USC has had their fair share of ups and downs this season, with a new coach mid-season and a revival that seemed to come from nowhere. Interim head coach Ed Orgeron led a struggling 3-2 Trojans team to go 5-2 in their next seven games. So how does the Trojans’ athletic department reward this great comeback? By hiring Steve Sarkisian, now former head coach of Washington. I’m going to be very opinionated here and say this is probably the stupidest move of USC’s season.
The Huskies got into the AP Top 25 Poll in Week 2 at No. 19. For six weeks they were ranked, their high being No.15 and their low being ranked No. 20 in their last week of being in the poll. Washington then went on to win their next two, lose again, and then win another two. That’s not exactly the model of consistency. Generally, in most situations when a team is faltering, the blame falls on the head coach.
Orgeron did a great job leading the Trojans in his interim time, and there was definitely a lot of debate on whether he should stay or USC should keep looking. They apparently decided to keep looking and it resulted in a huge mistake. You should never hire a head coach that can’t keep his team performing at a ranked level. I’m sure Sarkisian is a great coach, but they say if you’re not playing for a national championship you shouldn’t be playing at all.
The biggest question that will result from this hiring is whether or not Sarkisian can keep up the passion in USC. The Trojans were reinvigorated this year, and if they can’t keep it up for next year the USC faithful will be left scratching their heads.
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