A college football program, incomparable, rose to the pinnacle of the sport. With a storied past, and a recent national title, the path for continued excellence looked firmly paved with substantial bowl game wins and blue chip recruits. Seemingly, the cycle would never end. The program reached such a stature that it affected the very landscape of the game, and even the culture that clamored to be a part of it. That is until, the NCAA, like an ominous slow rumbling thunderstorm, unleashed a torrent of sanctions and reprimands that crumbled the towers of greatness to its very foundation. Post season bans, significant loss of athletic scholarships, lack of institutional control, tarnished reputations and individuals with ties to the program scurrying like roaches to disassociate themselves from the growing stink of a leftover trash heap.
Your first thoughts may shift squarely on the most recent headlines. University of Southern California, in all its glory, glitz and glamour, like the empire its teams were aptly named for, was ransacked and left for ruin. The Trojan horse took four long years to make it through the gates, but when it arrived, the NCAA made sure to hold USC gravely accountable. Two-year ban on bowl games, loss of 30 scholarships over a 3-year span, vacating all wins from the 2005 season, and ultimately stripping the school of the BCS national title from 2004. It’s a repudiation of a still proud (some would say arrogant) institution, and puts USC at the start of the long road to redemption. The question is – which path will they take, and how quickly can they cover that ground?
Now, if you think back just 15 years earlier – this story may remind you of a similar turn of events. In 1995, the University of Miami faced the very same debilitating sanctions (1-year ban from bowl games, decrease in 31 scholarships, 7 of which were self-imposed). At that point, Miami had won two national titles in a span of 6 years, but the internal controls were quickly coming unhinged. The Dennis Erickson era was rife with unmatched talent on the field, and equally unruly individuals off of it. The Pell Grant scandal ripped the program apart and in essence set in motion the rebuilding of a program that took years to complete. What can be said for Miami is the administration took the admonition to heart, and had the right person in place to lead the program back to prominence. Butch Davis instituted a disciplinarian atmosphere that righted the ship. And while the proceeding years had Miami taking its lumps and share of embarrassments on the field, its off the field reputation was restored to a degree of respectability.
Just five years later, Miami emerged again as the pre-eminent football program in the nation, won its fifth national title, and assembled a team (2001) that many pundits consider the greatest of all time. The accomplishments underscore the changes Butch Davis and Miami put into place. It has become the new standard for Hurricanes football, and its current flag-bearer, Randy Shannon has instilled the meaning of accountability, responsibility and discipline into the mantra of “It’s a Canes Thing”.
As the news of the Trojan fall slowly filters out, and the truth is completely revealed, how will they handle the daunting assignment of restoring their past brilliance? The man athletic director Mike Garrett appointed to lead USC is none other than former assistant coach, Lane Kiffin. Known for his recruiting prowess, Kiffin had the star power to keep the derailed Pete Carroll train rolling. Rivals.com ranked Kiffin’s 2010 recruiting class (his first as head coach) #1 in the nation. The talent is certainly there in terms of recruits and 3-deep depth charts. Kiffin’s reputation however is tarnished by a series of minor violations and foot-in-mouth issues from his stint at Tennessee, an ugly divorce from the Oakland Raiders organization, and a penchant for arrogance that elicits a feeling of ignorance for what is right and proper. Heaped on top of that is a career head coaching record of 12-21, showing more bluster than winning results in each stop he’s made. Did the USC program really hitch its wagon to Lane Kiffin’s star? Is it really a star or just another meteoric fall to earth for a program that used to sit among the heavens? Time will tell. But what is fact is that for every rise of power, there is a fall. And the lessons learned from that fall can predict the greatness of the next empire. Miami learned its lessons well, and is poised to storm its way back as the bellweather of college football. As Miami flows again, USC ebbs to anonymity, with its own lessons to learn – arrogance be damned.
{ 2 trackbacks }