard Jones football facility.
After meeting with the coaches and other athletic administrators Haden realized you can only do so much for a falling human being. On Monday Haden did what he had to do, fire Sarkisian.
How many people would love to have a boss like Haden who would go that extra mile to try to keep you on the payroll? Unfortunately there are some people who think Haden should be fired for letting Sarkisian stay on the job after he showed up to a pre-season event intoxicated in August. After that incident Haden met with Sarkisian and he assured the athletic director that he had everything under control. Obviously he did not.
Now the 3-2 Trojans must regroup under interim head coach Clay Helton, who is the head coach for the second time in the last two years. In 2013 he was picked to lead the Trojans in Bowl game when then interim head coach, Ed Orgeron decided to leave the program when Sarkisian was named the head coach at the end of the 2013 season. So at least Helton has been in this position before.
Helton’s first game will be against Notre Dame on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Some people say things started going downhill for Sarkisian after his divorce about a year ago. Some people say he has had a drinking problem for a long time and his personal problems may have pushed him to the edge. Whatever the reason he needs to get help and move on with his life.
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