Garrett and The Trojans: : Turmoil USC : Since Obfuscation Is the Order of the Day, Truth About Parker’s Ouster Remains Hidden

The questions come steadily and Mike Garrett doesn’t flinch. His steely expression changes only when a reporter mentions George Raveling. And even then, Garrett quickly finds his composure.

Since he fired basketball coach Charlie Parker two weeks ago, the criticism leveled at Garrett, USC’s athletic director, has been relentless. One columnist labeled the decision the worst since Tom Lasorda elected to pitch to Jack Clark. Others have called Garrett a disgrace, depicting him as a tyrant who curses out anybody, anywhere--and that includes players.

Some Trojan alumni, still seething over a football season that included defeats by Notre Dame and UCLA, again--never mind that Rose Bowl victory--believe Garrett’s latest move taints the entire athletic program, even though basketball has always been the football program’s poor relative.

“Everywhere I go, I get questioned about it,” said Anthony Davis, star Trojan running back of the middle ‘70s. “ ‘Why is this happening?’ people say. . . . I just know that the school is not where it should be. I may sound critical, but I need to be. My standards are high.”

Still, the university supports Garrett unequivocally. Steven Sample, USC president, said of Parker’s firing that Garrett had made “absolutely the right decision at the right time, based on all of the facts.”

Sample added, “And in particular, I think Garrett made absolutely the right decision for the welfare of our student athletes.”

But Sample won’t specify what facts led to Parker’s firing, saying it is a personnel matter. And Garrett talks in generalities, alluding to a lack of growth in Parker’s program, both on and off the court, the inference being that Parker did not stress academics to the athletes.

“There is so little time for us to work with these kids,” said Garrett, the first of USC’s four Heisman Trophy winners. “We only have four years, and that is not a lot of time to shape people. We are asked to do a tremendous amount and every second is a key time and there needs to be a constructive atmosphere.

“It is important for us to give the student a totality while he is there, to help them grow in their personal life and as an individual for their professional life. . . . I’ve got four years to make this happen.”

Parker says he doesn’t understand what Garrett is talking about.

“We know this academic stuff is a big excuse,” Parker said. “Let’s put it this way: I feel comfortable with the support I gave the kids academically, I had high standards and high demands.

“There was no incident that would have caused him to fire me. There was nothing.”

It was rumored that Parker was fired so that Garrett could hire USC alumnus Paul Westphal, who had been fired earlier this season by the Phoenix Suns. The Trojans now play in the Sports Arena, but Westphal supposedly had been promised a new arena.

But Westphal denied being in negotiations with USC. And USC currently has no “definite” plans for an arena, Sample said.

“I think it is important [for a possible arena] to be studied,” he said.

Six days before Parker was fired, Sample stopped by the locker room after the Trojans’ 17-point victory over Oregon State. Sample told Parker and the team that they were looking good and to keep up the good work.

Shortly after Parker was fired, he tried to arrange a meeting with Sample but said Sample refused, citing possible legal complications.

Sample would not comment on that.

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Some believe that a rift between Garrett and Raveling, the Trojans’ former basketball coach, came back to haunt Parker, who was Raveling’s assistant for five years before replacing him. Parker was the last leftover from the Raveling era, which spanned 1987-94, and has maintained a relationship with Raveling.

Raveling retired two days before the 1994-95 season opener after having been involved in a near-fatal automobile accident the previous September. Parker was named interim coach and then given a four-year contract by Garrett after last season.

“This is so incredible,” Garrett said when asked about that theory. “If Parker was Raveling’s person [and this were true] then why should I hire Charlie?”

Raveling has repeatedly denied that he retired because of Garrett. But last week, Raveling said that he had been told by numerous people that Garrett was out to get him. Indeed, Raveling said, Garrett didn’t visit him after his accident until he had been hospitalized for more than a month.

Raveling says that if he had come back to coach, it would have been “only a matter of time” before he was fired.

“Let’s put it this way,” Raveling said. “If Mike McGee was still the athletic director, [he is now the athletic director at South Carolina] I would still be the coach.”

Under doctor’s orders, Raveling could not have coached last season but could have fulfilled the last two years of his contract. Instead, Garrett and Raveling’s attorney struck a deal for a $1-million buyout.

After Raveling’s retirement, Parker was told by Garrett that he had 30 days to get “everything out of his office that reminded him of George Raveling,” according to a witness.

Garrett, however, says a clean transition is a matter of general policy.

“I just said, ‘Let’s make sure this all happens in 30 days,’ ” Garrett said.

Garrett added that there is no problem between him and Raveling, but acknowledged that they differ in their philosophies on student-athletes.

“George Raveling and I have our differences in how we handle student-athletes,” Garrett said. “I really stress academics and believe we need to educate student athletes to the hilt. You will have to ask [Raveling] what his belief is.”

Raveling, as did Parker, said he doesn’t understand Garrett’s insinuations.

