FOOTBALL

USC Notes: Early Spring Means Short Winter

I saw something about how USC strength coach Trumain Carroll has his first full offseason with the Trojans since joining the staff last year.

Well, the Alamo Bowl was Dec. 30. Let’s say the team took a week off (at a mimimum). Spring practice started March 3. He really had less than eight weeks for winter workouts. UCLA starts spring practice April 2. That provides a real winter workout period.

  • USC baseball is 12-0 and off to its best start since 1988, when it started 15-0.
  • USC likes to pat iself on the back for its social media dept. Right after Chad Baker-Mazara got dismissed from the team Sunday it sent out this picture to Trojan fans with a picture of Baker-Mazara promoting the UCLA game.

33 thoughts on “USC Notes: Early Spring Means Short Winter”

    1. KAM: Add Skylar Phan’s name to the growing list of new faces heading to Ann Arbor.

      Michigan has tapped USC’s current director of recruiting strategy to join its football front office, according to multiple reports Tuesday.

      DON: Phan, a Texas graduate, aided USC in signing the top-ranked recruiting class of 2026, according to Rivals included “overseeing all officials and unofficial visits, providing individual recruiting strategies and building relationships with top targets and their families.”

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      4. I was really hoping the “New, Relaxed Church” would let up on the “no fish” thing this Lent……

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      5. I hear you MG. My wife and I are planning our meatless Fridays, too. Enjoy Lent and have a happy Easter. Dan, Class of 1962

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    2. Chad Baker-Mazara – turns out he is allegedly 32, not 26, has 4 kids. Played at 5 other programs.

      #TheTypicalCollegeStudent

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  2. That tweet should have read, “We’ve got as much chance of beating the Ruins as this guy does of getting any minutes on the court!”

    “But buy tickets anyway!”

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      1. Yes. I think I saw that sticker on Riley’s car. Not sure but a guy wearing a visor was in the back and the car parked right next to the McKay Center.

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  3. KAM: Lou Hollz dead at 89.

    DON: Holtz is the only coach in history to take six different programs to bowl games and led Notre Dame to its last national championship, guiding the Fighting Irish to a 12-0 season in 1988 (with South Carolina native Tony Rice at quarterback). He is also the only coach to lead four different programs to Top-15 finishes in the national polls. 

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      1. Lou would have surpassed ALL the legendary Notre Dame coaches in total wins if turncoat, pri*k Bob Davie hadn’t told the dumb azz Notre Dame A. D. to watch out cuz “Holtz was going mental.” Bob Davie then took over and ran the program into the ground….

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      2. I greatly admire Holtz, he was a lot like Nick Sabin – great college but truly not as an NFL head coach.

        My issue with Holtz was he had a real childish need to use sophomoric sarcasm when he was a commentator and was more of a ‘homer’ than most former head coaches exhibit.

        I’m just grateful USC won’t have to endure the ‘canonization’ ceremonies ‘the princess’ had already prepared for his demise at all the venues gracing ‘Miss Haversham’s’ 37th consecutive year of being ‘…left at the altar’,

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  4. That 1988 ND game could have made Coach Smith a USC legend. Wasn’t Rodney Peete ill, but played in that game anyway, but just not as effectively. We had such high hopes for our Trojans during his first three years, but When Rodney Peete graduated the team imploded. We did get the return of JR, but he wasn’t the same coach. If coaching salaries in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were comparative to today’s salaries, John McKay probably would have stayed at USC until he retired. He was definitely the Lou Saban of that era as Bear Bryant could attest. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    1. It’s so weird that Smith’s tenure as coach would blow up when Todd Marinovich became quarterback…..

      #ToddAlwaysSeemedLikeTheKindOfGuyWho’dBringStability

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      1. KAM: USC collapses after leading at haftime, gets blown out by woeful  Washington 91-72.

        DON: All March Madness hopes are now extinguished. Uncle Rico hardest hit!

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      2. Larry Smith seemed to get caught up in the drama surrounding the Marinovich family and couldn’t handle the public scrutiny. He also stopped recruiting effectively. Just a really weird transformation and a sad ending. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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      3. Larry went to Missouri and resurrected a moribund program —they started beating everybody in their conference except Nebraska ….and they almost beat them [but for that weird shoestring TD]….

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  5. I cannot forget that 1988 Notre Dame game when Rodney Peete threw an interception right before halftime and hurt himself when blocked by an ND burly lineman, and was not the same in the second half

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  6. SC usually has a fighting chance when playing ucla in basketball, but this Saturday it seems as if the Trojans may as well phone it in

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      1. This time we’re planning a first AND second half implosion….

        #NewBumperSticker:”Let’sDoOurImplosionsRight!”

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  7. Which again begs the question of why dismiss the Baker man 2-weeks before the season ends? He was out of eligibility anyway and this hurts his NBA chances

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      1. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. It is very sad when anyone wastes their god given talent due to dysfunctionality. I hope that he gets the mental health and behavioral treatment that he appears to need as an adult. The Dodgers are paying for mental health treatment for one of their former players who could have had a promising MLB career. Made me have more respect for the Dodgers organization. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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