FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: USC’s Finances Hit Stadium Construction

About two weeks ago, I chronicled the fiscal mismanagement at USC and now I have a sterling example of why it matters.

The big athletics project (new football building, baseball stadium, women’s soccer stadium) is still more than $50 million short in fundraising.

Well, guess what? USC has decided that because of this, the baseball stadium will be completed in phases. That means USC will play at the new Dedeaux Field next season but it will remain under construction.

Sources within the baseball program tell me this is why the Trojans’ best pitcher, best relief pitcher and No. 2 hitter departed the program.

Let’s remember that when Andy Stankiewicz got hired, he was told USC would play off campus for one year. Well it’s been two years with Year 3 about to have an asterisk. You think these players were fed up with subpar, temporary facilities and now being told they will still be cutting corners next season?

By the way, I’ve heard from players the dimensions of the new ballpark will be smaller than the original Dedeaux Field, which means there wasn’t enough land. This supports my original thought when the renderings came out that the new baseball stadium looked cheaper than the original.

Meanwhile, you know what isn’t being built in phases? Lincoln Riley’s pet project football building.

So football, which has not been displaced, is gobbling up the raised millions and going full speed ahead, while baseball, which is winging it, has to wait its turn until more money gets raised.

This is why former USC President Steven Sample used to force departments to raise all funds for new projects (along with future maintenance costs) before breaking ground.

  • Speaking of finances, the athletic dept. laid off six people last week including two who had been at USC for more than 20 years. There was no real rhyme or reason to the layoffs, which included executive senior associate athletic director Paul Perrier and chief financial officer John Digrado.

Athletic director Jen Cohen made Perrier the point man during the hiring of Eric Musselman. He was the lone USC official who rode the private plane from Arkansas to USC when Musselman got hired. Digrado, who previously worked for USC Auxillary Services, had a good reputation on campus.

Interesting that the football staff didn’t suffer any cutbacks although I’ll write soon about a demotion. There’s a lot of fat that could be trimmed in that dept.

84 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: USC’s Finances Hit Stadium Construction”

    1. Well Ed.G, this blog is now “Inside Politics” where ‘THE-4’ “kik crahchiz and wuhp assis” if you don’t agree with their MAGA ways

      Any sports talk by ‘THE-4’ is inadvertent and usually deflective in nature. However, as Wolf pointed out, the revenue producing sports will get carte blanche while the others will have to wait for bread crumbs to fall from the dinner table

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      1. KAM: That’s weird, Cowardly Sparrow Gabby loves to bloviate on politics and religion.

        DON: Can she be that self-unaware:

        Sparrow Calypso

        November 6, 2024 at 6:45 am

        DON: It’s still early, but ‘Titanic,’ you are listing badly, better man the lifeboats

        KAM: -Guess the country wasn’t ready for a woman president

        DON: Immigration, the economy and world affairs didn’t help either

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  2. Their decision to not use the capital resources they have to complete Dedeaux Field is inexcusable as well as laying off 2 senior members of the Athletic Dept. I wonder if Coach Stank would leave if he received another offer like half the team….

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    1. I thought Wolf said a few weeks ago that the players left because they had attractive NIL offers from other schools that USC could not match.

      The baseball stadium looks fairly close to completion right now. I doubt this is what caused the players to leave.

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  3. –Sorry to see Gabby1 still imitating Michael Guarino even though MG was blaming ‘1’ for things he didn’t like to hear from Sparrow

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    1. KAM: Poor vile antisemitic and racist Board Pest Board Cancer Cowardly Gabby aka Sparrow Calypso aka TebowObama aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka The Guy who posts as Buddhakarma & So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & Trojan RJJ & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse and TrojanFan 1-3 & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young and KATHY and Foreskin Thoughts and SCOTTLOVESTHEROOOOOTTÞ and Manureman and eric  and Smacky!

      DON: I will play the world’s tiniest violin for that victicrat!

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    2. John –don’t blame me. “I didn’t realize —I refused to realize — that you had joined forces with a class who’d gotten drunk on the taste of human blood.”

      Maid Marian, “Adventures of Robin Hood”

      [Overly dramatic — but I always wanted to quote that line here —even if it doesn’t quite fit]….

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      1. It’s just an ‘eye for an eye’ stuff with my “eye” being softer than ‘THE-4’s “eye” although apparently no one sees it that way

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      3. I hope the new guy from yesterday will come back. It has years and years…and then some…since a new guy arrived.

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      5. No, this is me! Did get hoodwinked?

        I am still waiting for the “Hey Owns, get back to cleaning fryer number 2” Gabby to return.

        Puddly and the “Fryer” Gabby were a great combo on the gutty trolls.

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  4. KAM: AND THERE IT IS- Democrat California Governor Mimbo Announces Funding for New ‘Multifamily Rental Housing’ Ghettos After LA Wildfires! Those displaced homeowners do not want to live in apartments. That is why they owned homes. This is all about Democrat Governor Mimbo and Democrat Mayor Karen Bass giving cheap housing to illegals and Section 8 welfare deadbeats.

