FOOTBALL

USC Sunday Buzz: Back To Square One For Baseball

We are in full training camp mode right now with football, but Saturday night I spoke to a high-ranking USC official who is knowledgeable about the Trojans’ baseball program.

The program has been decimated this offseason as players left via the transfer portal.

“We can’t keep players because we don’t pay anything and the alumni aren’t donating money to keep them,” the official said. “If we develop a player, they just leave after a year.

“It’s too bad because it means Andy (Stankiewicz) has to basically rebuild the team every year.”

None of this is any different than what I’ve written about the baseball program but it was jarring to hear someone from USC describe it after the Trojans nearly got to the College World Series this year.

It’s also depressing that with all the famous, well-paid baseball alumni, none are apparently stepping up and donating to the baseball program.

It looked like USC took a significant step forward this year toward restoring its glory. But it feels back to Square One now.

53 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz: Back To Square One For Baseball”

  1. Scott, thanks for sharing this with all of us. Hopefully, concerned alumni who have the funds will sponsor our baseball players like they do endowed chairs throughout the university. Maybe someone will endow each position on the team. We need 26 alumni donors to do this. The Aaron Boone endowed shortstiop and the Tom Seaver endowed pitcher would not only help our team win championships, but honor the legacy of our great baseball heritage led by our Rod Dedeaux endowed head coach. Thanks for the awareness of the problem. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    1. Sam the Company Man makes some compelling suggestions, but not sure an alum can fund a specific player or position? or are we talking an exaggerated $50 handshake like poor Papa Sam Gilbert was crucified for?? all Papa did was give poor kids a little burger money so they could eat outside the dorms for a change. hard to believe the persecution this kindly old fellow was subjected to. just look at the loving countenance of this kindly old duffer.

      #UnjustDepiction

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      1. Hi Charlie, it’s “Dan” the company man if you are parroting Scott. My thought is to establish an NIL for each position, and whoever holds that position in any year gets to benefit. Just a thought. Sam Gilbert was about sixty years ahead of his time with his handouts while John Wooden could deny the gifts and remain sanctimonious. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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      2. The mob bosses always look like they wouldn’t kill an ant…

        To wit – Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, in his bathrobe and slippers:

        https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bathrobe-clad-vincent-gigante-in-custody-and-placed-under-news-photo/138947967

        Papa Sam indicted on multiple accounts of racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy…

        And then there was Gutty Coach Gene Bartow “I believe Gilbert was Mafia-involved and capable of hurting people”

        The fait accompli – the Big Redhead…

        Bill Walton: “We would have lost about 10 nattys and been on NCAA probation for about 100 years if they enforced the rules against us”

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      3. i loved Bill like a Blood Brother, but he was stoned mush of the time due to his Medical Mary Jane usage and Dead concert attendance. he was likely impaired and being facetious IF he made those comments! a huge practical joker! Bartow was rightly bitter being run outta town despite a 50-9 record in two seasons, so neither provides reliable testimony. all part of the smear campaign.

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      4. Look closely, Charlie —the ring Sam is wearing is the same one Max Von Sydow wore when he played Ming The Merciless in Flash Gordon.

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      6. Charlie, I never thought I would have to pull the “Denial is not just a river in Egypt” with you.

        Owns, of course. He was living in his own universe.

        You? Say it isn’t so…

        And speaking of Bill’s self-medication, much of that was due to Wooden refusing to sit Walton and let his various foot and ankle injuries heal…

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      8. Sweetest part was when that piece of filth died in 1987 just before the US Dist Ct – Miami announced the indictment and his son, Michael, took the hit…meanwhile ‘Rose’ just kept schmoozing her patented ‘mentoring’ over in the whitebread Palisades as all libtards do….”I got mine and the rest goes to ‘the mob'”

        ….remember Jonniekins saying he had ‘…a clear conscience…’? Best was that purz, no one remembers, Roy Firestone cutting to commercial when Tarkanian mentioned Gilbert’s name with ‘the peckerwood’ on live TV….

