Haden on the future of football in light of Chris Borland's decision to retire early due to safety concerns...
Football changed my life. And while it did so, I did have four concussions during my playing career (one in high school, two in college and another professionally), so I understand both sides of the debate. At USC, we believe that we have the best concussion protocol in the country because we take that concern very seriously. We travel with a neurosurgeon. We have someone in the press box observing the game to see if there is something that the trainers and coaches might miss on the field. While we have taken every possible measure to prevent and treat them, concussions are going to occur in football, as we also deal with in soccer and other sports here at USC, so everybody has to make that decision for themselves about the costs and benefits of any sport.Haden wraps up the USC men's basketball season...
In my opinion, the talent level clearly was better, but the disappointing thing is that it did not translate into more wins. I was hoping to take a little bigger leap this year, but I am still optimistic about where we are heading. Unlike football, where you need to bring in 15-20 good players a year to stay competitive, basketball just relies on two or three, and we have two talented 6-foot-10 big men coming in next year to help. I would expect to see a major leap next year in our men's basketball program.
Haden on patience paying off with USC baseball...
A lot of fan bases want you to fire a coach after 15 minutes of losing a game. As an athletic director, I think you need to be a little patient and let a coach play out a recruiting cycle or two or even three. I do not know what the right number is for a coach, but it is certainly not a year or even two. Coach [Dan] Hubbs has had a strategy about upgrading his pitching, which I think he has done, and now we are scoring more runs too. I am thrilled by baseball's progress. We have a tremendous tradition with more national championships than any school in the country, and I think we have a team that can make a postseason run this year.
Haden on USC track & field ahead of the Trojan Invitational this weekend...I think Caryl Smith Gilbert and her staff have been awesome. Not good, but awesome. I think she is going to win multiple national championships here as our Director of Track & Field. Sprinting has always been the lifeblood of the program, but we are focusing on getting more out of our field events led by our throwing coach Dan Lange. This weekend, the Trojan Invitational provides a great opportunity for our fan base, particularly those track enthusiasts, to come out and watch our teams, which both could contend for national championships.
Haden on the new Athletic Director Speaker Series...
Two of our development officers, Alexandra Bitterlin and Scott Jacobson, came to me with the idea of the speaker series as a way to elevate the conversation around athletics. We want to strive to be a thought leader and grow our relationship with the University on multiple levels. This week, we partnered with the USC Price School of Public Policy to welcome Dr. Condoleezza Rice who discussed governance in collegiate sports. We have not announced the next speaker, but it is nice to take a break from always talking about nose tackles and free throws to look at things in a different light.
