USC: No Rush to Judgement

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said Sunday he is going to take time to make a careful decision on John Robinson’s future as coach--and that nothing will be decided today.

“It could be a week. It could be two weeks,” Garrett said after USC was officially eliminated from bowl consideration. “I’m going to be pretty deliberate on it. This year has been stressful. I want to be sure whatever I do is in a reasonable state of mind. I want to make a rational decision.”

Robinson and Garrett didn’t talk Sunday, when USC’s season officially ended with a 6-5 record and a second consecutive season without a bowl appearance.

It marks the first time USC hasn’t gone to a bowl in consecutive seasons since 1982 and ‘83, when USC was barred because of an NCAA penalty. The last time before that was in 1970 and ’71.

“I’m disappointed for our seniors,” Robinson said. “I’m sure they would have liked to have finished their careers in a bowl, but it just didn’t work out.”

Garrett, disheartened by USC’s water polo loss to Pepperdine in the NCAA final on Sunday, said he wants to put aside other issues before addressing the football situation.

“We didn’t do that well this fall,” he said. “I want to make sure everything is behind me before making a decision as important at this one.”

With all of their futures uncertain, Robinson told his assistant coaches last week they should do what they felt they needed to regarding any other job opportunities.

As for the perception that Robinson’s staff is the key issue, Garrett said: “John has always made the decisions on assistants. The issue of assistants isn’t with me. I’m evaluating John right now.”

USC President Steven Sample indicated last week he will wait for Garrett’s recommendation on Robinson, whose contract runs through the 2001 season.

“What I’m trying to do now is finalize what I’m going to do,” Garrett said.

USC qualified for a bowl game by beating Oregon State for its sixth victory in the next-to-last game of the season, but the Trojans’ prospects of an Aloha Bowl appearance took a nosedive more than a week ago when Arizona upset Arizona State.

They evaporated altogether when UCLA wasn’t selected by an alliance bowl Sunday, in part because Tennessee avoided being upset by Auburn.

The Independence Bowl eliminated USC earlier in the week, eventually selecting Notre Dame to play Louisiana State. USC backed away from the Las Vegas Bowl because Sample wasn’t enthusiastic about playing in such a lower-echelon game, even though it would have been profitable.

For USC’s seniors, Sunday’s news meant their careers are over.

“It’s definitely a disappointment,” said punter Jim Wren, who played two seasons for the Trojans after transferring but never appeared in a bowl. “You come to USC because you want to play in big games and in bowl games.”

Wren was one of nearly a dozen players who gathered Saturday night to watch the Tennessee-Auburn game.

“We all knew we needed Auburn’s help,” he said. “It seemed like everyone we needed to win, didn’t, starting with Arizona State. The bottom line is, if we’d won more games, that wouldn’t have mattered.”

As for the limbo the coaches are in, “It’s the same as the bowl situation: Wait and see,” Wren said. “Hopefully, it turns out better.”