Steve Sarkisian’s erratic rant at a school event turned into a viral sensation. He then threw gasoline on a burning fire by admitting that his behavior was due a combination of medication and alcohol. While many college football fans waited for the inevitable axe to fall, the USC Athletics Program opted not to suspend Sarkisian for his tirade. The school’s Athletic Director, Pat Haden spoke publicly for the first time on Monday, citing that the decision regarding the lack of discipline for Sarkisian was made “in the best interest” of the university and its players.
Haden was quick to condemn Sarkisian’s actions, which included obvious public intoxication, the use of foul language, and insults of other programs during USC’s annual “Salute to Troy” preseason booster event. Haden stated that he had “thoughtful conversations” with both medical professionals and school staff and that “a lot of careful thought was given” to his decision to allow Sarkisian to coach in USC’s season opener this Saturday against Arkansas State.
“I understand a lot of people are going to disagree with my decision,” Haden added. “I believe the course of action we chose was really in the best interest of USC and Steve Sarkisian and maybe just as important, or more importantly, our players.”
In the past ten days, we’ve seen Chris Carter take heat for advising NFL rookies to find “fall guys” to take the blame for their illegal actions, but face no public repercussions at ESPN. Curt Schilling has been taken off duty from the Little League World Series and Sunday Night Baseball for comparing Muslims to Nazis. Steve Sarkisian’s inebriated rant was met with condemnation, but ultimately no discipline from USC. In this era of men behaving badly and saying stupid things, the only consistency is that the consequences for these actions are wildly inconsistent. In the end, the punishment for these actions depends not on the severity of the crime, but rather what is “in the best interest” of the organization doling out the discipline.
In USC’s case, winning football games appears to be what’s in the school’s best interest.