    DON: The Conspiracy Theories are true once again. Democrats use the fire to seize private property to build more housing for Undocumented Democrats and bums.

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  5. –Problem is that Sparrow got tired of being a punching bag for Boring Gabby2, Misogynist Plow Horse and Backwoods-Writer So Cal

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    1. I am not a misogynist. I believe that women should be placed on a pedestal – so high that we can look under their dress. (An old Steve Martin line.)

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      1. Nice line —but my favorite [inappropriate] old joke was delivered by Sarah Silverman on the Larry Sanders Show —when asked by Larry if she ever had a colonoscopy she said “not officially.”

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      2. I suppose all men are misogynists to some degree. Being hurt by women is the worst hurt, and some of us never quite get over it

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    2. KAM: Problem is that like most bullies, you can dish it out but you can’t take it.

      DON: And you believe in the failed Senile Joe Democrat Party. Talk about a losing hand you were dealt.

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      1. “Like most bullies, you can dish it out but you can’t take it.”

        Perfect way to describe her!

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  6. KAM: You see recent polls where most Americans think democracy is under attack?

    DON: Come on. Americans are satisfied if they have a job by day and their televisions by night

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    1. The people who were dumb enough to believe Joe didn’t have dementia will buy whatever bs their representatives sell them. The party of hate & divisions has been selling a lot of it lately.

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  7. –We interrupt this “You’re wrong, I’m right, Political Blog” because Wolfie has teased us with his news of ‘An SC football coach lost his title as Assistant Cornerbacks Coach to the ‘Assistant of the Assistant Cornerbacks Coach’

    Now Wolf is an interesting personality because we know nothing about the guy except he writes interesting stuff about the Trojans. And Scott never responds to any of the Posters, which would improve his Blog

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      1. I hate to get political, but among those who won against the established themes were Lincoln and Reagan.

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    2. KAM: Wrong again, Scott used to be a regular poster on the Wild West Football Blog.

      DON: …Where he revealed he is a staunch USC alum but does not blindly trust the hired help. Those of us who used to frequent WW know this. You don’t.

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  8. — But in defense of Wolf’s latest ‘vanilla-type’ writings, there is a reason for the saying, “The dog days of Summer’ while waiting for college football to reopen

    — As comedian Jackie Gleason always says, “If you aren’t riveting, you better get off that stage”

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    1. Did Jackie say that right before or right after he broke his leg doing the Gleason Shuffle at rehearsal?

      #btw,ScottIsNotVanilla[HopeThisDoesn’tInspireVulgarityFromSybil]

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  9. I reluctantly am giving a ‘thanks’ out to Boring Gabby2 for ‘replaying’ my reasoning of Kam losing to Don

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    1. KAM: Yet you won’t admit your hypocrisy in your preaching politics here and denouncing the rest of us for reacting to your daily dose of propaganda.

      DON: You are such a close minded Democrat wearing the blinders.

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  10. “executive senior associate athletic director “

    What a ridiculous title. How many associate athletic directors does SC employ? Is there a junior associate athletic director? Why is “executive” necessary. Is there a non-executive junior associate athletic director.

    I recall a lecture once where the speaker discussed how banks and brokerage firms frequency give elevated titles. For example, executive vice president of branch financial operations. The speaker said they do this to give an appearance of authority when one does not truly have authority. He also said that employees like elevated job titles and at times this is done in lieu of a raise, a promotion without additional compensation.

    Of course I always liked George Costanza’s title – assistant to the traveling secretary.

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      1. btw, I have written several polite replies to John’s thoughtful political remarks —which have all been censored.

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      2. I have never known John to have a thoughtful political remark. He said yesterday that “the 4” don’t like him. I don’t dislike him. I just think most of his political and religious remarks are totally off base and I have taken the opportunity, at times, to point out why I think he is wrong. Nothing personal.

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      3. John’s smart…but… listens to too much MSNBC and CNN while doing legal research …

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  12. SC baseball players ‘go on strike’ as the ‘Troy Trio’ move on to money-greener pastures

    The ‘Troy Trio’ departing might have told us that the Trojan baseball stadiums were no factor. ‘In fact, my favorite ball as a kid was playing at the end of a street cul-de-sac with a high fence preventing home runs’

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    1. Not to brag — but our CYO coach initially made “over the fence” shots homeruns …until…. I hit too many over the fence….causing game delays while we looked for the ball….and the rule was changed to “over the fence” shots were automatic outs…..

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      1. …I bet I could have hit even more over the fence if I were Sybil…but that would mean putting on 300 pounds….

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  13. Geez Censor, that is pretty vanilla stuff compared to how you allow Gabby2 to accuse me of being an anti-semite

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      1. The Wolf Censor did not exist when Carroll left, and it is no worse now that Carol left

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  14. Speaking of “equivalency.”– “Don’t like” someone is not the same as “Disliking” someone

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  15. I mean, even the usual jovial MG wrote how he immediately got rid of a dear friend when he found out the guy’s political persuasion differed from his

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      3. KAM: Why would anyone believe a Democrat is an antisemite?

