LOS ANGELES (AP) – Pat Haden will replace embattled Southern California athletic director Mike Garrett next month.
In a letter to school supporters Tuesday, incoming USC president Max Nikias said the embattled Garrett will be replaced Aug. 3 by Haden, a respected member of USC’s board of trustees and an NBC football analyst.
Both Garrett and Haden are former USC football players. Garrett won the Heisman Trophy in 1965, while Haden was the Trojans’ starting quarterback for three years under coach John McKay.
The 66-year-old Garrett has been the Trojans’ athletic director for 17 years, but he received severe criticism for his handling of the scandals surrounding USC’s powerful football team and other programs over the past several years. The NCAA hit USC with major sanctions last month, including a two-year bowl ban and scholarship restrictions.
icizing Garrett, Nikias said the USC athletic department under his presidency “will seek to excel in the coming years in a manner that is consistent with the highest values” of the school.
After a four-year investigation into improper benefits received by Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo, the NCAA criticized USC for a lack of institutional control. The phrase was a direct swipe at Garrett, who initially received praise for unexpectedly hiring coach Pete Carroll to lead a dominant decade for the Trojans’ football team.
Nikias also said the school will hire David M. Roberts as a vice president for athletic compliance, putting nine people in USC’s athletic compliance office.
Haden was a Rhodes Scholar during his tenure at USC, and he studied at Oxford during parts of his pro career with the Los Angeles Rams, where he started at quarterback regularly from 1976-81. Haden also broadcasts Notre Dame football games for NBC – a job he’ll obviously have to quit – and is a partner in a private investment firm.
“It is absolutely unsurprising and typical that Pat would want to be there for his beloved alma mater in a time of need,” said Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics. “His integrity, his talent and his engaging manner are just what the Trojans need.”
USC appealed some of the sanctions against the program on June 25, seeking to cut in half its bowl ban and scholarship restrictions. A ruling on the appeal isn’t likely until several months into 2011, and the Trojans already agreed to serve a bowl ban in the upcoming season.
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