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  3. DON: At SC if you’re not talking ‘football you’re not talking

    KAM: They don’t really play football anywhere else. It evolved into America’s game

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    1. KAM: I can’t believe Jen “Taco Lita” Cohen hasn’t contacted Trojan great Dave Kingman, a member of the 1970s national championship team, to lead the alumni to support SC baseball.https://webmail.lerctr.org/~transit/healy/goof.wavlol

      DON: Dave Kingman currently resides in Lake Tahoe, California, where he is involved in various activities, including owning a tennis club and motivational speaking. He is known for his past as a dominant MLB player with 442 home runs and continues to engage with the community through events and appearances. He is a very proud Trojan.

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      2. Kingman was the most despised player in recent memory among press, and –teammates. McGwire was up there as a despised cheater whose denials before congress was the height of gall and deceit. should have been jailed for obstruction. so SC has the two most reviled players in history to go along with OJ and Mr Reggie in football!! i’ll be examining basketball shortly.

        #TaintedLegacies

        #TooManyToCountButI’llTry

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  4. KAM: After a few practices the SC guys are all upbeat. That promising new guy Van Summer or something says the defensive line is “meshng” well

    DON: Maiava says he can’t wait to play on Saturdays to show off his group

    KAM: Baseball has its preseason Spring optimism. I guess in football they call it preseason Summer optimism

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  5. KAM: I noticed on one of the walls at SCs baseball stadium they have printed “12 National Championships.” Sports fans spend time living in the past

    DON: It’s no different at ucla with their 11 or 12 basketball titles. What have you done for me lately?

    KAM: I suppose you could say the same for SC’s 11 football championships, but at least they have some titles in this century

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  6. DON: I guess after tasting the filet mignon Dodgers it’s hard for fans to settle on hamburger SC

    DON: But it’s kind of a different game. There is usually more hitting in college because of the lack of quality pitchers

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  7. KAM: I compute that Scott Wolf has put out about 1000 articles in the past year

    DON: With that kind of volume you’re going to have critics. To combat that Wolf has built up a rhino’s skin and is probably of the mind, ‘Talk all you want but don’t stop talking about me

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  8. Guess what ? When 25 to 30 percent, or more, of your student body is from Asia, they don’t send money back to you, could care less about sports and then you end up with no big name donors in the states to donate.

    When your AD sends underlings to meet with alums who have deep pockets, guess what there going to give ? NOTHING. And then you made them madder by pulling their name off of things they donated to, brilliant !!!!!!

    If you ask nothing of old players, they will give you nothing.

    SC is a mess all the way around, this fish stinks from the head down in the academic, BOT and athletics.

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    1. USC decided it was going to compete with Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc. by becoming a global university and going all in on niche departments and programs that don’t deliver.

      They never were going to win that game. They had an outstanding regional reputation with amazing alumni ties in Southern California and beyond.

      Now, they are the ship that is without a rudder, unclear what they will become while trying to deal with the Folt deficits.

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      1. USC is only ONE strong President from becoming USC again—-only problem: USC is one strong Board away from selecting one strong President…

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  9. sure the trOJies have lost 8 of their last 10 against Bruins in baseball, but where’s the trust?? Lil’ Stanky had a good run to end season! still not sure SC is cut out for the rough and tumble Big10…i’d really give the Mountain West some serious thought, SC could be competitive in most sports, of course they do have softball and women’s gymnastics, so SC still out in the cold for the most popular girls’ sports. i’ll see if the wolfman can make some calls for you Dummies.

    #ArchaicU

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    1. Charlie, meet me at your favorite pub (don’t say Bakersfield, not going there, particularly in the summer) and I’ll spring for a cold one to celebrate the Gutty’s perfect football record over the last 20 years:

      124-124

      #SoFewHaveAchievedThatPerfectLevelofMediocrity

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      2. Incompetent – yes

        Can’t manage a budget – yes

        Can’t pick a good president – yes

        But archaic?

        #ThemAreFightingWords

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    4. How did that regional at home go against the biggest cupcakes the NCAA could find for you to play ?

      Number 1 in the nation to done in one short weekend.

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  10. Best shot was that letter to the editor back in 1998 when the brewies were all set to go to the inaugural CF championship game and tanked against Miami …. it said it all.

    “There were two full planes set to ferry Bruin fans to Miami….the first got off w.o. a hitch but the second Cessna….”

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