FOOTBALL

Carol Folt Did Put Limitation On Search

Does everyone remember Carol Folt said “no” when asked if there were any limitations on what Mike Bohn could or could not do with the football coaching position?

This turned out to be the most egregious statement of all time since Folt took over at USC.

I’ve reported on Nov. 6 she told a meeting of university administrators that Urban Meyer was “radioactive.”

But it goes much deeper than that. Folt did not want to replace Clay Helton because there is too much scandal at USC and in the athletic dept. and wants things to calm down.

That’s a pretty big limitation to put on the football coaching position. You can’t do anything. End of story.

Such a mess.

39 thoughts on “Carol Folt Did Put Limitation On Search”

    1. Great leaders have many approaches to a crisis. All mediocre leaders have ONE approach –“Whoa! Let’s slow down! What’s the rush?!”
      #TheseAreThePeopleThatGetEatenAlive….
      #[JPDonleavey:”SomeHaveAKiteForEveryWind,MaxOnlyHadOneKite”]

      Liked by 4 people

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      1. USC’s defense to any and all allegations which surface in admissions scandal: “Would a win-at-all-costs, too-clever-for-its-own good university have Clay Helton in charge of it’s football program?”
        #”CheckOurWon/LossRecord,YourHonor….
        #WeRestOurCase….

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Bourbon — Helton may wind up being the ace up our sleeve in all lawsuits alleging schemes or sharp practices. You wouldn’t even have to introduce Helton in person —just that photo of him with his mouth open that Scott always runs…. [“Your honor I’m holding an 8 x 11 color photo in my hand –could we have it marked as Defendant’s Exhibit A”?]……..

        Liked by 3 people

      4. Carol Folt and Rick Caruso are counting on woke Hollyweirdo SC alums like Opie and Will Ferrell to make up the difference in decreased football revenues.

        Liked by 2 people

  2. They didn’t have to get Urban Meyer. What Folt miscalculated on was USC fans wanted change more than they wanted Urban Meyer. She could have picked anyone else and he could have been a dud but I think USC fans would have accepted it because that would have meant they moved on from Clay Helton.

    #FoltMiscalculatedSeverelyAndHerLegacyWillSufferBecauseOfIt

    #FoltWillForeverBeKnownAsA”LeaderWhoDivides,NotUnites”

    #SeeTimeAtUNC&USC

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    1. You’re 100% right, mavienna. The funny thing is Folt thought she was playing it real safe…when, in fact, she couldn’t have made a worse bet than just staying with Helton. He already burned her real bad in the Holiday Bowl. And she ain’t see nothing yet.
      #2020:Alabama,Oregon&NotreDame

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      2. The worst outcome as a result of her decision will be the loss of $$$$$.

        #CancelingSeasonTix,LostDonations,DecliningRevenueInGeneral,etc.

        #ALeaderInstructedToFundraiseWon’tSurviveByMakingAMoney-LosingDecision

        Liked by 2 people

      3. gotroy22,

        You are right on point but Stanford has never neglected their fundraising duties or done anything to piss off alums and donors. Stanford and Harvard are always mentioned together as a model of how universities fundraise into the billions of dollars.

        #Stanford’sEndowment=$22-25Billion

        #USC’sEndowment=StillGoodButAlums,DonorsAndFansAreAngryAtFoltAtTheMoment

        Liked by 2 people

      4. One has to remember that before Nikias, USC had a pathetically small endowment for a top university.

        Compared to Stanford or Harvard though, USC’s endowment previously was a joke. Those two have resources in the billions…and hence can offer free tuition. At USC they take anybody that can afford to pay.

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      5. Yes Tom, USC had a pathetically small endowment.

        But Stanford has built a huge endowment without having a president who permitted a perv gynocologist and rogue med school dean to run wild on campus. And they have a football team who plays tough hard nosed football.

        Folt can push fundraising to Stanford/Harvard levels while still satisfying its rabid football fanbase (changing the coach) and eliminating scandals. Instead she chose to piss off alums, donors and fans.

        Nikias is not the model you point to about a successful fundraising unviersity president. (In fact, Nikias will go down as an utter disgrace).

        The model university president is one who fundraises well AND allows sports to thrive. Folt and Nikias have massively failed in that regard. Stanford shows that fundraising and sports can successfully co – exist together in a university environment.

        Unfortunately, Folt and Nikias don’t believe that and football is the one suffering now.

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    2. Marc you are absolutely 100% correct. There are so many coaches I would be happier then Helton! Pretty much anyone. I am just tired of the press conferences on down. It has really become old in all areas.

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  4. The football program is doomed under her leadership. I guess AD Bohn is tied to the back of a horse being dragged around the campus…PATHETIC!

