On August 3rd Pat Haden will replace Mike Garrett as athletic director at the University of Southern California.

Garrett served as the Trojans athletic director for seventeen years and won the Heisman in 1965 at USC. Recent NCAA violations including a loss of scholarships, post season bans on the Trojan football and basketball programs, and vacating past wins in both sports ultimately marked the demise of Garrett.

In the investigations against the Trojan’s football and basketball program the NCAA focused on two players in particular, Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo.

Both Bush and Mayo were dominant stars for the Trojans during their time on campus. Mayo scored 20.7 points per game in his freshman season and helped lead USC to an NCAA Tournament berth. O.J. did not return for his sophomore season, instead he opted to enter the NBA Drafted where he was selected with the third overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies.

As great as Mayo was on the hardwood for the Trojans, Reggie Bush was even better on the gridiron. Bush ran for over 2,600 yards with USC and scored 22 touchdowns. Bush’s performance in 2005 in particular was most impressive. Reggie ran for 1,658 yards, scored 16 touchdowns, and scorched defenses by running for 8.7 yards per carry. It came as no surprise to anyone that Bush won the Heisman trophy at the end of the ’05 season. Reggie was also a vital member of the 2004 Trojan National Title team.

After Reggie and O.J. left campus to join the professional ranks, the NCAA conducted investigations into the USC mens basketball program and the football program. The NCAA looked into allegations that Bush and Mayo took money from outside sources during their time at USC which would violate their amateur status. When the investigations into the programs ended the NCAA laid the proverbial “hammer” down on the Trojans. The school was cited for a lack of institutional control and numerous punishments were handed down to the basketball and football programs.

The two NCAA investigations and subsequent punishments were ultimately too much for Mike Garrett to overcome. It was not reported whether he was fired or chose to resign from his post as athletic director at USC.

Now in comes Pat Haden who has been appointed the new athletic director at USC and therefore has been appointed to clean up the mess that was left behind by former players and administrators. Many people wondered where Haden would start in his attempt to lift the Trojan athletic department out of the hole they had dug themselves into with the NCAA. Well, Haden has made his first move and it definitely has people talking.

His first course of action as athletic director will be to get rid of all references to O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush that are present on the USC campus. That is right, displays such as O.J. Mayo’s jersey and even Reggie Bush’s Heisman trophy will be removed and will not be shown on the USC campus in the foreseeable future. It is presumably the first step of a process that will try to help USC fans, alumni, and athletes put behind them a time that was highlighted by excellence on the hardwood and gridiron but later marred by controversy.

Pat Haden has made his message very clear, the old way of doing things is over and a new chapter starts immediately.

"We want to compete ferociously and win in every sport, but we want to do it ethically and within the rules," said Haden, “We’re going to have a culture of compliance around here. Every meeting is going to start with the No. 1 item as compliance. ... We're going to try to be perfect. When we make mistakes, we're going to fess up, and we're going to try to do better next time."

I think that many college programs across the country bend the rules from time to time, but according to the NCAA’s findings USC didn’t just bend the rules they snapped them in half. This program has been mentioned in connection with money, perks, and outside influences. It is good to see them get a new athletic director and a new focus on compliance and doing things the right way. Obviously, the football team still has to deal with their two year postseason ban and loss of scholarships, so things will not be easy for the Trojans in the short term but this new way of thinking by Pat Haden will be good for the Trojans in the long term.

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