USC AD Pat Haden and his greatest hits and misses

Here’s a look at Pat Haden’s highs and lows:

Highs

• Commitment to athletes

No one can deny Haden showed deep loyalty and care for athletes. He even did exit interviews with seniors to see how he could improve the athletic experience. And he was a huge supporter of women’s sports.

• Fired baseball coach Chad Kreuter

In his first major act weeks into office, Haden fired the unpopular baseball coach. Players rejoiced at the move. It took the baseball program five more years to make the NCAA Touament.

• National titles

USC’s won 10 national titles during his tenure and only Florida won more in that time. Does it matter that he did not hire the coaches that won all those titles?

• Andy Enfield hiring

USC basketball is 18-5 and challenging for the Pac-12 title this season. Of course, it is also true Enfield won five Pac-12 games the previous two seasons, and it remains to be seen if this success will be sustained.

• New facilities

During Haden’s time, USC built the McKay Center, a new swim stadium, rebuilt the teis stadium, renovated Heritage Hall and plaed to renovate the Coliseum.

• Media access

Haden gave unprecedented time to the media when he was hired. Unfortunately, that accessibility constantly decreased as controversies ensued.

• Spring musical

Haden wanted athletes to leave their comfort zone and backed it up by performing a role in USC’s spring musical.

Lows

• Lane Kiffin firing

Haden stubboly refused to fire Lane Kiffin after the 2012 season, then made a video expressing complete support for Kiffin before the 2013 season. Five games later, he clumsily fired Kiffin at a private terminal at LAX by pulling him off a team bus following the flight back from Arizona State.

• Steve Sarkisian hiring

Haden showed little ambition by bringing back the former USC assistant, who became an embarrassment because of his behavior due to alcohol/drug problems. To make matters worse, Haden chose Sarkisian over Ed Orgeron, who was a fan favorite. Sarkisian eventually sued USC over his dismissal.

• USC football instability

Players like linebacker Su’a Cravens were forced to play for five different head coaches (Kiffin, Orgeron, Clay Helton, Sarkisian, Helton again) in three seasons because of the instability under Haden’s supervision. • Kevin O’Neill firing

Advertisement

For some reason Haden liked to fire coaches in midseason. Whether or not O’Neill was the right choice as USC basketball coach, it made little sense to fire him midway through the season.

• Josh Shaw

The athletic deptartment produced a story that coerback Josh Shaw sprained his ankles by jumping off a balcony to save his nephew from drowning. It tued out Shaw was evading police after an argument with his girlfriend. The story became a national joke.

• Football game behavior

Haden was fired $25,000 by the Pac-12 after rushing down to the field during the 2014 Stanford game and yelling at the refs after Sarkisian asked him to come down because he was upset with the officiating. Assistant coaches said Haden routinely watched games from the coaches’ booth, which is almost unheard of for an athletic director.

• Coaching searches

Haden hired two football coaches who were merely former assistant coaches. He made little effort to interview outsiders and never seemed to want coaches who were strong personalities and might challenge him.

- - , .