FOOTBALL

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

We hear so much about Clay Helton’s contract and how it made firing him a stumbling block.

So why did USC school president Carol Folt supposedly turn down an offer from a donor to pay off the contract? She didn’t want to be beholden to a rich booster.

But you are only beholden if you allow yourself to be. USC would not survive without donations. It’s up to the administration to say no to granting special favors. Folt could have made that a condition of taking the offer.

  • USC almost beat a ranked team on the road Thursday night for the first time since 2010. That tells you something about Andy Enfield, because he’s never done it in seven seasons.

Another frustrating fact typical of an Enfield team: Onyeka Okongwu is projected as an NBA lottery pick and he had one field goal attempt in the final 15 minutes. He still had 23 points even though the offense is not exactly geared to him.

Enfield’s offense usually consists of shooting a 3-pointer in crunch time.

  • Will former USC quarterback Jack Sears remain committed to San Diego State? He committed before Rocky Long resigned and was replaced by Brady Hoke.
  • The Holiday Bowl was nearly a month ago and linebacker Juliano Falaniko has not apologized for kicking an Iowa player in the head. Remember that when you hear TV pundits talk about what a man of integrity Clay Helton is.
  • I feel bad for former USC offensive lineman Pat Harlow, the head coach at JSerra in San Juan Capistrano. Four players have transferred out of the school including safety New Zealand Williams, who has a scholaship offer from Georgia.
  • Toby Page played quarterback at USC from 1965-67. He is probably best known for a play where he did not pass the ball, calling an audible and handing off to O.J. Simpson on his famous 64-yard touchdown run in the 1967 USC-UCLA game.

There was a joke among the coaches when Page practiced that one pass would be a perfect spiral, one would go over a receiver’s head and one might go in the grass.

During one practice, a frustrated John McKay said, “Page if you spent less time worrying about your wife and kid, you’d be a better quarterback.”

McKay definitely would need to change if he coached today.

USC QB Toby Page vs. Notre Dame in 1966
  • If you want another example of how things have changed, when John Hubbard was USC president in the 1970’s, he used to have a locker in the coaches’ locker room alongside John McKay, Marv Goux, Rod Dedeaux and Bob Boyd, among others. Hubbard was a big raquetball player and supporter of athletics and having a locker usually kept him infomed of what was going on in the athletic dept.
  • Given Hubbard’s closeness to the coaches, imagine his fury when he was blindsided by media reports McKay was going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 1975 season. McKay did not tell Hubbard before the news went public.
  • Back in the 1960’s, it was common for USC football players to be met by girl friends or dates on campus after flying back from a road game. Below is linebacker Jeff Smith after USC returned from its 34-0 victory over Washington in 1965. Note the players also wore a USC blazer and tie.

22 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

    2. Isn’t Andydin’twinning something like 1 – 24 vs ranked teams in away games? The Whisler’s best-coached games have always been against creme puffs and cupcakes at home.

      #Whydidn’tAndrewknowsquat?

      Liked by 1 person

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  2. I understand the anger but understand the very last thing Folt never ever wants to deal with again is a D. Wayne Hughes or such bragging about how ‘ I was the one who paid to get rid of Helton…..’ and worst be public about whats ‘….we ought to hire Coach X…’

    I don’t blame her a bit

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      1. Are you serious? What Hughes did was slap Swann on us by twisting Nikias’ arm and that in turn gave us that horrific contract to Helton which is why this mess is still there.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. ” McKay definitely would need to change if he coached today.”

    Because today’s kids are snowflakes, kinda like certain bloggers.

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  4. Folt came from a public university supported by the state. Completely different than USC. Add the fact that Chapel Hill is a town of maybe 35000 ex students, its a different world.

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  5. FOLT is the real douche bag here.

    ALL successful athletic departments and academics for that matter rely on donations. Yes, even Ivy League schools. Has Folt increased the integrity or academic ranking at her previous school? Nope!

    Folt = Douche

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  7. Friday notes–
    I still like this Men’s BB team….(BB wins in Eugene have been difficult for nearly everyone) . A decent berth in the NCAA tourney (every year) is a fair goal for this program. I hate Vegas, but we’re going for the Tourney this year.

    Steven Johnson drew a tough early seed in the Aussie Open–Rodger Federer. Sorry Steve.

    I’ll be following former Trojan Justin Suh at the ATT-Pebble Beach Pro AM in a few weeks. Nice to have a Trojan to cheer for on the PGA tour
    (not that I care one whit about golf). Ole’ Bing’s clambake is still a great event and you can mingle with the pro’s and celebs pretty easily. Really informal until Saturday, when the golf and the money gets more serious.
    Cheap ticket too (if you buy in advance).

    Really enjoyed the 2019 FB season with all of you–well…most of you!
    A lot of passionate USC alums/fans here (along with a few haters, ha ha) and a lot of smart Football folks. Really enjoyed the repartee!

    I’ll give DC Orlando my full support. Hoping for some good news in the final recruiting days. Otherwise, not much to talk about until August.
    Didn’t get to open up the good bourbon much in 2019–after Utah and UCLA only. Hoping I get to drain the good bottle in 2020. Be back in August, friends! Take care, and always
    Fight on!
    Bourbon4me
    class of ’83; Keck class of ’88

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    1. The BB is poorly coached and you’ll be saving that bottle of hooch for a long time, as long as Folt is there USC football will be as dead as JustOwns brain

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  8. Scott the offense IS Okongwu right now. Do you even watch the games? USC forces it inside mostly … and would score more if Nick could finish some shots.

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  9. enfield teams are just not coached well. all of our coaches are blessed by the fact that USC recruits itself, but now Helton has even broken that.

    so our players continue to have no player development. bohn needs to make even more changes and make them quickly.

    i do understand that bohn probably wants to really get the next head coaching decision right, and maybe he didnt have the perfect candidate to replace Clay, but at some point, keeping a coach on the hot seat will destroy the program.

    i guess i have worked my way through to the resignation phase of grief.

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    1. Brother, I have been in the resignation phase for a while. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better. A slow, painful, process.

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