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USC Morning Buzz: Prominent Donor Wants Changes “At The Top”

It’s refreshing to finally see a big donor say the people at the top need to go at USC.

Lloyd Greif, who has donated more than $5 million to USC to start the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business, believes changes must be made to prevent the latest scandal from negating all the gains made the past 25 years.

Greif wants heads to roll “not only at the top of the athletic department … but also at the very top of the university itself.”

He made those comments in this article for Inside Higher Ed.

Imagine someone actually saying Lynn Swann should be held accountable.

Now it should be noted Greif was previously at odds with Board chairman Rick Caruso over the firing of business school dean Jim Ellis.

Greif even led a rally at Tommy Trojan in December against the firing of Ellis.

“This is about a university that has gone backwards in a new administration instead of forwards,” Grief said.

Greif is not on the Board of Trustees but does belong to the USC Board of Leaders, which includes billionaire Marc Benioff and trustee Ed Roski.

But it’s nice to see someone say something that may others are thinking too.

28 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Prominent Donor Wants Changes “At The Top””

  1. I agree. Would these people have ascended in their own right, if they allowed calamity like this to prevail in their own climbs? No. They either are overly arrogant or lost in translation or comfortably impotent. Either way, it’s disengenuous to claim to be victims and/or unaware of the goings on. Something’s amiss in the management styles, reasonings and efforts. “Break up that rocklpile.” They’re killing us.

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    2. When you see your associate athletic director and water polo coach walking into federal court in Boston live on CNN, it’s time to act.

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      1. And, when I hear constant reports of Lynn Swann “big leagueing” people and charging for autographs at this stage of his life and career, well, that’s sad….he is misguided and uncommitted to the work. Good big brother, poor athletic director. Pat Haden has done himself a disservice with financing his family and his hirings, just in football, have been terrible……Max Nikias…just take your cash and leave…

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      2. Duke just agreed to pay $112,000,000 to settle it’s end…what’s it gonna cost USC?

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    1. You know all about hind tit. You know, the one that Hillary sucked in 2016. Also, the one that the Bruin football team has sucked for about 100 years. Also, the one you continue to suck with your Cerritos education – believe me it shows!

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  3. Well said – Caruso has blowback for his ‘diktat’s’ esp. his backing the temp Austin in her agenda driven destruction of Ellis.

    Why is Nikias still permitted to reside where he does?

    Why was there no public condemnation of Haden when such was meted out, by Haden, to Bush, Lake et. al.? Haden was the one who promoted Heinel and it was shortly after that promotion (2010) that Heinel and Singer began their joint corrupt move.

    BTW who was the one who brought Austin in, to begin with? I welcome this man’s efforts to ‘clean house’

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  5. $5 million dollar donation is a drop in the bucket, the BOT probably didn’t even raise an eyebrow in that guys direction when he said he wanted changes.

    Nothing is changing in USC’s athletic dept.

    Swann isn’t going anywhere, Helton isn’t going anywhere and USC couldn’t care less that they have those two clueless idiots running the football program into the ground.

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  6. There are two elite classes in the US: the Business Class and the Knowledge Class (composed of academics, media, professionals, semi-professions, teachers, lawyers). They are warring on the USC campus for who rules and who benefits. The Business Class reflects hard America (business, military, construction, competitive sports, etc.) and the Knowledge Class is soft America (religion, social work, egalitarian government, etc.). The Knowledge Class is attempting to take over the university, including purging the football team of any player who even whispers something unpolitically correct to a female student. They sick their Title 9 lawyer attack dogs on male athletes. College football is where hard America intrudes into soft America. Same with the Business School. The Knowledge Class (including the LA Times) wants to subvert the Business School. It likes having social worker types as the AD and football coach. The prize for whoever wins is the crown jewel of the former epitome of the entrepreneurial university: USC. What Title 9 is, is the socialism of college sports. What USC football has been is the reflection of the competitive entrepreneurial class. The two aren’t compatible. Where is this all heading? Perhaps the football teams of private universities (SC, ND, BYU, Stanford, etc.) will eventually morph into semi-independent football clubs that are only loosely attached to the university; or the status quo of socialized sports like the Pac-12 where the outcome of games are shaped by referees and lawyers for TV ratings and money. There is a bigger drama playing out at USC and it has ramifications of what culture shall dominate on college campuses and elsewhere. Right now the Knowledge Class has the Entrepreneurial Class pinned down on their own 5 yard line with the help of referees and lawsuits and highly paid plants inside the athletic program. But a leader has emerged from the Entrepreneurial Class to give its opponents some grief (or is it Greif?) and he is calling for a “Hail Mary” pass play.

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      1. Yes, money will win. What we need is administrators who make good decisions with the $$.

        One can hire a fantastic athletic director for Swann’s salary. One who can develop fund-raising, one who can supervise the dept. and hire really good administrators who report to him/her, and one who can hire excellent HCs.

        If Scottie is right, then Swann is the highest paid AD in the country. Just imagine the possibilities if Swann was gone…

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      2. Yes, but Title 9 produces revenues for redistribution (scholarships, salaries and now bribe money for sports admissions). So which money will win out? Government produced money or market produced money?

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    3. Weird that “the Knowledge Class” would have any role at SoCal.
      In the day they never let classes get in the way of a good tailgate.
      That’s what happens when you let academics creep into your private football school.

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    1. I don’t have a subscription either, Pudly. But rest assured —if the article mention Helton, you won’t need one. Scott will be on it….
      #…ForTheRestOfHelton’sLife….

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      2. in journalism circles, a saying about the wolfman has been known for years: “water covers two thirds of the Earth: and the wolfman covers the REST!”

        #Wolfman’sOnIt

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    2. Pudly, I read the article. The subtitle is grim:

      “FBI affidavit outlines far more systemic fraud at USC, where alleged bribes became a form of athletics fundraising”

      The text of the article is largely similar to what you would read elsewhere about Heinel, Janke, Vavic. It is really about how SC, with Heinel running the caper, was more involved with this than the other universities.

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  8. Getting in my reps prior to season…something tells me the wolfman’s gonna have a HUGE season.

    #WolfmanIsTheGOAT

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