Steve Sarkisian's Seat Heating Up After Disappointing Stanford Upset Loss
Steve Sarkisian coached his way onto the hot seat in a 41-31 loss against Stanford on Saturday.
His 16-game body of work might not warrant getting fired, but when combined with the controversy surrounding his drunken appearance at the preseason Salute to Troy event—a mishap that's mostly behind the program, but which won't be soon forgotten—it makes underwhelming performances hard to swallow.
The Trojans were double-digit favorites but looked soft and confused against Stanford. An offense that gained 240 yards and scored six points at Northwestern (which has an awesome defense, but still) gained 474 yards and hung a 40-burger in the Coliseum.
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"Now we have to do a great job as leaders in this program," Sark said after the game, according to Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News. "[We must make sure] we don't lay in the weeds of woe is me."
But Sark has always done a great job using words and extinguishing fires.
Where he's never done a great job is winning.
| 2009 | Washington | 5-7 | 24 | ||
| 2010 | Washington | 7-6 | |||
| 2011 | Washington | 7-6 | 22 | ||
| 2012 | Washington | 7-6 | 23 | ||
| 2013 | Washington | 9-4 | 15 | 25 | |
| 2014 | USC | 9-4 | 15 | 9 | 20 |
| 2015 | USC | 2-1 | 8 | 6 | ?? |
One of the main factors working for Sarkisian is also one of the main factors working against him: He's an awesome recruiter.
The Trojans signed the No. 2 class in the country this cycle, per 247Sports' composite rankings, and nearly ended Nick Saban's long reign at No. 1.
But with high-caliber athletes come high-caliber expectations. USC was ranked No. 8 in the country and entered the year with legitimate national title hopes. The only factor working against it was a head coach whose teams have never ranked higher than No. 20 in the postseason polls.
Is it possible there's a reason for that? Sark and offensive coordinator Clay Helton called a confusing, conservative game against the Cardinal, and Sark has long been known for losing as a favorite.
This loss drops his USC record to 11-5, with three of those losses having come against unranked teams, per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports:
Sarkisian is an expert recruiter and former Pete Carroll offensive coordinator with a divisive off-field personality and a habit of falling short of expectations.
That description sounds familiar because it is.
The man Sark replaced, Lane Kiffin, was an expert recruiter and former Carroll offensive coordinator with a divisive personality and a habit of falling short of expectations.
After three-and-a-half years and a 21-point loss at Arizona State, the Trojans decided enough was enough and fired Kiffin at Los Angeles International Airport. He lost a game so badly they didn't even let him off the tarmac.
When they hired Sarkisian from Washington, they were hoping to recapture Carroll's magic with another of his former proteges. They ran the risk of repeating history, but they believed in Sark enough to take the plunge. In Seattle, people called him "Seven-Win Steve," but USC ignored that red flag and flipped him the keys to college football's most lavish Maserati.
But because of what happened with Kiffin, one assumes USC has Sark on a short leash. If the Trojans could go back and do it over, they would have fired Kiffin sooner and gotten a head start at rebuilding under the next guy.
"You know, sometimes you hire too early, fire too late," athletic director Pat Haden told Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times when asked what he regrets about past decisions. "Sometimes, I probably could have made some earlier decision on those things."
He let Kiffin fester longer than he had to, and he wound up paying a price.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting Sark should be fired. Not yet, at least.
I just don't think he has, or should have, as much slack as other second-year head coaches.
Why is Sarkisian different? Because he outkicked his coverage by landing the USC gig in the first place. Most second-year head coaches have jobs commensurate with their coaching records. When Sarkisian left Washington, his coaching record was commensurate with Washington.
By losing at home to Stanford, Sarkisian forfeited his margin for error. The rest of the year is now a high-wire trapeze act. With road trips to Arizona State (where Kiffin met his fate) and Notre Dame looming, things might get worse before they get better, too.
USC remains a good, talented, high-ceiling team. It has the pieces to fix this week's defensive problems. It is not eliminated from the College Football Playoff; it just needs to reach its potential.
But when has a Sark team ever reached its potential?
That's the point.
Brian Leigh covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @BLeigh35.
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