The Admin at USC (Board of Trustees included) is NOT serious about football like Clemson and Alabama and Georgia. They just aren't. It's a different mindset that we will never have until we change the Admin and booster culture and hire someone (an AD) that has been there. It helps that we have Muschamp because he has seen what those programs are like, but it doesn't start with the head coach, it ends with him.
There is a reason Clemson's success has come under two coaches that both played at Alabama. Ford and Swinney know what it looks like to win at the major college level and it ain't pretty or for the faint of heart. Danny Ford laid the ground work for what you see now. He put in place the culture of winning at all cost (read it's ok to cheat and it's actually necessary!!!) that came from Bama. That culture starts with the boosters who donate cash money through a network of small business people and that is the underpinnings of recruiting. I lived it and saw it first hand growing up and playing sports in SC. My teammates got cars, etc. when they were in high school and they got handed cash at CU from boosters virtually everyday. The better you were the more you got or had waiting on you in your locker. Boosters were given access to the locker rooms during practice for a reason.
USC does not have the booster culture or the desire to create the win at all costs mentality so it likely will never happen here, it just won't.
There are MANY schools that are like USC and will flirt with success from time to time. What schools come to mind; West Virginia, Ok State, UCLA, Oregon, Virginia Tech, etc., etc. But the schools that top the list of major programs right now have a deep culture of winning whatever the cost. Teams like Bama, UGA, Clemson, LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Ohio State, etc. We are not there and likely never will be other than an occasional brush.
Unfortunately, CU hired the right guy in Dabo and he has put the band back together from the Ford days and they are rolling now. Perhaps they will get caught, but it isn't likely because the NCAA is a toothless tiger that gets fed by Bama, CU, Georgia, etc, in football just like UNC in basketball. They aren't going to do anything substantial even if someone is caught red-handed. College football is a money making machine 2nd only to the NFL so the major actors are going to be protected if need be. There is a reason Clemson's success has come under two coaches that both played at Alabama. Ford and Swinney know what it looks like to win at the major college level and it ain't pretty or for the faint of heart. Danny Ford laid the ground work for what you see now. He put in place the culture of winning at all cost (read it's ok to cheat and it's actually necessary!!!) that came from Bama. That culture starts with the boosters who donate cash money through a network of small business people and that is the underpinnings of recruiting. I lived it and saw it first hand growing up and playing sports in SC. My teammates got cars, etc. when they were in high school and they got handed cash at CU from boosters virtually everyday. The better you were the more you got or had waiting on you in your locker. Boosters were given access to the locker rooms during practice for a reason.
USC does not have the booster culture or the desire to create the win at all costs mentality so it likely will never happen here, it just won't.
There are MANY schools that are like USC and will flirt with success from time to time. What schools come to mind; West Virginia, Ok State, UCLA, Oregon, Virginia Tech, etc., etc. But the schools that top the list of major programs right now have a deep culture of winning whatever the cost. Teams like Bama, UGA, Clemson, LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Ohio State, etc. We are not there and likely never will be other than an occasional brush.
Give credit to Clemson, they caught lightening in a bottle at the right time, but they had the historical culture in place to do it, and we don't and never will. Perhaps that makes us a better institution because we don't do the things I've seen them do first hand, but it is still hard to watch their success and accolades. Especially knowing it is ill gotten gains that will never be revealed as such. So for us, it is Wait Until Next Year and see if we have a brush with success.