“He never once said those things to me,” Raveling said. “I don’t think you can find a player anywhere that will say I ever compromised their academics. I suspended guys for not going to class and took their [game] tickets--not starting them in a game is a joke.

“One time, Harold Miner’s mom got violently upset with me that I took Harold’s tickets away from him because he didn’t go to class. Harold didn’t tell her, and she got to the game and couldn’t get in.”

Raveling had a 115-118 record in his eight seasons at USC but his last four teams were 77-40 and played in four consecutive postseason tournaments, setting a school record. Raveling said that during that period, all but four of his players who stayed at the school graduated.

But Garrett, asked if he would have Raveling back, said:

“I believe that there needs to be personal growth and academic growth of the student-athlete and it needs to be consistent throughout the department, and anyone who does those things well, I have no problem with. We need to give [athletes] the support to be successful.”

So, Garrett was asked again, would he have Raveling back?

“As I said, we have a difference of opinion,” Garrett said.

*

At the end of USC’s fall semester, six scholarship basketball players were “at risk,” which means they had grade-point averages below 2.5, or C. Two of them are in jeopardy of losing their eligibility because they have failed two or more subjects. All six of the players were admitted to the university as “at risk” students, according to a source, which was Garrett’s decision, not Parker’s or Raveling’s.

“Garrett did stress academics, more so lately than when he first became A.D., but no more than I did,” Parker said. “All five seniors on the team are on target to graduate within the year or have graduated.”

Parker says he took precautions to ensure academic support. He says he had a mandatory study table, with coaches present as well as academic staff, and assigned coaches to certain students to ensure that they went to class. And this season, Parker had the team leaving later in the day on trips so the players could get in a full day of classes.

“Coach [Parker] always drove [academics] into us,” player Cameron Murray said, adding that players were disciplined if they didn’t follow the rules. After Parker’s firing, however, Murray left the team, his parents saying he would spend the rest of the season concentrating on academics.

Senior Tremayne Anchrum, who graduated last May with a degree in public administration, is working on a minor in sociology.

“[Parker] formulated punishments for the players if they didn’t go to class,” Anchrum said. “He was basically feeding off the same thing Raveling was telling us. Rav was always giving us pamphlets to read about academics and life--he sent pamphlets to everybody. But there comes a time when a player has to take responsibility. There is only so much a coach can do.”

Other players, though, have questioned Parker’s ability to discipline the team, saying he was lax. And some parents have questioned Garrett’s role, wondering if he was the one calling the shots, which they say contributed to a lack of respect for Parker.

On the court, Parker’s team had a horrible time last season, finishing with a 7-21 record. But the Trojans had improved to a 11-10 overall this season under Parker and were 4-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference when he was fired with nine games to play. USC had lost three of its last four games by 20 points apiece under Parker, but at that point, a postseason tournament remained a possibility.

Since his firing, however, the team has lost four consecutive games and one player, Avondre Jones, was suspended for two games. Then Murray quit last Friday and on Saturday, against Arizona, the team had only seven--of 13--scholarship players in uniform.

Still, Garrett doesn’t think the program is in disarray.

“I don’t believe there is bleeding,” Garrett said. “One of the things I love at USC is that you get a real glimpse of life and what it is really about. From George’s accident to Charlie’s layoff to [hiring Henry] Bibby, if you give kids the support . . . it is an opportunity for them to learn how these things happen and how you get through them.”

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Garrett has been highly praised by Sample and other USC officials for his performance as athletic director. Graduation rates are the highest ever among USC student athletes, and though much of the credit reflects on McGee for the programs he implemented, it is Garrett who has been administering them.

The 1996 graduation rate of student-athletes is 71%, up from 53% in 1994 and higher than the general student body rate of 65%. There has been a significant increase among football players, 75%, up from 42% in 1994.

Among Trojan athletes are 11 Trustee Scholars, 26 Dean’s Scholars and four National Merit Scholars. Last fall’s football team was the only one in the country with two academic All-Americans, Matt Kenely and Jeremy Hogue. There were four Pac-10 all-academic selections.

“One of the charges to [Garrett] when he came was to get the graduation rate at or above the rest of the student body, and he has done that,” said Lloyd Armstrong, USC’s provost. “Mike has been superb on the academic side. . . . he is a strong believer in education and can talk to the student-athletes and tell them that you can’t make a lifetime of being a successful athlete, you need the skills and talent to go on and lead a useful rest of your life.”

Another goal for Garrett was to properly manage a $21-million budget, which is less than 2% of the university budget of more than $1.1 billion. Dennis Dougherty, USC’s senior vice president of finance, said that Garrett has never had a deficit.

Dougherty is not counting a $1.5-million deficit reported by the athletic department in 1995 because it consisted of nonrecurring costs of buying out coaches--including Raveling. Garrett, who has a law degree, also signed a lucrative deal with Nike to outfit all of USC’s 20 teams.

