USC’s McGee Makes Move . . . to USC : Search: Haden says candidates won’t be restricted to those with ties to Trojans. Garrett a longshot.

One complaint among USC alumni about Mike McGee, who announced Monday that he is leaving his job as athletic director to accept the same post at South Carolina, was that he wasn’t a member of the “Trojan family.”

But former Trojan quarterback Pat Haden, a USC trustee who will lead the search committee to replace McGee, said he won’t limit himself to candidates with ties to the university.

“I think understanding the traditions of USC is important because there’s a long history of USC success and support from alumni and friends,” Haden said. “But I don’t think it’s absolutely, necessarily a prerequisite.

“I know that’s been a sensitivity to USC people, and I understand it--I’m an alumnus myself--and I do think it would help, but I don’t think we can exclude the universe of capable people out there and say, ‘It must be a USC person.’

“I think you can acquire it. John McKay wasn’t a USC person, yet I think he’s one of the loyalest Trojans of them all. John Robinson wasn’t, either. You can acquire the taste, if you will.”

One candidate who wouldn’t have to be indoctrinated in Trojan lore is Mike Garrett, who won the Heisman Trophy as a USC tailback in 1965.

Garrett has been an associate athletic director under McGee since 1990, when he was hired away from the Forum, where he had been director of business development for three years.

Does he want the job?

“Absolutely,” Garrett said. “That’s why I came back.”

Support for Garrett within the athletic department, however, seems to be negligible.

“Garrett’s got a great business sense,” said a former athletic administrator, requesting anonymity. “Garrett’s impressive. The only thing is, he’s got a tendency to speak his mind and I think that concerns some people in-house.”

Said a current athletic department official, also requesting anonymity: “There’s already been a poll taken among the coaches, and none of them want him.

“He has no support internally from anybody who counts.”

A more popular choice, if McGee’s successor comes from within, would be Don Winston, senior associate athletic director. Winston came to USC in 1974 and has been an athletic administrator since 1983.

“I think Don is a safe choice because everybody likes him,” an athletic department official said. “He’s done a great job in fund-raising, and people get behind Don.”

Lisa Love, USC women’s volleyball coach, holds the same associate athletic director title as Garrett, but she said Monday that she is not a candidate for McGee’s job.

“I’m a relative rookie in administration,” Love said. “Maybe down the road, I’d look at something like that. But right now, I’ve got a long way to go and lots of ropes to get over before I’m ready for a job like that.”

Another top candidate could be Washington Athletic Director Barbara Hedges, who left 18 months ago after 19 years at USC.

Other names that might be discussed include Robinson, the former USC and Ram coach; Craig Fertig, a former USC quarterback, and Don Andersen, former USC sports information director who now is executive director of the Freedom Bowl.

Robinson declined to comment regarding his possible interest.

Fertig said he was interested.

“Very much so,” he said. “Having been a player there and a coach there and an administrator there, yeah, I’d be very interested.”