everyone is entitled to their own way of grieving after Thursdays nonsense. I suppose mine is somewhat similar to Garrett’s, in that I blame it all on the NCAA and those who hate USC. If Garrett were let go I wouldn’t protest, however it also wouldn’t change the tough road ahead for USC football. If I were in charge of the deal I would wait a few months and announce his retirement. That way you don’t have a UCLA — Dorrell situation where they eat their own. Whatever his shortcomings Garrett deserves a quiet exit and a handshake, its the USC way. I will say this. If you went to the athletic department of any school in the nation I bet you could string together enough ticky tack nonsense to make up a charge sheet. I do not believe that USC had knowledge of Bush’s situation, and aside from a football offensive position coach that matter is not in issue. I find it somewhat distressing that a University, its Fans, its Players past and present should suffer as a result of one players questionable, and private, choices. If a student cheats on a test, do you fail the whole class? I have run into Mike Garrett a couple times at games and around campus on game day, and in my interactions with him he has seemed to be a nice guy. He has spent much of his working life doing his best (which I will grant may not be good enough) to make USC a better place. All I meant by my comments is that as a Trojan, and a member of the “Trojan Family” I believable we owe him some consideration, and a little dignity in this whole tawdry mess.
USC today is a much more modern place today than it was even when I went there in the late 1990’s. Gone are the days when parents had a realistic dream of their kids following them to their alma mater. Gone as well is the lifelong consideration given to Trojan applicants to graduate and professional programs. Most of what it means to be a Trojan only lives in the way we interact as a community, and the heart of that community is USC Football. I hope that no one took my statement as a call for censorship, because it was not intended to be such, rather it was a plea to or community to be better than the UCLA’s and SEC schools of the world and remember that even in the face of this challenge we are still Trojans, and that aught to mean something.