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.
Bush and Mayo are now professional athletes. Their USC coaches, Pete Carroll in football and Tim Floyd in basketball, have left the university for other jobs. By removing Garrett, the presiding administrator during one of the most embarrassing spans in the school's proud sports history, Nikias begins his era with a clean slate.
The NCAA, the governing body for college sports, announced in June that USC was being placed on four years' probation, banned from football bowl games for two years and would receive a major reduction in football scholarships along with other penalties. It also cited the university for an overall "lack of institutional control" of its athletic program.
On the same day the sanctions were announced, Garrett raised eyebrows during a speaking engagement at a Northern California Trojan Club function when he told the gathering, "As I read the decision by the NCAA, I read between the lines and there was nothing but a lot of envy. They wish they all were Trojans."
Later, sounding none the more contrite, he added, "Today I got a purpose for really wanting to dominate for another 10 years."
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Garrett, 66, guided USC's multimillion-dollar sports enterprise for 17 years. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday but is expected to take the school's retirement package.
"I thank Mr. Garrett, USC's first Heisman Trophy winner and a tireless advocate of USC athletics, for his work on behalf of our Trojan family," Nikias said in a letter posted on the school's website.
While praising Garrett's leadership and work as a fundraiser — USC won nearly two dozen national championships, built the Galen Center and raised $375 million in gifts and donations for athletics during his tenure — Nikias left little doubt that the university had received a loud and clear wake-up call from the NCAA.
In addition to the change at the top, the incoming university president announced a sweeping overhaul of the school's athletic compliance efforts, which are designed to assure that its sports programs are operating within rules.
"There will be a close collaboration among the athletic compliance office, the athletic department and the provost's office," Nikias said.
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Among the changes:
—David M. Roberts, an attorney with more than 30 years of litigation experience, has been hired as vice president for athletic compliance. "I believe this is the first position of its kind in the nation," Nikias said.
—Ellen Ferris, former associate provost of athletic compliance, will be associate vice president for athletic compliance.
—Clare Pastore, of the USC Gould School of Law, has been appointed as the school's faculty athletic representative.
—The school has hired The Freeh Group International, headed by former federal judge and FBI director Louis J. Freeh, to "assess the current athletic department programs and processes," and recommend changes.
Haden, 57, becomes USC's seventh athletic director.
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Haden has been a member of the USC board of trustees for 19 years, a position he will resign to become athletic director. Haden also will no longer broadcast Notre Dame football games for NBC, a job he has held for 12 years.
