Adios, Coach!
Hey Pete –
It’s been fun. But, nothing is forever. The first boy to break my heart taught me that. I was reminded again with our 9-4 season this year.
I don’t blame you for leaving. Sorry State Department, but I’d quit my job if someone in Seattle was going to pay me $2 million more a year too. Heck, I’d quit for half that.
Sure wish you would have done it differently though. If Paul Allen wants you as much as it seems, I bet he would have been willing to wait until after signing day. But, I get it – you stood in those boys’ living rooms not too long ago and promised to be their coach. However, loyalty to the USC program you rebuilt should have trumped your personal guilt for breaking your word. Not to worry though, it isn’t what I will remember you for.
What I will remember is that 23-0 win at Auburn – the sweltering humidity and those nice but completely dejected Tiger fans. The Orange Bowl win too – the one that was so overwhelming there was not a Sooner in sight at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And, I will never forget my roommate shouting, “No more momentum changes!” as we fought back at Autzen Stadium in 2005 (I’ll never forget the angry duck who threw marshmallows at me that day either). But, most of all, I will remember the Bush Push. Now, that was heartache – watching the time run out on the clock that crisp evening in South Bend. But, it was as if the voice of God spoke when the announcer ordered the Irish fans off the field and put enough time back on the board for us to win the most thrilling game of I’ve ever experienced.
As time passes, we will forget being upset by an inferior UCLA team in 2006. And hopefully we will find a way to push the Texas game into the deep recesses of our minds. Then there was your last game in the Coliseum – a loss to Arizona: That will be your farewell, but not your Trojan legacy. We’ll let go of all these memories of your tenure and hold onto the great moments in college football that you gave us over the years.
To the coach who succeeds you: we want/need to see a clean program that wins – and in that order. We need someone committed to the personal and professional development of these young men into honorable members of the Trojan family. I don’t care if they graduate, that is their prerogative – but I prefer them not to break laws or NCAA regulations that put their careers and our program in jeopardy. It’s a difficult balance I know. But, we need someone who has enough control over our players to avoid gross misconduct at least. Hopefully whoever steps up to fill your shoes will learn from both your achievements and your mistakes. And, hopefully they will be as committed to the university community as you have been.
For now, vaya con Dios, Pete.
I hope you aren’t leaving because the NCAA is ready to hand down crippling sanctions and you are running for cover while we are left to cope. Please let that just be rumor.
But, I guess it doesn’t matter either way. It is college football. We will move on. Maybe next year we will be better than a 9-4 team. Maybe not. But, we’ll still have fun.
I never believed you wanted to grow old at USC. You were just waiting for the right opportunity to try to beat to death the NFL monkey on your back. I hope you found it. We didn’t care that your victories as a college coach carried an asterisk and a footnote with your Jets record. But, we know you did. And so we wish you great success in Seattle.
Just, if it doesn’t work out, please don’t follow the Nick Saban career path and come back home to the Pac-10, coaching for Stanford. Or worse.
Good luck!
Jen Vitela, Class of ‘96
PS: Don’t forget to pack an umbrella.
When it comes to the internet, SEC = China
As opposed to sporting events which have incorporated social media to add to the entertainment value (e.g. Nationals Park Fan Tweets), the SEC is trying to stamp out all online communication during games because they consider it competitive with their CBS broadcasts. Sure, twitter reaches out to a larger audience than phone text messages of the past and posting a photo on facebook is easier than emailing it to everyone in the address book on your cell but, seriously?
Dudes, this stuff isn’t going to go away. You’d do best to embrace it instead of passing a regulation that will be impossible to enforce. Time to start thinking out of the box and creating ways to use social media to draw attention to your event instead of to your ridiculous rules for gameday. See story at:
CBS Declares What the Rest of us Already Know…
The Trojans are the best team of the decade:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/12007461
Thanks for the link, Craig!
The Unwritten Rule…
When Trojans benefit from the USC Ticket Office lottery and win tickets to games with limited seats, there is a rule most of us know and follow: If you can’t use the tickets, sell them to another Trojan for face value. It’s that simple.
For example, last year I had a pair of tickets to the Ohio State v. USC game. I couldn’t use them because I was serving in Iraq. Sure, tickets were selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay. But these were Trojan tickets and they should be used by Trojans: It’s not about making a buck — it’s about sharing the Trojan spirit on gameday.
Then yesterday I received an email from the Sacramento alumni club. Seems one of their members was lucky enough to buy 2 tickets through the lottery but is unable to make the trip. But, instead of sharing that Trojan spirit, she asked fellow alums to submit bids through email. So, not only did she sell her tickets for a profit, she used the Trojan network to do it.
This is wrong. Just plain wrong. The USC Ticket Office lottery intends to sell tickets to Trojans, not ticket brokers.
The Unwritten Rule can also be called the Golden Rule of Football. Because, just as you might forgo the profit and hand the tickets over to a fellow fan, adopting the unwritten rule usually means you’ll benefit on any given Saturday too.
Just something to think about…36 days before kickoff.
Serendipity…
Do you think it is coincidence that my season tickets arrived on the same day as the Zaca Hangover Patches that David over at tailgatingideas.com recommended???
Join us for the Six Games in Six Weeks Tour
GGT is back! After a one-year hiatus while I surfed the sand of the Middle East, we’re now gearing up for the 2009 College Football season. I think we’re all ready to see the action on the field after a summer of BCS debate on the Hill and subsequent declarations that changes to our broken system will take at least another five years to fix, if ever. We might as well wave the white flag and start soaking the watermelon now.
So, if you want to join us, we’ll be at Ohio State on 9/12, Washington on 9/19, USC on 9/26, Cal on 10/3, Ole Miss on 10/10 and Notre Dame on 10/17. Hope to see you there!
***Just added — Notred Dame on 9/5…I guess it makes it a Seven Weeks in Seven Games tour…
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