FanHouse Mike Garrett

This is a game of chicken. Down on one end of the street is USC, revving its engine. On the other end is the NCAA, doing the same. And they are about to start barreling toward each other. Which one will chicken out?

I'm going with the NCAA on that one. It has been three years now since we knew that USC had become the classic college sports cheat. USC athletic director Mike Garrett figures Trojan football is too big and strong to be touchable. Heisman winners getting hundreds of thousands of dollars from shady characters hanging around. Basketball coaches getting into the mud, and maybe a slush fund, to recruit. That's just a start.

The NCAA has had the goods on USC for years now. And still ... nothing.

Kevin O'Neill has gained a reputation as the guy always looking for the next job. He was building a winner at Marquette and then bolted for Tennessee. He was in the midst of trying to make Tennessee less of a football school when he bolted and took the Northwestern job. After a 30-56 mark for the Wildcats, O'Neill left for an NBA assistant job.

He returned to the NCAA to be Lute Olson's assistant at Arizona but then became the interim coach when Olson took ill and missed the 2007-08 season. Apparently, O'Neill was lobbying to get Olson's job permanently and he was not asked back to Olson's staff for the next season.

So USC athletic director Mike Garrett has decided on O'Neill to stabilize and bring respectability back to its program. It's an odd hire because O'Neill has never been known as a stabilizer or someone who stays put.

It's June, a.k.a., a terrible time to find a quality basketball coach. But that will be USC's task after Tim Floyd's sudden resignation Tuesday amid a slew of allegations regarding the recruiting of star guard O.J. Mayo. Athletic director Mike Garrett (right) is used to hiring coaches on the fly. He fired Henry Bibby just four games into the 2004-2005 season, tabbed Jim Saia as interim coach for the season and then nabbed Floyd.

Garrett has time before having to go the interim route and there are some qualified coaches who either are unemployed or at mid-majors and would likely leave their schools and incoming recruiting classes for a job at a major school in a major conference. The USC athletic director has a history for going after tough gets and succeeding, but the question is whether the Trojans basketball program will be severely punished for the Mayo situation? Floyd was accused by former Mayo associate Louis Johnson of giving $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, an alleged street agent representing Mayo.

Update: USC has confirmed Tim Floyd's resignation. "I accept Tim's decision and wish him well," USC athletic director Mike Garrett said in a statement.

University of Southern California men's basketball coach Tim Floyd has reportedly resigned in the wake of an accusation that he gave $1,000 to a man who helped convince O.J. Mayo to enroll at USC.

The Clarion Ledger newspaper in Floyd's home state of Mississippi reports that Floyd sent USC athletic director Mike Garrett this letter:

Stanford has ruled the Pac-10 Women's basketball landscape for the past 20 years, and California and Arizona State have recently emerged to make the conference a three-team scramble for supremacy. But two recent hires by Oregon and USC have made it apparent that women's basketball is indeed becoming a higher priority on the West Coast.

Playing for the USC Trojans can be a dream for a college football player, but sometimes competing for National Championships year-in and year-out can be a nightmare.

After USC lost the Rose Bowl Game to Texas in 2006, athletic director Mike Garrett addressed the team, as recounted by Josh Booty, brother of the then-incoming signal-caller John David:

Garrett came into the locker room after the game and looked at JD and said 'We don't lose football games here at 'SC.' And he looked right at JD and said 'Don't ever lose a game here.' That was a tough one for JD to swallow, I know that.

John David went on to lose two games in 2006, though he did win the Rose Bowl Game!

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And it's not even close.

Consider:

91 Trojans have played in Super Bowls (first overall in college football).

The USC coaching tree includes Joe Gibbs, who won several Super Bowls with the Redskins and Mike Holmgren, who won two one with the Green Bay Packers and nearly a third second last year with Seattle. Other notable former USC assistants include two former Super Bowl winning Cowboy assistants in Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt.

Oh, there's this guy named Lynn Swann you may have heard of? USC guy and MVP of Super Bowl X. He was known to make a playoff catch or two.

The last non-suck Cincinnati teams were led by offensive tackle Anthony Munoz. Unfortunately for Munoz they also ran into the buzzsaw that was the 1980's San Francisco 49er squads.

The ferocious Ronnie Lott won several Super Bowls with San Francisco and later Tim McDonald won one himself. Both were incredible safeties at USC.

Marcus Allen was a Super Bowl MVP with the Raiders thanks to a memorable 75-yard touchdown run as part of a 191 yard day that at one point was a Super Bowl record. Rod Martin arguably should have been named MVP in 1981 for his three-interception effort against the Eagles.

Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett was a 1,000 yard back for one of the early Chiefs Super Bowl teams. Bart Starr got all the love but the game was different back then and the running back was pretty much everything to a successful offense.

More recently, Willie McGinnest set a playoff record for sacks and was the defensive heart and soul for several New England Patriot Super Bowl teams.

The San Diego Chargers would have never made the improbably run to the 1995 Super Bowl without the defensive efforts of Junior Seau. Yet again he fell victim to another San Francisco 49er buzzsaw, but that's how the game goes sometimes.

Mosi Tatupu was the fullback and special teams warrior for the 1985 New England Patriots. They, too, ran into a buzzsaw against perhaps the greatest Super Bowl team of all time, the 1985 Chicago Bears. That Bears squad had a young Jeff Fisher on its loaded defensive roster. Fisher was a quality safety at USC and a finer NFL head coach who would also make it to the Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans.

This year is actually a quite rare event in that a Trojan isn't involved in either side. But, USC did have two of last year's Super Bowl stars with defenders Troy Polamalu and Lofa Tatupu.

The list goes on and on but you get the drift.
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