USC Head Coach Steve Sarkisian Takes a Leave of Absence Reportedly to Enter Rehab Facility

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

What started out as a dream job for Steve Sarkisian as USC’s head coach has slowly turned into a nightmare for all involved. When the Trojans’ head coaching position opened up at the end of the 2013 season, after Lane Kiffin was fired and interim head coach Ed Oreron was bypassed, the top coaching candidate was then Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Sarkisian was well versed in Los Angeles area football having grown up in Torrance and starting his collegiate career at USC has a baseball player. After a couple of seasons at El Camino Community College picking football back up and a successful run at BYU, Sark played in the Canadian Football League from 1997-99 before returning back to El Camino C.C. as a quarterbacks coach.

Sark was on a meteoric rise jumping to USC in 2001 as the team’s quarterback coach and then off to the NFL with the Raiders in 2004 before returning to USC in 2005 again picking up quarterback coaching duties. In 2007, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and at the end of the 2008 campaign left to take over as the Huskies head coach. Sark had one losing season, his first in Seattle, going 5-7 but then hung around the mediocrity line posting three consecutive 7-6 seasons before going 8-4 in 2013.

Trojans athletic director Pat Haden thought enough of Sark to hire him seeing a respectable 9-4 season in 2014. USC showed all the promise in the world running an up-temp offense that finished No. 22 in the nation in scoring posting an average of 36 yards per game and ending with the No. 29 total offense averaging 458 yards per contest.

The 2015 season started with an AP ranking of No. 8 with many expecting the Trojans to contend for a Pac-12 Championship and be a contender for the College Football Playoffs. Sadly, after five games the wheels have started to come off the Trojans’ bus with Sarkisian at the helm dropping to 3-2, 0-2, after consecutive home losses to Stanford (41-31) and Washington (17-12).

Sunday afternoon USC AD Pat Haden announced Sarkisian was taking a leave of absence from the team. Haden addressed the media after Sarkisian was not at practice on Sunday leaving one to believe the head coach was forced into leaving the team stating, “This all kind of happened very quickly. I was over at basketball and got a call that coach Sarkisian wasn’t at practice. So, I just learned about this about 1 o’clock. I called Steve, talked to him. It was very clear to me that he is not healthy. I asked him to take an indefinite leave of absence.”

The initial thought is Sarkisian could be struggling with alcohol after an August incident where he addressed USC boosters reportedly drunk mixed with medication. Haden did not suspend Sarkisian at that time but reprimanded him at the event but did let the media know at some point his head coach would seek treatment for his problems.

Where Sarkisian was on Sunday instead of at USC’s practice is unknown and has not yet been reported.

Clay Helton is taking over head coaching duties as the team’s interim coach until Sarkisian’s situation is resolved, for better or for worse.

Photo credit: latimes.com; Steve Sarkisian on the USC sidelines.