In case you’re not a USC student, alum, sports enthusiast or resident of Los Angeles, I’ll fill you in on some news many of this ilk are now obsessed with—the university just fired its head football coach Steve Sarkisian for being wasted one too many times.
It’s a real game-changer, not just for Sark but also for the players who will face off Notre Dame in less than a week. And, in all the media hoopla surrounding this story, what no one has said is that athletic director Pat Haden used language that paints addiction as a moral failing rather than a medical problem when discussing Sark’s dismissal publicly.
USC Says: You’re Out
If you’ve been following USC football this season, you know this isn’t Sarkisian’s first battle with booze. Just a few months ago, he got drunk and disorderly at a “Salute to Troy” pep rally full of moneyed donors. He used expletives to describe other teams and allegedly yelled “Fight fucking on!” instead of the traditional “Fight on!” during the rally.
A flurry of media coverage followed, much of it questioning Haden’s response to the event. Aside from walking in front of cameras to utter a public apology, Sark suffered no consequences: he wasn’t placed on a leave of absence or given an ultimatum to go to rehab.
But when he didn’t show up to practice on Sunday, October 11th, Haden publicly placed Sark on an indefinite leave of absence, and by midday Monday the leave turned into an out-and-out firing.
The Fine Print
The details of Sark’s contract are not something that I—nor anyone outside of the USC athletic department, general counsel and Sark himself—am privy to, so it’s impossible to judge whether it was legal or not for the university to kick him to the curb for what is considered a medical condition. To date, this is the first coach that has been fired at SC for substance abuse problems. Many coaching contracts have “moral clauses” that stipulate certain expectations regarding drug and alcohol use, and given USC’s got a robust in-house legal counsel and that Haden just happens to also have a JD, chances are that the university followed the letter of the law.
It’s certainly not cool to keep a sick coach at the helm if it’s causing the university and football team undue hardship, and this is equally true if the coach is an alcoholic or suddenly got attacked by a flesh-eating bacteria. Still, Haden could have at least kept Sark on a leave, if for no reason other than to spare the guy some face.
Can We Chill on the Judgment?
Haden certainly could have been a bit choosier with his words. Though he expressed concern and even affection for Sark, in a press conference that took place Tuesday morning he told reporters, “Steve’s conduct did not meet USC’s expectations of a head coach. He knew those expectations and failed to meet them. So we made the best decision for our student athletes, and we decided to terminate Steve.”
It sounds innocuous enough, but it’s also judgmental. Couldn’t he have simply said, “Steve has a health problem, and the health problem is hindering his performance as a coach, so he has to step down for his own health and the good of the team, the students and the university”?
Would Haden have referred to “failure” and “conduct” and “expectations” if Sark suddenly came down with cancer?
It Was Different for Me
Sark’s firing strikes close to home, not just because I used to drink too much, but because I drank too much while working as an administrative and public relations assistant at the USC Fisher Museum of Art at USC. When I didn’t show up to work for the second time, my boss didn’t fire me. Instead of lecturing me about how I’d failed the university’s expectations or had unacceptable conduct, she simply said, “Take some time off and take care of yourself. Your health is the most important thing.”
From there, I received what can only be described as a cushy disability leave. I retained my excellent health benefits, received 80% of my salary and the university even continued to pay my graduate school tuition. It was the worst my drinking had ever gotten, the first time I acknowledged that I had a problem, and the disability leave and support from my superiors helped me get my head on straight.
It’s too bad Sark didn’t get the same chance.
Photo courtesy of LATimes
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
