A lot of people are saying Lincoln Riley is gone if USC loses 2-3 more games.
But they never say who will pay for it?
One guy who has the money and contacts among USC’s well-heeled crowd is Rick Caruso, but he seems far more interested in the mayor’s race and his projects in upper-class communities than USC football, even though he spoke at Lincoln Riley’s introductory press conference.
He did make a video the day of the San Jose State game. “The Trojans have a helluva team this year. Coach Riley is very optimistic. I think we’re going to have a great season.”
The current biggest donor to USC is trustee Mark Stevens, who is a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors. He has donated nearly $300 million, including a $10 million donation to the football building, to the university.
But he just gave $200 million to USC for AI research and most of his donations have been toward academics or the medical school.
Anyone else? Anyone?
- Here’s a stat you won’t get from Lincoln Riley: USC ranks No. 193 in yards per carry.
- I don’t know if I’ve ever given a team straight F’s on the report card before but I’ll never forget the time I gave USC’s special teams a “DF” during the Paul Hackett Era.
It wasn’t a D. It wasn’t an F. It was the initials of USC special teams coach Dan Ferrigno.
A good coach would mean an extra 10,000 attendance, that would go along ways towards paying for the buyout.
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Jen caved and lost $10 million in revenue this year by replacing ND with a JUCO.
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Like 67 said, SC is bleeding money with Riley at he helm do to him refusing to play anyone that isn’t a glorified JC school, not winning games he should, etc etc. SC is competing with not one but TWO NFL teams, TWO NBA teams, TWO MLB teams, TWO NHL teams, they have to put a product on the field that people will want to spend money and time to come see live. And the longer they wait, the more chance that a really good coach will get snapped up by another school.
How can the AD and administration wait if SC is embarrassed on Saturday and next week ? Are they going to wait until Chesney makes Riley look like a fool with a backup QB and patchwork roster that plays 1000 times harder andnbetter than his does ?
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KAM: And when Pat Haden was AD he had the chance to blow up the Coliseum and make it a $3 billion state of the art stadium like SoFi…
DON: Instead he tried to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
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penny-wise and pound-foolish. Exactly like dressing up a pig.
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Maybe Baylor & SC each pay Riley $5mm a year for the next 5 years.
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What I am worried about is there anyone out there that would be the right kind of coach without wanting the ridiculous contract Riley has. I see a lot of retreads and guys fired from other jobs. It seems very quiet in the athletic department. No speeches about supporting the coach etc. makes me think they are trying to find a fix but are trapped in a corner
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That’s a good point – personally, if I was in charge, any contract would be performance/incentive based and would have a clause that would have avoided the situation they are in now with the Coyote (not that hard to do and any coach with integrity would have no issue with it – to the effect of but not precisely “Program Minimum Expectations are X. Failure to meet or exceed X in consecutive seasons is grounds for immediate termination and voiding of all monies due.”).
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Unfortunately, one incentive clause worked against our favor. My understanding is that he received a one-year extension when USC made the pac-12 championship game his first year.
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Look up Jason Eck
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“The Trojans have a helluva team this year. Coach Riley is very optimistic. I think we’re going to have a great season.”
Wow! Caruso really said that?! Just goes to show you don’t necessarily have to be very smart to do well in life, financially speaking.
Richard Branson once said, “A lot of what has gotten me where I am boils down to luck.”
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Scott, we don’t need someone to donate 70 million, we just need 10,000 more paying fans at each home game next year to pay down the ten million a year that USC will owe LR for the next five years. And, as an employee of the university, he could be assigned tasks like fundraising or any other job on campus. If LR doesn’t like the work, he can quit and move on with his life. The question will become, who replaces him? Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962
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