        Democrats have a SERIOUS anti-Semitism problem. They cheer-on pro-Hamas agitators. They no-show Netanyahu’s arrival and demand he be arrested for war crimes for defending Israel from Murderous Muslims. They refuse to attend his speech. They hide their antisemite meetings for optics. Their Brownshirts attack American Jews. They supported the USC encampment that attacked Jews.

        DON: Yet the Democrats here pretend they aren’t antisemites.

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  16. Thanks for the latter, but as to the former, my Republican dad would vibrate in his urn with laughter if he heard that

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    1. KAM: RINO Republicans like Liz Cheney don’t count.

      DON: RINO GOPe and Democrats are Globalists. You are the enemy.

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  17. Johnny Carson milked both parties equally for comedy material, so no one knew for sure which side he favored, although like with most people it was probably a hybrid

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    1. A much different era Sparrow. The differences between the parties are much greater today. Obama gave 1.3 billion in cash to the Iranians and entered into an agreement that allowed them to continue to enrich Uranium but at a slower pace. Trump backed out of that agreement in 2017 and froze 10 billion in assets. Biden re-entered the agreement and unfroze the assets. Trump again backed out of the agreement and eventually bombed the uranium producing plants. And then there is the border situation. Hard to say your on the fence under these circumstances. Not surprising that Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and other talk show hosts have clearly chosen a side.

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    3. KAM: Only a dumb lib couldn’t know Carson was a preachy lib who destroyed Anita Bryant for opposing you cornholers.

      DON: Talk about The Slippery Slope!

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      2. KAM: Compare the tranny loving Navy of 2024 to Johnny Carson’s era 

        DON: That is Lia Thomas slippery slope….

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      1. KAM: This is why. You support posts like this from your Mainstream Moderate Democrat ally:

        Gabby

        Friday, July 4, 2025 at 04:36:09 PM

        how can it be bye-bye when I have never received any type of government entitlements. you need a good/ass/whipping…… p u s s y/boy

        you also need to focus on the rotten beaver syndrome…….the beaver juice hanging off the chin is disgusting

        DON: You are the last person to judge anyone here. You are a coward.

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  19. KAM: Pink haired Mainstream Moderate Democrat protesters are ramming Mexican flags into the tires of U.S. military vehicles & smashing the flagpoles against the windows — amid an immigration raid at a cannabis farm in Camarillo, CA. Idiots. Arrest them.

    DON: It’s an insurrection.

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    1. I always skipped Boring Gabby2’s comments, but now I realize he has a lot of inadvertent humor in his writings

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  20. KAM: DNC Chairman Ken Martin was recently asked by PBS about New York City Murderous Muslim Communist Democrat nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani, specifically his comments about ‘globalizing the intifada.’ The reporter pointed out that those sorts of words make Jews very uncomfortable and for good reasons. That is a slogan that symbolizes the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews for simply being Jews.

    Martin basically shrugged off the comments, ultimately declaring that the Democrats are a ‘big tent party.’

    DON: Antisemites are welcome to be leaders!

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  21. KAM: It is summer and time for “Re-runs” on tv and here too, but thinking back the past year I cannot believe we are almost friends

    DON: –Only because this is all imaginary

    KAM: I don’t know, it feels real

    DON: Yeah, especially when dealing with people’s political side.

    KAM: It can be so frustrating, like comic Will Rogers put it, “The trouble with some people is that they aren’t ignorant, it’s that they know so much that ain’t so

    DON: Or lawyer Clarence Darrow explaining, “I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of”

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    1. Don’t take this personally ….but…I like Norman Mailer’s line to William Buckley: “You’ve misremembered more facts than I’ve bothered to learn.”

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  22. Somebody wrote that there had not been a new poster joining up with Wolf in years and years, is this true?– Well, we’re all walking-talking ‘little universes’ anyway, largely lost in our own personal world

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  23. Wolf is a “staunch Trojan” say the posters who remember when Wolf interacted with the posters back in the day when dinosaurs roamed earth.

    I am glad to hear it because when it comes to SC matters such as Wiley, you are one of SC’s loudest critics

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      2. Jack Driscoll wasn’t curious enough to ask this question …but….it was a stegosaurus from the Jurassic Period….

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      3. KAM: Cowardly Sparrow Gabby considers the Obama Era to be pre-historic now?

        DON: Wifey the Feminazi won’t be pleased!

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  24. KAM: Looking back, wasn’t it ironic how the week I get a shot at being president, you get shot

    DON: Let’s not relive that one, but what bothered me more was when we were campaigning, there were T-shirts with your picture and mine on the shirt, with the saying of “Anyone can be President. That’s the Problem”

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    1. Kamala: “That’s beautiful! Now we need t-shirts with ‘Anyone can be Governor of California!'”

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    1. “Look out it’s still alive!”

      Bang!’

      “That one got him!”

      #WhatHappensWhenManEntersTheJurassicPeriod

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