FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

It appears the USC coaching staff will undergo another shuffle that is a bit unexpected and certainly not discussed.

Everyone knows USC needs a defensive coordinator and special teams coach.

But I’m hearing Graham Harrell wants to hire a buddy to be quarterbacks coach next season.

Say what?

Harrell currently holds the titles of offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at USC. He might be considered a genius by the media and message board crew, but he has a lot of influence with his new 3-year contract and apparently wants a friend to help him out.

That means USC will probably have one less coach on defense unless it decides to hire a special teams coach who also coaches defense.

  • Here’s a photo below of Richard Wood (83), who you can make a case for best linebacker ever at USC. For many years, he was the first and only three-time All-American in USC history. He might have been a four-time All-American but freshmen were ineligible.

When a USC assistant coach arrived at Thomas Jefferson High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1970, there were around 10 athletes lined up to meet him, including Gil Chapman, who Parade magazine called the “No. 1 player in America” and went to Michigan.

Also at the school was future Notre Dame basketball player John Shumate.

But Wood wanted to go to USC, despite the distance, and his recruitment was fairly easy.

  • When USC plays UC Davis in 2021, consider this: In 1960, USC fans saw Georgia QB Fran Tarkenton face the Trojans. He threw four interceptions in a 10-3 loss.

In 1962, Navy QB Roger Staubach came to the Coliseum to face No. 2-ranked USC. Navy nearly ruined USC’s national title hopes but fumbled on the 1-foot line in the fourth quarter and lost 13-6. Staubach had 219 yards in total offense, a high number in those days.

  • Former USC offensive lineman Pat Harlow, who is the head coach at JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, has hired ex-USC players Sam Baker and Rob Johnson as co-offensive coordinators.

Baker previously coached at his alma mater, Tustin, while Johnson coached with this father, Bob, at Mission Viejo.

  • Former USC graduate assistant Austin Clark was hired by the Miami Dolphins as linebackers coach. Clark spent past seasons as defensive line coach at Illinois.

When Clark got offered the Illinois job, Helton offered to make him the “tight ends coach” who would actually coach the defensive line. No wonder Clark turned him down.

  • Terry Bales, a former Daily Trojan sports editor, died Dec. 20 of congestive heart failure. He was 74. Bales was the official scorer for the Dodgers from 1984-1997 and taught for more than 40 years at Santa Ana College.
  • It’s now been two weeks since the Holiday Bowl and USC linebacker Juliano Falaniko has still not apologized for kicking an Iowa player in the head.
  • And finally . . . why am I including this video of Kirk Ferentz after the Holiday Bowl? Because when he talks I believe him. I don’t feel that way about you-know-who.
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34 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

  1. Thank you for telling us the sad truth of the state of USC football.

    On Fri, Jan 10, 2020 at 3:16 AM InsideUSC with Scott Wolf wrote:

    > scott wolf posted: ” It appears the USC coaching staff will undergo > another shuffle that is a bit unexpected and certainly not discussed. > Everyone knows USC needs a defensive coordinator and special teams coach. > But I’m hearing Graham Harrell wants to hire a buddy to b” >

    Liked by 1 person

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  2. Scott forgot to mention that USC, under the enlightened leadership of our new progressive President Carol Folt, has made the pivot, and today is becoming famous not for sexist, patriarchal, oppressive male dominated football, but for being Social Justice Warriors. A USC professor has made international headlines today for accusing the British Royal Family of racism!

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/10/meghan-markle-is-not-a-victim-of-racism/

    Liked by 5 people

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      1. budda,
        She is the biggest tool. She is diversified, hates the british, hates America, except for the paycheck, and thinks she will change the school. The problem is, she has a good seat to make some change to SC. SC wants to go Political Crap, so they are going that way.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Tool? No, no. Everything this privileged intellectual says or writes is the very picture of fairness & good sense. She seems perfectly positioned to imbue USC students with a balanced view of the world…
        #PleaseDon’tTakeMeSeriouslyOnThisOne,karma….
        [Those in my home country of Italy — after suffering years of war and deprivation —were, by 1946, very ready to knock off class warfare rhetoric and come together. It would be nice if Afua discovered history didn’t start on her birthday]….

        Liked by 1 person

    3. i am continually amazed at the media attention to this gal. The Brits have been going on about the worthless House of Windsor forever. But why does the rest of the world give a shit about Harry and Meghan? Neither have done fuck all their entire lives and act like entitled little snowflakes as they tour the world with leftist, liberal acclaim. How are they racist? That old worthless sod Prince Charles walked her down the aisle when she could not get her father to do it. Just amazed at what passes for news these days.

      Liked by 3 people

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    4. Not being a Breitbart reader, I wouldn’t have known that the deeply narcissistic Afua Hirsch was teaching at USC but for your post, gt. Thank you. I’m not accusing Hirsch of lack of writing talent —she’s got plenty of that —- but it seems everything she ‘knows’ is something she’s picked up from reading one of her own “poor me” articles. It’s no surprise, then, that she fits right into the USC of 2020: One more entitled, easily offended crybaby can’t hurt, right? Every time she opens her mouth I’m reminded of the old line, “It isn’t what she doesn’t know, it’s what she knows that isn’t so.”

      Liked by 1 person

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    5. Goo-goo, if you gueys are so unhappy with Folt, i can talk to my daughter who recently took a class at UC Santa Cruz with the legendary Angela Davis! it appears they’ve discussed her desire to get into University Administration, and what better way to shake up Scandal U than by putting in a REAL progressive, not one of these “Sqaud” lightweights.

      i can see it now: Angela Davis, President of Yesterday U!!!! talk about street cred with the South Central LA community!!!

      #CapitalIdea!

