USC Football Suspends OC-Register Writer for "Rules Violation"

I recall a situation like that when I was trying to grab a football coach for a few quick comments after a Friday night game. “Sorry … let me talk to the boys first.”

OK, I thought, he needs to give the postgame speech to the team first.

But no — he climbed up the bleachers to do a postgame interview with the local radio guys (this was in Michigan’s U.P., still stuck in its Gil Thorp time warp in the late 1990s).

I guess those were “da boys” he meant …

 

Media are not as influential as they were even 10 years ago, granted. But LA ain't Norman. USC is one of many sports entities competing for public attention, not the automatic center of attention. Area has two pro franchises in all four major league. In the course of this college season, Riley's team will be competing for attention with the NFL season, the start of the NBA season and NHL season, the Dodgers in the playoffs, wither Shohei Ohtani?, and ancillary events such as the Breeder's Cup, which will be a pretty big one-day deal at Santa Anita. A boycott wouldn't hurt USC as much as just shuffling them to the bottom of the deck, which frankly, is pretty much gonna happen anyway if/when they lose a game or two.

 

There's no way he won't be credentialed. Why would Colorado or Arizona State deny him that? His trouble will be getting into USC press availability. I assume all locker rooms are closed now, but back in my days, I was surprised at which locker rooms were open on the road, most notably Duke basketball and Miami football.

 

Boomer Joad by the Sea done got too big for him britches.

 

Given it's 2023, I figured his trouble likely would be getting the OCR to staff a road game.

 

I meant to tag it with the sarcasm font. Undue reverence, perhaps.

 

The control coaches like Riley attempt to establish over the players always grabs the most attention. But I find the dynamic to be even more troubling when it comes to the assistant coaches.

The Alexander column makes it sound like one of USC’s grievances is that Evans introduced himself to assistants without authorization. That says many things to me: Riley is terrified his coaches could think independently and someday say something to a reporter that goes against his preferred narrative. Riley fails to understand the position coaches will often be far more insightful when it comes to their players than he could be. And last, that Riley is so self-absorbed that he cannot realize he is hurting his assistants and their career prospects.

Riley is a guy who got to where he is, in large part, because Bob Stoops strategically timed his retirement so that he could gift Riley a program that was already built to win the Big 12 and major bowls. Riley just had to not fuck it up. And now he cannot even do the simple act of letting his assistants, many of whom likely want to be coordinators or head coaches, learn how to interact with the media and develop for when their time comes.

 

USC thinks the guy is annoying pest and is trying to mete out some control freak coach justice.

You know what? Some reporters can be annoying pests. So what? Have a Coke and a smile, Trojans.

Riley's puckerin a little bit. Not sure why. He's talking about his OU exit a lot, hinting he'll retire early, etc. He's got a team that can make the CFP, he knows it (and he would know, he's been there) and he's feeling it a little bit.

 

I wonder if they told him they were hot and heavy with the Big Ten when they pursued him. If not, he can’t be happy with being surprised. I also wonder if he’s now setting sights on the NFL.

 

Looks like the ban has been lifted.

https://x.com/ralphdrussoap/status/1704965021560623453?s=46