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  5. Here’s a write up on Folt from “Inside Higher Ed”

    Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

    Carol Folt has plenty of experience dealing with controversy from her time leading UNC Chapel Hill. Prominent figures say she’ll have to do housecleaning as president of the University of Southern California.

    Two months after being unceremoniously ushered from a public research university struggling with Confederate history, Carol L. Folt landed at a private research university out west grappling with its own set of challenges.

    Folt, who in January decided simultaneously to resign as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and to remove the remnants of a toppled Confederate monument there, will be the new president at the University of Southern California. USC’s board announced Wednesday that she will become the university’s 12th president on July 1.

    The decision comes as USC finds itself staggering under multiple scandals in recent years. Just last week the university was one of several prominent institutions named as federal authorities announced indictments in an admissions scheme that allegedly allowed wealthy and privileged parents to buy their children’s way into college by taking advantage of athletic recruiting and by cheating on standardized tests. USC has also been rocked by sexual assault allegations against a campus gynecologist and charges of drug use by its medical school’s now-former dean.

    That string of scandals led to the resignation in August of the university’s president of eight years, C. L. Max Nikias. The university had first announced in May that Nikias would be stepping down, leading faculty members to circulate a petition asking why he remained in office months later.

    A USC trustee and alumna, Wanda Austin, has been serving as interim president since August. She was also a member on the search advisory committee that helped pick Folt.

    Some prominent USC alumni voiced hope that Folt would usher in a new era of change at USC — and possibly continued turnover among administrators and board members. Meanwhile, in announcing Folt’s selection, USC leaders emphasized moving forward and integrity.

    “As I have come to know Dr. Folt and how she thinks, it is clear that USC has chosen a brilliant, principled leader with clarity of purpose and integrity to lead the university forward and upward,” Rick Caruso, chair of the USC Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “Ours was a global search, and we spoke to over a hundred diverse and world-class candidates. Dr. Folt stood out from the very beginning as a courageous and compassionate person who always places the well-being of students, faculty, staff and patients at the heart of all she does.”

    Folt looks forward to meeting with faculty, staff and students, she said in her own statement. She called those groups “the lifeblood” of every great university.

    “Of course, I also am aware that our community is deeply troubled by a number of immediate challenges,” she said. “I assure you that we will meet these challenges together, directly, decisively and with honesty and candor. This is a moment of responsibility and opportunity, and we will seize them both.”

    Folt has steered a major university through scandal in the past. Before being ushered out the door in the wake of her Confederate statue decision at Chapel Hill, she oversaw UNC’s flagship campus as it navigated a massive scandal involving athletics and academic fraud stemming from before her time there.

    Chapel Hill held fake classes for almost two decades between 1993 and 2011, giving thousands of students credit for courses they never attended. Many of the students who benefited from the fake courses were athletes. But after the scandal broke, the university spent millions of dollars fighting the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s case against it, even while admitting it engaged in academic fraud.

    The NCAA ultimately said it couldn’t conclude the courses had been intended to benefit only athletes and did not punishUNC. Chapel Hill’s accreditor placed it on a yearlong probation ending in 2016 because of violations in the case.

    USC noted that Folt helped to commission an independent investigation of the scandal and put in place dozens of reforms.

    Only time will tell how much of that experience could be useful at USC. Immediately after last week’s admissions scandal broke, the university said two employees had been terminated and that it was identifying any funds received in the scheme. It has also blocked students allegedly involved in the scheme from registering for classes or acquiring transcripts as it reviews their cases, and it has said applicants tied to the scheme will be denied admission.

    Many of those with ties to USC supported Folt’s selection Wednesday but said more needs to be done to clean up the university.

    “I think it’s great, because we needed to move on,” said Lloyd Greif, president and CEO of Greif & Co. and a 1979 graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business who is a member of the school’s Board of Leaders. “Carol is going to get a baptism by fire at USC, because there are a lot of things broken at the institution that need to be fixed, and they need to be fixed yesterday.”

    Greif is the namesake of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s business school. He called for more transparency, accountability and overhauling the entire university governance system.

    Changes to senior leadership need to be made starting with the provost and working down, Greif said. He didn’t spare trustees from his calls for change.

    “She’s going to have to quickly figure out who she can rely upon and who she cannot,” Greif said. “I think there is further change that needs to be done at the administration level, and frankly, I would look at some members of the board as well as the leadership of the board.”

    Folt is no stranger working at an institution with an unsettled governing board. The conflict that played out at UNC regarding the Confederate statue stemmed in part from a state law making it difficult to remove a statue from campus — but also from tensions with the Board of Governors, the governing board for the 17-campus UNC system.

