If USC thought playing UC Davis was such a good idea, why did it wait until a Friday in mid-July to announce the news? Buried in the statement about playing three cupcakes was this sentence: “USC also is in talks to add a neutral site non-conference game against a Power 5 opponent in 2024 and 2028, years that it currently has 6 home games scheduled.” … Continue reading Nice Timing On Bad News Announcement

A former USC All-American called me today, outraged over the decision to schedule UC Davis. “Lynn Swann doesn’t even want to learn how to be an athletic director,” said the player, who knows Swann. “He just wants to get paid.” When Swann got hired, a USC official lectured me for criticizing the hire. “This is the USC way. The real Trojans are happy,” the official … Continue reading Is Scheduling UC Davis The USC Way?

This is one of the biggest joke of the Lynn Swann-Clay Helton era. USC has never played an FCS school but has now scheduled UC Davis for a game at the Coliseum in 2021. Thank administrator Steve Lopes for this too. USC is one of only three schools to never play an FCS school with UCLA and Notre Dame. That tradition is kaput. Lopes and … Continue reading USC Schedules UC Davis In Football (Really)

USC’s 1959 coaching staff included John McKay and former Raiders owner Al Davis.

Maybe when you consider the egos involved, it is not surprising the pair did not get along even though they were on the same staff in the above picture.

“He wasn’t a big fan of Al Davis,” legendary USC assistant coach Dave Levy said of McKay.

When McKay was hired as head coach after the 1959 season, Davis did not return. When Davis worked for then-USC coach Don Clark, he had a lot of freedom and controlled recruiting. That would not have continued even if McKay retained him.

Former San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell last only one season (1960) with McKay at USC for a different reason. He used to get frustrated with McKay’s constant changing of the game plan during the week.

• If you buy a $10 ticket to the Fall Showcase scrimmage on the athletic dept. website, USC will slap a $3 “order charge” on it.
• Former Mater Dei cornerback Elias Ricks, who is committed to LSU but being recruited by USC, has transferred to IMG Academy in Florida. Rivals lists Ricks as the No. 1 corner in the nation.
• USC wide receiver Velus Jones said he considered only two schools (Tennessee, Western Kentucky) after he entered the transfer portal before he returned to the Trojans.
• When Pete Carroll was at USC, there was some criticism that too many celebrities hung around the program like Snoop Dogg and Will Ferrell.
• But in 1962, you had actor Randolph Scott at Saturday team breakfasts and actor Andy Devine in the locker room after games. And, of course, John Wayne was at a lot of the games.

• Former offensive lineman Ron Mix, who is in the NFL Hall of Fame, recently wrote a letter about his best day at USC, which occurred 36 years after he graduated.

I’m including the full letter, unedited, after the jump:

Continue reading “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

I hear some former USC players are planning to give former coach John Robinson a big sendoff before he departs for LSU. Maybe USC should get involved since they insist Robinson “retired” from his job with the athletic dept. Continue reading John Robinson Send Off

I asked a booster who has donated millions of dollars to USC what they thought of the fall showcase scrimmage. “The only people that will go are people who want to see that (new) tower they built,” said the booster. “I’m not going.” Continue reading Some USC Skepticism Over Showcase