The Pressure Mounts On Haden

By Mitch Chortkoff

Sports Editor

As the athletic director at USC Pat Haden was giving Stave Sarkisian every opportunity to solve his drinking problem.

Was he being a good boss? Or was he ignoring the long-range problems that could result from keeping Sarkisian longer?

When Sarkisian didn’t attend a practice last week, apparently from an alcohol binge, and then fired him, it appears that Haden gambled and lost.

This was the second time this season that Sarkisian had embarrassed the university because he was drunk.

This is the USC football program where John Mckay, Pete Carroll and other prominent coaches have hekped the Trojans become one of the most successful and respected ones in the country.

If one coach can drag it down Sarkisian appears to be the man.

“Haden should be removed,” wrote a fan on USC’s website. “He didn’t act soon enough.”

There was another incident in a past season when Haden came down from the press box and argued with a referee during a game. Although Haden explained that he was called to come down nobody I talked to could remember an athletic director behaving that way.

Haden was a great Trojan quarterback and a popular choice for athletic director. But a lot of Trojan fans are disappointed in his performance.