      Liked by 1 person

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  3. Another panic contract extension, and now the issues with handing out contracts like the one Harrell got. Gomer, who we all know is a pussy, will never tell Opie that he can’t have his play date buddy on staff, and the DC ” search” is a joke, just like USC football.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. If past is prelude, any USC “search” that drags on this long is going to wind up another triumph of mishmash. They’re overthinking this thing —and, as a result, have ALREADY missed out on some great candidates.
      One of the big jokes about government prosecutions, on all levels, is that the prosecutors and investigators don’t know how to put a ceiling on the number of people they talk to before filing the fricking case. Is 452 witnesses sufficient? 301 exhibits enough? This is the world we’ve entered with Mike Bohn —and you can bet that the name finally announced for D-Coordinator will not be worth the wait.

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. I don’t think they are overthinking the decision, I think it’s very difficult to find someone who will work for a coach who is known for not practicing hard, who has no clue about defense, who is soft on discipline, who has a OC that refuses to run the ball to take time off the clock and give the defense a rest, and who may very well be canned this year, that’s a tough sell

        Liked by 3 people

      2. karma,
        Ha!
        #Well,ThatCouldBeItToo…
        [Wouldn’t it be fun if you could do Freedom Of Information requests on USC? “How many candidates said ‘no’ to the D-Coordinator position?”]….

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Rocky Long being hired would give us a little hope. Other than that there is nobody out there with a reputation that can do that. Will it happen? Never, CH would be afraid of him. The criteria for folt to approve is to SJW inclined and Bohn would automatically agree with her. What a bitch.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. LOL, hilarious. Long wouldn’t work for a pussy like Gomer and Gomer wouldn’t want Long anywhere near the program because he’s actually a good coach and a threat to Gomer even at his age

      Liked by 3 people

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  5. “Former USC offensive lineman Pat Harlow, who is the head coach at JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, has hired ex-USC players Sam Baker and Rob Johnson as co-offensive coordinators.”

    Just think how well the Serra O-line will be coached.

    Leaving out WR coaching (Keary Colbert), there might be more coaching talent at Serra than at SC right now.

    Liked by 4 people

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    2. ” Leaving out WR coaching (Keary Colbert), there might be more coaching talent at Serra than at SC right now. ”

      Might be ? I’d say that there are 4-5 high school in So Cal with better staffs than Gomer

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

  6. “Here’s a photo below of Richard Wood (83), who you can make a case for best linebacker ever at USC. ”

    I think you could make a case for “Batman” as best defensive player ever, pound for pound, as I think he was 6’1″, and maybe 215 lbs, probably closer to 6′ and 205 lbs.

    The 1972 team played something like 6 ranked teams that year, and several didn’t score more than 10 points. Many call the 1972 team as one of the best college football teams ever, but a huge part of that success was the defense, led by Richard “Batman” Wood.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. USC started the season ranked # 8

      Arkansas was ranked # 4, USC won 31-10 at Arkansas
      Stanford was ranked # 15, USC won 30-21 at Stanford
      Washington was ranked # 18, USC won 34-7 at home
      UCLA was ranked # 14, USC won 24-7 at “home”
      ND was ranked # 10, USC won 45-23 at home
      Ohio State was ranked # 3, USC won 42-17 in the Rose Bowl

      The surprising thing about that team was how many games were close at halftime but turned into routs.

      USC was tied 3-3 @ Arkansas at the half, won 31-10
      USC led Oregon St 20-6 at the half, won 51-6
      USC led @ Illinois 20-14 at the half, won 55-20 ( game was 28-20 in the 3rd )
      USC led Michigan St 21-6 at the half, won 51-6
      USC led @ Stanford 20-13 at the half, won 30-21
      USC led Cal 21-0 at the half, won 42-14
      USC led Washington 21-0 at the half, won 34-7
      USC was tied 0-0 @ Oregon at the half, won 18-0 ( game was played in a monsoon. AD had TD runs of 48 and 55 yards )
      USC led 17-3 @ WSU, won 44-3
      USC led ucla 17-7 at the half, won 24-7
      USC led ND 19-10 at the half, won 45-23 ( USC led 25-23 at the start of the 4th qtr )
      USC was tied with Ohio State 7-7 at the half, won 42-17 ( USC led 14-10 in the 3rd qtr )

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. Your post should be recommended reading for Coach Helton (not that he’d really come away from it having learned anything). Apparently playing smash mouth football in the first half of football games pays off in the second half….
        #It’sLikeAnyOtherFight,Coach….
        #..BodyPunchesCount

        Liked by 3 people

      2. The 1972 USC team wore teams down running the ball, played tough defense and rotated QB’s ( McKay had his pets, like Haden ). I would also assume they practiced hard and in pads.

        Liked by 3 people

    1. Charlie —Wolf has asked me to request that you amend your post to read “water covers ONE third of the earth, Wolfman covers the rest.”
      [Crap! He just texted me— now he wants the water part to be reduced to One Tenth]…….

      Liked by 3 people

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  8. If I was a respected, well-established DC, I’d take the job cause Gomer won’t last the season. A really good DC could slide right into the HC slot.

    Liked by 2 people

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  9. Too back He Who Must Not be Named couldn’t progress to He Who Must Not Coach The Trojans.

    Alas, Bohn is no Dumbledore or is Folf no Dumbledore? In which case, what becomes of Bohn – oh ya, he becomes the Owl bringing Folt’s “integrityless wisdom” to we poor thankless muggles.

    Liked by 2 people

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  10. I’m no plagiarist! Not up-to-date on Wilde’s stuff. Any resemblance is accidental. I won’t use the line that great minds think alike because, well,
    not knowing his stuff disqualifies me from that category.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

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