“[Garrett] is a good business manager and had some practical skills from the private sector,” Sample said. “Athletics is a very small part of our overall budget, but is still a lot of money and any fiscal mismanagement is very high profile. I was very attracted to [Garrett’s] business sense. And above all else, his sense of decency and integrity.”

Garrett said one of his primary goals is to raise the level of academic standards among athletes so that USC will be as noted for scholarship as athletics. And, of course, another goal is for the Trojans to beat UCLA and Notre Dame next football season.

“The football team has improved every year, but for a Trojan to say beating Notre Dame and UCLA is not important is sacrilege,” Garrett said. “I think it is very important, and we know the alumni certainly do.”

*

The firing of Parker is only the latest controversy Garrett has had to deal with in his three years as athletic director. Other issues he has handled--and to high acclaim by his bosses--include allegations of academic fraud, NCAA violations involving agents paying players, and criminal incidents among football players. Sample said there was not one infraction that hasn’t been self-reported.

Said Bob Lane, USC’s general counsel, “Garrett has been very pro-active and supportive. When the allegations of possible NCAA violations came to light he stood up. And at his request, we suspended the players while we worked with the NCAA.”

One of the athletic department’s more frustrating problems involved three players accused of cheating on their college entrance examinations within a year. A fourth player, accused in 1993, was disqualified before enrolling in school, unlike the others.

Although two of of the three players were cleared, no other Division I-A football school was known to have had so many of their recruits’ entrance exam scores challenged.

And a criminal records check of USC and UCLA football players conducted by The Times showed that USC started the 1994 season with four players who had outstanding warrants for their arrests. No UCLA players had outstanding warrants. All four USC players have since resolved their cases and played last season.

After Garrett became athletic director, football Coach John Robinson acknowledged that he might have had more latitude in recruiting players who are considered academic risks to help give the football team an immediate boost. Robinson was allowed to recruit 10 junior college transfers in 1994, as many as former coach Larry Smith recruited in his six years at USC.

McGee, to whom Smith reported, said in an 1994 interview that higher standards encouraged higher graduation rates and that junior college transfers were too big an academic risk.

“I think John [Robinson] looks carefully at his football players,” said Armstrong, the provost. “I have had discussions with John and each time I come away comfortable that he is doing a good job here.”

But Garrett has also spent some time in court the last three years, representing the university in legal action filed by former women’s basketball coach Marianne Stanley and assistant athletic director Marvin Cobb.

Stanley lost her sex discrimination suit but has appealed and the appeal has yet to be heard.

Cobb filed a racial-discrimination and breach-of-contract suits against USC in Nov. 1990, a month before Garrett was hired. Among Cobb’s charges was that he was denied a promised promotion in retaliation for his complaints about the school’s treatment of black athletes. Cobb won a $2.1-million judgment on the breach-of-contract suit, but USC, represented by attorney Johnnie Cochran, had that judgment overturned. Cobb is appealing. The discrimination suit ended in a hung jury and is expected to be retried.

Testimony during Cobb’s suit painted Garrett as somewhat of a tyrant. Shellie Burton, who worked as a receptionist in the USC athletic department, said she testified that Garrett’s behavior in the office concerning Cobb was intimidating to her.

“He could be a real sweet person and the other side was very demeaning to me,” Burton said recently. “ ‘You’re just a receptionist,’ he would say. He was unprofessional and vulgar and hostile. It was always uncalled for, I mean, I just answered the phones. When he cussed in front of students or people who were waiting for Dr. McGee or anyone, I thought how unprofessional it was.”

Garrett admits he has used profanity.

“I will admit at times I do that and that is something I have to work on,” he said.

McGee said that he never had any problems with Garrett in that area. Sample said he has never had a complaint about Garrett using profanity, and that Garrett has never used it in his or any of the trustees’ presence.

But several sources say they have heard Garrett use profanity in front of players. At a pep rally the week of the UCLA-USC football game, Garrett said to the crowd, “One thing we will do is beat the . . . Bruins,” according to the Daily Trojan, the school’s newspaper.

It was in a press box at the University of California, however, where Garrett’s behavior was the most chronicled. Upset that Cal had not provided a private box for him and Sample, and despite announcements about not cheering in the press box, Garrett did so anyway. Observers said Garrett proclaimed that if people didn’t like it, they could move him to a . . . box.

Sample, who was sitting nearby, says that at some point he asked Garrett to “knock it off” and Garrett did.

Garrett says it is impossible for him not to cheer for his team. Sample agreed, saying that he understood completely why Garrett was so irritated.

“The next day he called me and apologized and . . . said what he did was wrong,” Sample said. “To me that shows the character of the man because, like everyone else, Mike Garrett makes mistakes but unlike the vast majority of people I know, Mike Garrett can admit his mistakes and learn from it and I like that about that man.”