RETURN TO GLORY YEARS . . . : Simpson Says Trojans Need Ex-USC Assistant

Don’t tell O.J. Simpson that USC can’t be as dominant in football now as it was in the past. The former USC Heisman Trophy winner doesn’t buy it.

Simpson also believes that if the Trojans want to return to the kind of glory years they had under John McKay and John Robinson, the school should hire a former USC assistant coach.

Dave Levy and Paul Hackett are high on his list, and he also mentioned Don Lindsey, Dick Coury and Rod Humenuik.

Levy is the offensive line coach for the San Diego Chargers. Hackett is the “passing offensive coordinator” for the Dallas Cowboys. Lindsey is the defensive coordinator for Georgia Tech. Coury is the quarterback coach for the Rams, and Humenuik is the offensive line coach for the New England Patriots.

Levy has already been interviewed for the job, and Hackett is scheduled to be interviewed by USC Athletic Director Mike McGee, who has said that a second meeting with coaching prospects is part of the selection process.

Said Simpson: “Such talk that we should be realistic, the conference is too balanced and that (USC) can’t dominate again is bull,” Simpson said. “We can never dominate as long as there’s that attitude.

“Other schools such as Penn State, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Michigan are playing just as well as when I was at USC.

“The attitude that a 7-4 record is enough and we should be proud of it is not the attitude we should have at our school. I don’t think McKay, or Robinson was satisfied that a 7-4 record was anything but a disappointing season.

“That’s why I went to USC. Every other school was saying at the time that a winning season was enough. But I went to USC because they said we’re going to dominate. We aren’t like everybody else. We should strive to be more, and I truly think we can be.”

It’s doubtful that Ted Tollner, who is USC’s lame-duck coach through the Jan. 1 Florida Citrus Bowl game with Auburn, is satisfied with his team’s 7-4 record.

But he has said that it’s improbable that the Trojans can be an overpowering running team, or one dimensional as they were in the past, and that’s why he wanted more diversification in the offense.

USC is averaging 145.5 yards rushing a game. Simpson alone averaged 154 and 170 yards in 1967 and 1968, respectively, when he was USC’s celebrated tailback.

So he was a big part of USC’s domination in his era.

“I just hope that whoever USC hires has had some relationship with the school, a guy who understands USC,” Simpson said. “Just look at Hackett, Levy, Coury, Lindsey and Humenuik. These are guys who have proven themselves to be exceptional assistant coaches.

“Look what Hackett did with Steve Bartkowski and Joe Roth at Cal and what he did with Vince Evans in one year at USC. All of Vince’s friends told him to play safety his senior year (1976) so he could get drafted.”

Evans wound up as the most valuable player in the 1977 Rose Bowl game.

“As for Levy, look at what he has done with the Chargers’ offensive line and they’ve had nothing but injuries,” Simpson said. “Look at the records that Dan Fouts has achieved, and he couldn’t have done it without the offensive line.

“And you talk about the student body rights and lefts at USC. Well, Levy was coaching the offensive line.”

Levy was on McKay’s staff for 16 years and coached almost every area of the team at one time or another.

Said Simpson, referring to the former assistant coaches: “You get a coach of that caliber and he’s going to hire competent assistant coaches. And you could also argue that Artie Gigantino is the finest assistant coach at USC now.

“Everybody assumed that when McKay stepped down in 1975 that Levy would be the coach. Then, I assumed that Hackett would be the coach when Robinson left in 1982. I was wrong in both cases.”

Assuming that Levy and Hackett are among the front-runners for the USC coaching job, Simpson said he would be satisfied if either was chosen.

Simpson has been an outspoken critic of Tollner but says it’s not a personal issue. He is reluctant to criticize Tollner now that he has lost his job.

“I was pretty vocal about it in the beginning, so I’ve tried to stay out of it now,” said Simpson, referring to his past criticism of Tollner. “But I wrote him a letter after he won the Rose Bowl game (1985). I thought he did a good job and I hoped it would continue.

“I had a problem with the selection process that hired Tollner and I stressed it at the time. I don’t think Robinson was wrong in recommending Tollner for the job, but I don’t think his word should have been the final one.

“If nothing else, Tollner has done a hell of a job of recruiting top athletes.”

In emphasizing the importance of coaching, Simpson said: “I thought I was a polished runner out of junior college, but McKay made me a better runner. When I went into pro ball, I understood the running game as well as any coach. The only one who improved on my running game, philosophically, was Lou Saban.”

Simpson said that he doesn’t see as many former Trojan players at the games as he did when he was in school.

“When I was being recruited, I was impressed to see the former players coming back and how involved they were with the school,” Simpson said. “When you looked on the sideline, it was a who’s who of USC football. I don’t know why that stopped.”

Simpson is an unabashed USC supporter, one who obviously wants the Trojans to revive their proud past.

“We are USC. That means something,” he said. “We’re not UCLA, or Arizona. We’re USC. You hear that from the stands. It’s a cockiness and a pride. But it has been just a saying the last few years without conviction.”