Mike Garrett

In the wake of a rules scandal that resulted in some of the stiffest penalties in college sports history, USC on Tuesday announced that former Trojans football great Pat Haden would replace Mike Garrett as athletic director and that the university would return its copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy. Haden's appointment becomes official Aug. 3 and was made by incoming university President Max Nikias, who will take over from Steven Sample two days earlier. Nikias also ordered that all displays recognizing Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo, the athletes at the center of the rules violations, be removed from campus, the Galen Center and at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

When USC plays Syracuse on Saturday at the Coliseum, it will be more than a matchup between unbeaten teams from opposite ends of the country. USC has produced five running backs who won the Heisman Trophy, two Heisman runners-up and other outstanding runners. Syracuse boasts a running back tradition that includes Jim Brown and two more Pro Football Hall of Famers. So which program has the historic edge in the backfield? The Post-Standard, which covers Syracuse, this week posed a question to readers: "Which group of five running backs is best?"

There was a time when the daughter and I did a radio show together every Sunday morning. Don't worry, no one else remembers either. But Kobe came on the day after his initial Christmas meeting with Shaq . Donald Sterling did his first radio interview in more than 20 years. Vin Scully made our day. Jerry and Jeanie Buss were on together, as were Arte Moreno and daughter and John Wooden and daughter. Jamie McCourt was on, so was Frank McCourt , but for some reason we couldn't get Frank and Jamie together.

After reviewing incoming USC President Nikias' letter to the Trojans' community, the new motto of the reshaped USC athletic department can aptly be summed as "be more like Stanford." USC has been trying to emulate Stanford's elite academic reputation for years. If USC also wants to run a squeaky clean program adherent to the highest standards in Division 1, simply look at the tape from last year's football game to see you can have your cake and eat it too. Dean Paulsen Manhattan Beach :: I am ecstatic with the dismissal of Mike "The Ostrich" Garrett and hiring of Pat Haden as athletic director at my alma mater.

Tim Floyd is gone, denying any wrongdoing. O.J. Mayo is off making millions, denying any wrongdoing. Louis Johnson and Rodney Guillory, so-called advisors and friends of Mayo, are seemingly immune from any accountability. As is USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett, who not only fell asleep at the job, but literally fell asleep at basketball practice. Meanwhile, the kids who did no wrong are left holding the bag. Here's an idea: Instead of taking away the hopes and dreams of the players, how about taking away Mr. Garrett's job?

So I get to USC on Monday and Tim Tessalone , the school's sports information director, says Pete Carroll and Mike Garrett will speak at an afternoon news conference. "You can get [Garrett] off to the side, too," Tessalone says, his way of suggesting I not dominate Garrett during the main news conference. "He stays at these things for as long as people want to talk to him." Time for the news conference, and there are two chairs beside the podium, one presumably for Carroll and the other for Garrett.

Reporting from San Francisco — They arrived Thursday night just after dinner started, and that would be rude normally, but they had a good excuse. USC football Coach Lane Kiffin and basketball Coach Kevin O'Neill had already had a long day, one that involved meetings with attorneys, university administrators, their players and the media. Appearing inside a hotel ballroom to speak before about 180 USC sports boosters, therefore, wasn't so bad. The coaches — along with USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett — appeared at a Northern California Trojans Club function just hours after learning from the NCAA what penalties they'll be dealing with for the next few years.

Nine years ago, an NFL retread wandered onto the USC campus to watch his daughter play volleyball and wound up becoming the head football coach. He was Mike Garrett's fourth choice. He was questioned by the boosters and ripped in the media. But none of it mattered because USC was in relative tatters, without a bowl win in five years, without a 10-win season in more than a decade, without a national title in 22 years. The Trojans could hire Pete Carroll because they were desperate.

