A player told ESPN via text that Sarkisian "showed up lit to meetings again today."
...
Sarkisian showed up Sunday morning at USC and "he appeared not normal" and then was told to leave, a source told ESPN. "They wouldn't let him come to practice," the source said.
"He was dealing with family issues all [Saturday] night, but he hasn't been in a good place all season," the source said.
Sarkisian is going through a divorce. His behavior while apparently under the influence of alcohol and pain killers at the Salute to Troy function in August drew national headlines, and he later apologized.
Sarkisian was also suspected by his staff to be under the influence during USC's 42-14 win over Arizona State on Sept. 26, though athletic director Pat Haden was apparently unaware.
Another source who is close to Sarkisian said the coach "needed to hit rock bottom" to seriously confront an addiction and added that "this is rock bottom."
Sarkisian seemed "very emotional" on campus at USC before missing practice and that the unusual behavior had really not been seen since he mixed alcohol and prescription medication at the booster event prior to the season which led to a "zombie" type feeling and slurred words, a source told ESPN.
...
"I was at a basketball event earlier today when I got a call to say Sarkisian was not at practice," Haden said. "I called Steve and he made it clear to me that he was not healthy, and I asked him to take an indefinite leave of absence. I think this is the right thing for our team.
"I've spoken to our team and our coaches -- they obviously had a great deal of concern for the health of Coach Sarkisian. It was also clear to me the support that Clay has from the team, and the staff. We've got a big task this week with the Notre Dame game, and Clay will do a great job getting our team ready. I don't have a lot of answers right now for you guys, as I first heard about this an hour and a half ago."
Sarkisian publicly apologized before the season after he showed up drunk at the Salute to Troy event and made a slurred public statement. He announced he would be getting unspecified treatment, but didn't believe he had a drinking problem, blaming his unsteady appearance on combining alcohol and medication.
I don't see Sark ever coaching at USC again and I wonder if Pat Haden will keep his job as AD. Haden's resume for hiring coaches in the two major sports has not been good. In football he hired Sark despite limited success at Washington and that hasn't worked out. In basketball he hired Andy Enfield and that has been a disaster, with USC going 5-31 in conference games with double-digits losses to UCLA in every matchup. Haden said he extensively vetted Sark before his hire but according to the LA Times it was well-known among people around the Washington program that Sark had a problem with alcohol.
Last edited by fatediesel; 10-12-2015 at 01:22 PM.
Here is a statement from USC athletic director Pat Haden:
"After careful consideration of what is in the best interest of the university and our student-athletes, I have made the decision to terminate Steve Sarkisian, effective immediately.
"I want to thank Clay Helton for stepping into the interim head coach role, and I want to add how proud I am of our coaching staff and players and the way they are responding to this difficult situation.
"Through all of this we remain concerned for Steve and hope that it will give him the opportunity to focus on his personal well being."
I do not feel bad for Steve but that is his own fault for showing up drunk to meetings so he deserves to get fired but I hope he will get the help he needs
Disappointing outcome last night. Receivers STILL dropping balls and our QB still taking sacks on 4th down to end any hope of us winning. 4-2 is still good considering we could easily be 0-6 right now. At least we aren't the laughing stock of the SEC anymore and have moved up to being a mediocre. The important thing is we are moving up.
Disappointing outcome last night. Receivers STILL dropping balls and our QB still taking sacks on 4th down to end any hope of us winning. 4-2 is still good considering we could easily be 0-6 right now. At least we aren't the laughing stock of the SEC anymore and have moved up to being a mediocre. The important thing is we are moving up.
I wish we could take a mulligan on that last 2 minutes. So close...
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
.
Linear Mode