    In December, Folt backed a plan that would have housed the statue in a history center. It was a middle-of-the-road approach that seemed to leave unhappy both opponents of the statue and members of the Board of Governors who wanted it restored to its former place on campus. The system Board of Governors soon blocked the plan.

    That led to Folt ordering the statue’s remnants removed until its future could be decided. She cited safety, community well-being and the need for a productive education environment.

    At the same time, she announced plans to resign after Chapel Hill’s commencement in May. The next day, the system Board of Governors moved up the date of her departure to the end of January.

    It’s not clear whether Folt had already applied for the USC presidency as the tensions played out at Chapel Hill. A USC presidential search listing said that candidates should apply by Dec. 1 “for best consideration.” It wouldn’t be unheard-of for a candidate to be added into a search later in the process, however.

    On the whole, Folt posted a mixed record with faculty members, activists and board members at UNC. She apologized for the university’s role in slavery while speakingabout its 225th birthday this fall. But some felt she initially went against faculty members’ will when she backed the plan in December to place the statue in a history center. After she did remove the statue, many faculty members nonetheless cheered her actions.

    USC faculty members voiced support for her selection.

    “Carol Folt’s entire career, as both a faculty member and leader, embodies a commitment to all aspects of academic excellence while always putting people first,” said Yaniv Bar-Cohen, president of the USC Academic Senate and professor of clinical pediatrics and medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, in a statement.

    Antonio Bento is a professor of public policy and economics who is the director of the USC Center for Sustainability Solutions. The center was founded last spring, so much of its existence has coincided with unstable or interim university leadership.

    Now he is excited that Folt, who has a doctorate in ecology, is USC’s new president.

    “Without the president, we’ve been a little bit paralyzed,” he said. “Having an environmentalist appointed as president of the university is, in my opinion, incredibly good news.”

    Folt was also a noted fund-raiser at UNC, overseeing the university as it kicked off an attempt in 2017 to raise $4.25 billion over the next several years. She also presided over the university as it brought in more than $1 billion in federal research funding for the first time in 2017.

    Originally from Akron, Ohio, Folt attended Santa Barbara City College and transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned a degree in aquatic biology and then a master’s in biology. She earned a doctorate in ecology from UC Davis and did her postdoctoral work at Michigan State University before moving to Dartmouth College. She rose to the level of interim president there before heading to UNC.

    She was Chapel Hill’s first woman chancellor. She will be USC’s first woman president.

    __________________________________

    Pffft!

    What a mistake USC made hiring this clown!

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    1. This is a lot of crap. She was fired and only resigned because she had to. Students, faculty and the board thought she was too much of an equivocator.One student called her a disgrace. The board even moved up the date of her departure. The only reason she did not put Silent Sam the confederate symbol back to a different place on campus was because the students removed it and they still cannot find it. She is a big phony. Everybody wanted her gone. Several members of the USC search committee when the student called her a disgrace” she sat there in silence. and that is what we need at USC”. Really? No wonder we are a laughing stock. Without USC she would be out of a job. Who would hire her? Someone in power at USC knows she can be manipulated. Sad day. Cannot even fire a downright incompetent coach. What has Helton got on somebody? Maybe pictures.

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      1. Rusoviet, try reading the articles in the LA times and the Raleigh_ Durham Newspapers for that period.

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  6. Really? She’s the newly incarnated anti-Christ? Look I loath Helton and until he is gone nothing shall change – good for one half and stink when it matters against good opponents.

    I think she knows far more than any of us about this major scandal –

    USC is the sole university where ‘Rickie’ was able to snag what he always wanted – a top level official in a school’s athletic dept. able to ‘salt’ fraudulent athletes throughout the university. She is awaiting, should the unredacted interrogation transcripts are released, who was or wasn’t doing their job under Heinel.

    I don’t like having Helton for another year but I get her wanting to know ‘all’ before another hire is made. Get sit all out and sack whoever deserves it – not through aiding Heinel – but asleep at the switch.

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  8. This is a lot of crap. She was fired and only resigned because she had to. Students, faculty and the board thought she was too much of an equivocator.One student called her a disgrace. The board even moved up the date of her departure. The only reason she did not put Silent Sam the confederate symbol back to a different place on campus was because the students removed it and they still cannot find it. She is a big phony. Everybody wanted her gone. Several members of the USC search committee when the student called her a disgrace” she sat there in silence. and that is what we need at USC”. Really? No wonder we are a laughing stock. Without USC she would be out of a job. Who would hire her? Someone in power at USC knows she can be manipulated. Sad day. Cannot even fire a downright incompetent coach. What has Helton got on somebody? Maybe pictures.