It was only six months ago — before the NCAA hit USC with a string of penalties — that Mike Garrett sat in his office and dismissed any notion of stepping down. The athletic director had come under fire for numerous, serious violations that occurred under his watch, but said there was more he wanted to accomplish. "I'll tell you when I'm finished," he said. "Then you can talk about retirement." Those plans changed Tuesday with news that former quarterback Pat Haden will replace the 66-year-old Garrett.

I just finished reading about Mike Garrett being selected as the athletic director for USC. I feel so very proud to know Mike Garrett and to remember where he came from and to see him accomplish the coveted crown of his profession. I played in an all-star football game with Mike and even in high school he was special. Mike has always displayed an honest demeanor and he understands people, regardless of race or cultural background. Mike may not be very tall, but he stands tall among men. KEN BELL Los Angeles

Seventeen years could be boiled into two moments, the complicated legacy of Mike Garrett revealed in a final burst of arrogant bluster. The first thing you need to know about the resume of USC's fallen athletic director is that, at a booster club function in San Francisco this summer shortly after the football program was hit with heavy sanctions, he said, "As I read the decision by the NCAA …I read between the lines and there was nothing but...

In the wake of a rules scandal that resulted in some of the stiffest penalties in college sports history, USC on Tuesday announced that former Trojans football great Pat Haden would replace Mike Garrett as athletic director and that the university would return its copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy. Haden's appointment becomes official Aug. 3 and was made by incoming university President Max Nikias, who will take over from Steven Sample two days earlier. Nikias also ordered that all displays recognizing Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo, the athletes at the center of the rules violations, be removed from campus, the Galen Center and at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

PAT HADEN: On sending back Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy and taking down other forms of recognition: "The subliminal message is we want to win but we want to do it right." On new football Coach Lane Kiffin: "I don't think we're going to have a problem with Lane with compliance.... He knows where we're coming from." On compliance with NCAA rules: "Try to be perfect. When we make mistakes, we're going to fess up and try to be better the next time."

It was only six months ago — before the NCAA hit USC with a string of penalties — that Mike Garrett sat in his office and dismissed any notion of stepping down. The athletic director had come under fire for numerous, serious violations that occurred under his watch, but said there was more he wanted to accomplish. "I'll tell you when I'm finished," he said. "Then you can talk about retirement." Those plans changed Tuesday with news that former quarterback Pat Haden will replace the 66-year-old Garrett.

The only disappointment in the news about Pat Haden is that he's taking over as USC athletic director and not governor of California. The shock in this hiring is that it took so long for someone to figure out — especially at his own school. It has been more than a month since the NCAA put USC on a public perp walk. For all the good he did in his nearly two decades of directing the Trojans' athletic department, Mike Garrett was clearly and indisputably toast. Even if it isn't his fault, the buck stops with the guy in the big office on these things.

The Darling Duo remain innocent, but the rest of the family is still behind bars, convicted of RV mutiny a few years back, which meant going on vacation this summer with just the wife. Obviously I was anxious to get back to work, already worried I might not return in time before the Angels and Mike Garrett are eliminated. But there's nothing like getting away with the wife, I can now tell you that, flying 1,500 miles to stand in the same spot in the pool because we don't swim, which meant talking to each other for six straight days.

The frown that Mike Garrett often wears in public, an expression made of blunt features set hard as stone, gives way to something unexpected. His eyes glisten with tears. "I frankly don't know why I'm being so emotional," he says. This is not the USC tailback from the 1960s, bulling his way to a Heisman Trophy. Not the gruff athletic director who has presided over sports at his alma mater for two decades, winning championships by the fistful. Garrett reaches for another tissue and says, "I guess I don't usually talk to people."

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett has sent a letter of apology to the University of Florida and several other schools regarding allegations made by USC that the schools had made impermissible contact with running back Dillon Baxter after the NCAA announced sanctions against the Trojans. ESPN reported last month that a USC compliance official had sent a letter to Pacific 10 Conference officials alleging that Florida, Washington, Oregon, Fresno State and Alabama had contacted Baxter, a freshman who enrolled at USC in January and participated in spring practice.