Claridge: Players Should Get the Blame

Exactly where John Robinson and his assistants went wrong will be discussed well into the future, but one of the areas that critics said the coaching staff underachieved the most was with the offensive line.

On Tuesday night, guard Travis Claridge, the cornerstone of USC’s offensive line but who many alleged hadn’t improved in his two years working with USC assistant coach Mike Barry, spoke out on behalf of the coaching staff.

“USC has lost more than a good coach,” said the 6-foot-6, 300-pound Claridge. “They lost a good man, and a great role model for this team. He made this game fun for us. He made USC fun for us. I don’t think there is a guy on the team that disliked Coach Robinson.

“They didn’t screw up this season, we did, and whenever we played poorly, they told us to blame them. How many coaches will do that? I love John Robinson, and Coach Barry was like a father to me.”

Claridge, who is recovering from shoulder and ankle surgery, initially reacted angrily to the news that Robinson had been replaced.

“I’ll probably transfer if those two are gone,” the sophomore said.

Later, he said he would have to meet the new coach before making a decision. “This guy [Paul Hackett] didn’t recruit me,” Claridge said. “I didn’t come here for him, I came to USC for Barry and Robinson. How do I know this guy will like me? I don’t know anything about him.”

The naysayers complained that the line was giving up too many sacks and the running attack appeared to be in more of a retreat. Much of the blame was placed on Barry.

Claridge said bluntly that he was overbilled coming out of Fort Vancouver High in Vancouver, Wash.

“I didn’t have the kind of coaching in high school that I needed coming into USC,” Claridge said. “Coach Barry taught me a lot, but it was really new to me. A lot of people said I wasn’t improving, but I played well after midseason. If I made any improvement it was because of Coach Barry.”

About the last several weeks, Claridge said he thought the process of evaluating the coaching staff, keeping them waiting on what their fates would be, was “unfair to the coaching staff and to the team.”

A top Trojan recruit, running back Sultan McCullough of Pasadena Muir, also sounded disappointed by developments at USC:

“Last week [Robinson] was supposed to come to my house. They [USC] haven’t even called me. And I’m going to tell them about it, [that] I have to read about it the paper.”

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Staff writer Eric Sondheimer contributed to this story.