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  10. In the near future Folt will be allowed to watch football games in solitude. There won’t be anyone there except for the teams the band and a few parents of three star players. She will be sitting in multimillion dollar empty luxury suites. It will lucky if she’s able to lure television coverage of here once relevant team. With revenue drying up, she will be Queen of the empty stadium. But it will have ethics.

    Good for you President Folt.

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    1. Bleak, Truman. Bleak like a zombie apocalypse movie.

      I think our lads will put up a good fight next season, despite a HC who is out of his comfort zone. With improvement on the defensive side, a 9 win season is possible. Without fan support, a bunch of teenagers will fold.

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  11. Fuk you folt,you are going to feel the wrath of usc fans all over Los angelas where ever you go bisshhh.wait until you see the shirts made up for in 2020 with your fuked up mug and hair due in the front. Trojan nation let this bissshhh have it………you fukn cunt!!!!

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  12. Just as a correction to a commenter above, USC’s endowment was not small before Nikias at all. He is looking at numbers of USC not USC’s relative rank. Roughly the top 50 universities in the US experienced an extreme jump in endowment while others stagnated. SC, a top tier university and the major private research university historically strong in research, with an active and successful alumni base was in a position to be among the winners but relative to other universities of its enrollment size it wasn’t spectacular. Sample and even more, Nikias’ office were very active in promoting their incumbent as saviors of the university that put it in a new sphere, even to the point of being dishonest about SC’s past, in attempts to diminish it relative to their tenure.

    I very much like the late president Sample but that was one of the more unseemly things that his office did (I know a person who did PR for his office at the time, he’s kind of a twat so I won’t say his name). When one removes the liberal arts colleges, which originally were added to rankings, SC has stayed in its general academic rankings, between the 20s and low 30s. A shift of course, toward the better part of that range came from SC playing to rankings in ways that were unfortuate: Nikias was caught faking numbers under Sample and that continues without being caught. SC also encouraged more applicants through simplified applications because the more people you deny the better your rankings. And faculty with a USNWR friendly bent (think East Coast) gained higher marks from the biased sample of faculty peers surveyed.

    Anyway, USC is not on the way to becoming Stanford, nor are its actions in sports toward replicating Stanford, If anything, it’s more catering toward a UC Berkeley, NYU, Brandies, and Asian Pacific international student base. And of course a SJW culture. Stanford’s computer tech / business entrepreneurship focus and Stanford’s until recent higher male to female ratio, as well and Stanford has always had next to no black students, which despite declining numbers, SC has never done. (Stanford also has a much higher rate of it’s Hispanic students as international students, so if we are moving toward their version of liberalism, it is an exclusive one– so much for liberals.)

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    1. Great, smart piece, Global. [I should point out, parenthetically, that most Stanford references are probably meant to suggest that USC is simply on it’s way to looking down on it’s own football team—nothing more].
      Here’s what I find fascinating. Helton, Bohn and Folt have several defenders on this site. How dumb can you get? Helton kept lying about Callaway being “the best” right up til the day he fired him. He did the exact same thing with Baxter and Pendergast. Think about that —he actually kept loser cronies on staff for self protection….at the expense of the team. Some people on this site defend the guy by saying he’s a nice man who’s a little bit slow upstairs. Not at all— guys like that wind up on the sidewalk begging for dimes, not cashing million dollar checks (while pretending to be hillbilly boys). Helton is not to be pitied. Or coddled. He’s the ultimate survivor. Obviously, Folt talked to Helton about the walk on scam. Result? Swann is gone. Helton is the guy who keeps surviving purges while everyone around him dies.

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      1. Exactly. He’s a horrible coach, stubbornly incompetent and harms people around him deliberately; but in the university system he’s a very savvy and treacherous bureaucrat. That anyone among supporters of football and the university is alright with him is baffling. I suspect some of those people prob see themselves in him.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. GC:
      Thank you for bringing several points to light.
      Financially, I think the property development on the North of the campus was such a huge priority after Sample retired, that many other items were left to “stagnate.”
      We’ll be back.

      WSJ specifically looks at performance/earnings after graduation for its ranking criteria, and they have USC at #15. USC has always been a practical choice for the smart kid in California (and now nationwide).

      I chose USC over Stanford in 1979 cuz the co-eds were far prettier at USC and the athletics were vastly superior. I’ll never regret my choice!

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  16. Folt gets an F for her first half year at USC. No matter what she does she will never recover from what she has done to her marquis program. I cannot believe anyone is this inept. Shameful. She’s Ken Lay at USC. Allowing the school to go bankrupt.

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