Neuheisel Fired

This is a sad day in Troy as Trojans mourn the firing of Richard Gerald Neuheisel, aka, "Skippy Neuweasel".  I have had a passionate love-hate relationship with Skippy since 2008, meaning that I love to hate him.  But, I can honestly say that Skippy will be sorely missed by the Trojan family. Every great story needs a classic antagonist, a Snidely Whiplash for Dudley Do-right; a Boris Badenov to Bullwinkle J. Moose; a Barack Obama to the United States of America.  And, Skippy played the foil in the USC story with inimitable comedic zeal. 

"I thanked Dan for the opportunity," Neuheisel said on the Pac-12's promotional teleconference for the title game, less than an hour after his firing was announced. "I don't need reasons. Certainly when you're UCLA coach, you'd like to play better against USC. When you lose in the fashion we did, that's a difficult pill to swallow."

I'd like to commemorate this post to the greatest archvillain that this USC fan could ever ask for. Skippy, I am truly sorry to see you go.  Thank you for the lifetime of memories.  I will post a few of my favorites in the comments below.  

Bumped. JK

With Vucevic's future in limbo, next season could be challenging for coach O'Neill.

USC coach Kevin O'Neill quietly left Dayton Arena on Wednesday night with the disappointment of one of the worst performances of the season tempered by the fact the Trojans made the NCAA Tournament.

"If you look historically what's happened to teams that have gone through what we've gone through (with probation), it's been long rebuilds and tough seasons and losing records and all that," O'Neill said.

Winning 19 games this season certainly brushed aside the effects of probation, but the real challenge for O'Neill begins today, because there are no guarantees next year will be better than this season.  

 

If junior forward Nikola Vucevic turns pro early, the Trojans lose four starters from the Virginia Commonwealth game (Vucevic, forward Alex Stepheson, guard Marcus Simmons and guard Donte Smith).

A cynic might argue that O'Neill is finally going to live off his own players instead of Tim Floyd holdovers. That's why priority No. 1 might be figuring a way to keep Vucevic around.

"We shouldn't be where we're at," O'Neill said. "We're actually ahead of schedule."

But does O'Neill have the talent to sustain USC's success? And will things change now that he seems to be in a more-precarious situation from a job-security standpoint, even though athletic director Pat Haden said he's "150 percent" behind O'Neill?  -Daily News 3/17/11

 

With the abundance of spirited debate on the state of USC hoops and Coach KO, perhaps a poll will give us further insight into the mindset of Trojan Nation.

Bumped - JK

Penitent Patrice Haden, aka, Chief Appeaser at Contrition Hall, doing his best impression of Prime Minister Edouard Dalaudier, may have just cost the USC Trojans men's basketball team a seat at the Big Dance, otherwise known as March Madness. In a shocking example of punishment that does not fit the crime, Patrice suspended Head Coach KO a mere few hours prior to USC's BIGGEST GAME of the SEASON. A game in which a win over conference champ and highly ranked Zona would have elevated USC to the magical 20-win threshold and all but assured USC an invitation to the NCAA Men's Tourney.  

Did KO's absence make a difference in a close loss to the Cats?  Many think so, including me:

"Though the Trojans pushed favored Arizona until the final seconds, they appeared distracted for stretches of the game and were clearly missing O'Neill's intensity until the end."  Plaschke, LA Times

"It was different," center Nikola Vucevic said. "When KO's there, he yells a lot, and we didn't hear a lot of yelling today." 

"Simmons comes out and the Cats capitalize with a 6-0 spurt to tie the game at 15. Some puzzling substitutions by USC so far."  - Dan Greenspan, USC Scout, via Twitter

KO was suspended for a "verbal altercation" with a renowned former nemesis from KO's stint at UofA, Tucson car dealer and Lute Olson BFF, Paul Weitman. If you don't know the backstory at Zona, KO was the interim HC and hand-picked successor to Lute Olson, before Lute in full blown senility, decided to stab KO in the back and mounted a coup to return to his head coaching role. The story goes that Paul Weitman was instrumental in leading Olson's coup with the UofA administration.  Money talks, especially at a desert school with more cactuses than scholars and fans infamous for their boorish, street thug behavior.  

Despite no crime, no cops, no arrests, no lawyers, no charges, ......

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On National Signing Day, February 2, 2011, Fanhouse SEC honk, Clay Travis, assaulted the digital media waves with the provocative headline "NCAA to Smack Tennessee, Lane Kiffin".   His Tweet of the story included catchy words like "Breaking" and "Exclusive" and was retweeted 100s of times. Soon after Travis' sensationalized Kiffin hit piece was published, USA Today, Sporting News. NBC Sports/CollegeFootballTalk and others quickly ran with it. eSECpn's Joe Schad bandwagoned onto the NSD anti-Kiffin buzz by tweeting the following hypothetical:

Attorney Michael Buckner says if Kiffin found to have "failed to monitor" at UT then "...it calls into question USC's strategy in hiring ..."

Travis' sources were "multiple sources close to the investigation both inside and outside the university (Tennessee)" (note: no sources from the NCAA).  The NCAA findings are purported to be a failure to monitor violation against the University of Tennessee, Kiffin, and former Tenn Asst Coach, David Reaves. The charges stem from allegations of improper recruiting contact by the now disbanded female hostessing organization at UT, the Orange Pride, at the direction of the football coaching staff in 2009. 

In his propaganda, Travis takes repeated shots at Kiffin, describing his tenure at UT as "tumultuous" and "disastrous". He claims that Kiffin continues to "haunt the (UT) football program".  He questions whether or not USC will "stand behind" Lane Kiffin now that USC's football program is again on "shaky ground".  

What Travis doesn't mention is that way back in 2009 when Kiffin was still the Head Coach at Tennessee, Travis published an article defending Kiffin and criticizing the NCAA for their investigation of the Orange Pride:  "NCAA Probes Tennessee Hostesses".   More after the jump......

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Bumped...P

The SEC, where 30 + 29 + 28 + 32 = 85.  Did you know that the past two BCS champions, both hailing from the SEC - AU and Bama - were the most egregious oversigners during the 4 year period culminating with their respective championships?  Golly gee, do you think that is an advantage?  To oversign a handful of players, and then weed out weaker players while adding stronger players throughout the players'  4 year cycle.  Think you might avoid a few depth issues or find a few more diamonds in the rough with this evolutionary personnel mgmt system?   

Maybe there is still an even playing field, as in, everyone does it?  No.  USC and the Pac10 don't do it. Jim Tressel at Ohio St is a big opponent of the practice. This and other dirty tactics are likely the reasons behind Georgia Tech leaving the SEC.  If you haven't yet, please visit http://oversigning.com and follow the Oversigning Cup at this excellent site.  Let's see what Stuart Mandel from SI had to say about this issue in his mailbag, after the jump:

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