Mike McGee, who was USC athletic director from 1984-93, has died. He was 80.

McGee holds a distinction: He is the only known athletic director in the history of USC who had no ties to USC when he was hired. He was also the only atheltic director who was actually an athletic director somewhere before he got hired by USC.

Think about that for a minute.

McGee was not known as being a people person and he was not shy about making changes. He fired Ted Tollner and his successor, Larry Smith. He fired basketball coach Stan Morrison and hired the first African-American basketball coach at USC, George Raveling. Legendary baseball coach Rod Dedeaux “retired.”

He was unpopular with some of the rank-and-file athletic dept. employees but he actually did his job, unlike his successors.

McGee left USC to become athletic director at South Carolina, where he hired Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.

As a football player, he was an All-American at Duke and won the Outland Trophy in 1959.