SC head coach was sent home from practice today because he was "in no condition to work." With his previous problems with alcohol, many have speculated alcohol was involved in his dismissal today. He is now taking an indefinite leave of absence and offensive coordinator Clay Helton will be the team's interim coach.
Am told by multiple sources Steve Sarkisian showed up in no condition to work today & #USC brass knows he needs serious help.— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) October 11, 2015
If VT needs a new HC this offseason, looks like they will have some competition with SC among others.
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I mean I'm shocked it took this long he should have been suspended after what happened this offseason.
Yeah. Hopefully he gets the help he needs
Here's a context link for people like me that wasn't aware that this was apparently an ongoing issue.
#missingdetails
It's being reported that USC players are saying he wasn't sober during their special teams meeting today
I hope he can get some help and come back strong.
Yikes. New update says Sark was drunk during A GAME.
Would certainly explain just how disjointed the team was against ASU. Can't help but think the team checked out when they realized he was out of it
...wow. Glad this guy's taking some time off, whether he's being forced out or not, he obviously needs it.
Man, he was big time head coach, at the premier school in California and still needing alcohol? Yea, Sark seems to need some extra help.
Good luck & Godspeed to him.
Meanwhile, U Dub's athletic director was just awarded a life time contract.
I can't help but feel bad for USC...
I imagine that they'll be alright. More than enough money to hire any coach they want. More than enough prestige to get the recruiting classes they want. Most desirable football school on the West Coast.
Since Pete Carol, just some bad coach hires. They can fix that with Chip Kelly or better.
Well yeah but this sucks big time for players and fans who had nothing to do with this.
Man, I seriously hope he gets the help that he need. From what I understand it's been well known since his days at UW.
Kind of surprising that he was hired at USC if it was well known at UW?
Interesting to see how USC handles this. Sucks for the guy. If you've ever been around or known a true alcoholic, it's no laughing matter.
Reflects poorly on Pat Haden. Clearly didn't do his homework on this hire. And beyond that, he should have pushed Sark to get help after he made a fool of himself at that off season booster event.
Alcohol addiction can take everything from someone who has everything. I may not like Sark that much, but I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I hope he finds the help he needs before it's too late.
Yea man. I used to use alcohol as a "stimulant" to slow my brain down. Now that I've found different ways to do that, I probably would have justified alcohol use as a necessity to function. Hopefully his situation will be an example for others.
Yeah really hoping he gets some help more than anything else. I would never wish that on anyone.
It was nice of Haden to suspend him versus firing him, I think he is still qualified for benefits and can hopefully get the help he appears to desperately need. I hope Sark can get his condition addressed and get his life back under control.
From what I understand, it is illegal to fire someone who has a problem with alcohol. It is a disease and falls under the dissabilities act. The employer must offer help and only if the employee denies the help can the employer fire them.
Edit: now I see he is fired so I guess I was wrong. Or he denied treatment.
There could be a lot of things going on here. He was apparently forced by the AD to take a leave of absence, which may imply it wasn't voluntary. There could have been other laws/campus policies that he violated by being in possession of alcohol or otherwise intoxicated in certain places or while carrying out certain duties. His reason of termination won't be given as "alcoholism." It will be for some violation related to it, though, I would suspect, and any of them could have been grounds for dismissal in his contract.
Hope Coach Sark can get straightened out. Terrible thing to be dealing with.
Feel sorry for Steve, hope he gets better and gets his life together.
Not sorry for USC - they can suck my gonads.
And he has been fired
Wow. This situation really escalated quickly. I hope he is able to get the help he needs; sounds like he might have a serious problem.
This also opens up another elite program coaching job. I have a feeling at USC they will go after a guy who has some head coaching experience, runs a pro-style offense, and/or possibly will have NFL experience. Tom Herman and Chad Morris don't have enough experience for USC, IMO, and both run spread offenses. I could possibly see them going after Chip Kelly, but would they want to transition over to a spread? Would Chip take the job? Harsin at Boise could be a target, possibly David Shaw at Stanford as well. Pep Hamilton may get some consideration too. Will be interesting to see this search play out.
Kyle Whittingham should get a look too.
I seriously hope he stays at Utah. I think they're perfect together.
Best of luck to the guy. Pat Haden has some work to do. Kids want to see Ed Orgeron coach, but I don't feel like the alumni and boosters would be a big fan of that hire.
At the time I wanted them to make Orgeron the permanent hire.
Unfortunately, it looks like USCw is still trying to relive the glory days of ol' Petey (which they could have had with Orgeron anyway, but that's beside the point, they wanted Sark)
But Orgeron's ship may have sailed at USCw, which is tragic. I don't like the Songboys, but Orgeron was the right guy at the right time.
I do hope Sark gets help, but I also hope that USCw tumbles into mediocrity.
Now, as for Chip Kelly...Under Armor U has an immediate opening, and by the way it looks, Nike U is going to have one pretty soon. I'm looking for ol' Chippy to pull an ol' Bobby Petrino and bail on his NFL team after ten games to go back home.
Chip Kelly gonna be running up the score on Pac 12 teams again soon.
Blegh, not good if an AD must relay on an interm head coach twice in 4(?) years.
Sark LA Times Article
It appears there were some red flags. That's why I find the fact that he was hired to begin with so fascinating.
Not sure where to stick this, but Steve Spurrier is apparently resigning...
So far USCe, USCw, Miami, LOLUVA and Maryland all will be looking for coaches this offseason.
Dammit, so much for a chance at Chip next year :(