Tweet
SC would struggle the next two years, but got going again in 77-78 with JR transfer Steve Smith, SO Don Carfino, and FR Cliff Robinson and Purvis Miller, finishing third in conference. Robinson was a big time player out of Oakland, and one of the best players ever at USC. Before the 78-79 season he was a Super Soph in Sports Illustrated, along with Magic Johnson. Robinson would average 19 points and 11 rebounds his two seasons at SC, and would be the 11th player picked in the Draft. During the season SC lost at #1 Duke, but beat #7 Kansas at home. They were 9-3 when they faced #6 UCLA at home, and lost by 3. They would finish the season on a six game win streak, 19-8, 2nd in the conference, and finally make Boyd's first NCAA tournament with an at large bid. They won their first round game against Utah State, but lost in the second round against #8 DePaul. Both games were at Pauley Pavilion, and the UCLA fans booed SC both games.
In January of that year Boyd announced his "retirement". He would coach again at Mississippi State, and later said he regretted ever leaving SC. His leaving may have had something to do with knowing Robinson was leaving for the NBA, but most likely was because of Bruin Fatigue. He coached against the greatest sports dynasty ever, and even though he got two wins at Pauley against National Championship teams, those were his only wins against UCLA. He never beat the Bruins in the Sports Arena. The biggest factor may have been he knew, like most, that Sam Gilbert was lining the UCLA player's pockets. Boyd would later say he could beat John Wooden, but not Sam Gilbert.
Boyd's resignation is January, well before the season ended, led to lots of speculation on his successor. With Wooden now gone, here was the chance for SC to get back in the picture as a national power like they were under Sam Barry. The job was first offered to the Utah coach, Jerry Pimm. He played for Twogood in 59 and 60, and then went to work for Jack Gardner, the former player SC tried to hire in 1966, at Utah. When Gardner retired Pimm took over, and when the SC job opened up in 79 he had just led Utah to three straight 20+ win seasons, three NCAA tournaments and two sweet sixteens. Pimm turned the job down, and once again the issue of SC's lack of a basketball facility came into play. The issue wasn't necessarily the Sports Arena, which when full was a pretty good home court, but practice, locker and support facilities. USC practiced at the now very old and musty North Gym in the P.E. building, and with Utah having the 10 year old Huntsman Center, which just that year hosted the famous Bird-Magic Final Four, it is easy to see why Pimm stayed put. Next up was Iowa coach Lute Olson.
Olson had been a high school coach in Orange County, spent four strong years at LBCC, and then got the job replacing Jerry Tarkanian at Cal State Long Beach. His one year there was a smashing success, going 24-2, but the school was going on probation, which they sort of denied to Olson when they hired him. So, after one year Olson was off to Iowa, where Sam Barry had been coach. Olson did a very successful program build, and when SC was looking for a coach in 1979 he had just won the Big 10 Conference. His courting by USC AD Dick Perry was well covered in the LA papers, and it was reported a deal was done. Iowa came back with more money, but facilities then again became an issue. Iowa was about to break ground on Carver-Hawkeye arena, and when Olson asked Perry what SC was going to do about facilities, there was no answer. He ended up turning SC down, took Iowa to the Final Four the next year, then moved onto Arizona three years later. Lute Olson as SC's coach instead of Arizona's is one of the great what-if's.
SC now knew they had a facilities problem, and did try to address it. I was a student and working in the Athletic Dept in the early 80's, and the head of Development Don Winston was trying to raise money for a 5,000 seat on campus arena based on the design of Santa Clara's Toso Pavilion, constructed in 1975. That facility featured an air supported vinyl fabric roof supported by 11 large fans constantly producing a higher air pressure inside the dome, similar to the Pontiac Silverdome. Renderings were circulated for this relatively low cost solution, but nothing came of it.
SC then turned to their third choice, Stan Morrison, who had just led Pacific to the NCAA tournament. He was from Lynwood, and had played on Pete Newell's championship Cal team, and was an assistant to Boyd on the 24-2 team. As a 16 year old I wanted nothing more in life than for Stan Morrison to lead USC basketball to the Final Four, but it wasn't to be. A good man and very hard worker, Morrison had trouble building relationships with his players. His first year he inherited a Tournament team, and even though Robinson had left for the NBA, they still had talent like Purvis Miller, Lionel Marquetti, Mo Williams and Don Carfino. After beating #16 UCLA for the first time at the Sports Arena since 1963 they were 11-3, but would win only 1 game the rest of the way, losing 12. A story circulated that Morrison blew up at the players at a restaurant because a strawberry daiquiri was sitting on the table. Not a good start.
The next year Marquetti left the program, but Morrison brought in two high end recruits, JR guard Dwight Williams, and FR Clayton Olivier, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound center who averaged 30.7 points and 12 rebounds as a senior and was two time Orange County Player of the year. This was a huge recruiting win, but unfortunately Olivier would be plagued by foot problems his entire career. In 81 SC was a .500 team pretty much all season, but did get a win at Pauley for the first time since 1970. In 82 Morrison brought in Wayne Carlander, who averaged 33 pts a game at Ocean View, and Ken Johnson, who was Parade All American second team. SC was 7-4 when they faced 19th ranked UCLA at the Sports Arena, won, went 12-4 from there, and made their 6th ever NCAA tournament. The season was known for two things. First Stan Morrison said he would jump off the roof at Julies into the pool if they made the tournament, which he did, and this shot by Dwight Anderson, which may be the best in SC history:
SC was an 8 seed in the tournament, but lost to 9th seed Wyoming in the first round after leading at half. Another Opportunity squandered. SC was 17-11 the next year, and was looking forward to 1984, but they went backwards, finishing 11-20, 8th in conference. 1985 was my senior year at SC, and a show me year for Morrison. SC was led by seniors Olivier, Carlander, Ronnie Holmes and Glenn Smith, Jr Larry Friend and Soph Derrick Dowell. They played #2 Duke, Coach K's first Final Four team, close at the Sports Arena. SC trailed 71-61 with just 1:41 remaining, but Duke's inability to convert free throws allowed USC to come back. Derrick Dowell scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but SC couldn't pull it out at the end. The highlight of the season were the two thrilling wins vs UCLA. SC won in two overtimes at the Sports Arena, then won again in a wild 4 OT game at Pauley... the best basketball game I ever attended. A key win was at #16 Oregon State, but there were three key home losses at the end of the season that cost them. First was against Detlef Schrempf at Cal State Dominguez, because the Sports Arena was hosting a dog show. Next was against Olson's first power team with Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott, and the last one was the last game of the year against AC Green and Oregon State. A win would give SC a 20 win season, and its first outright conference championship in twenty four long years. The Sports Arena was rockin' and in a tight game SC was in control late, but OSU fought back. Still with the game tied, Larry Friend had two free throws to ice it. He missed them both, and SC lost in overtime. The game felt like a lot of others in SC hoops history, and they would bow out of the NCAA in the first round against Illinois State, 58-55, after leading by four at half. Carlander was named Pac 10 player of the year.
In 85-86 Morrison brought in a whole new team, and a lot of talent. Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were recruited to USC by Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American Tom Lewis from Mater Dei, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class. It was a lost year, as they finished last in Conference, but Morrison was expecting a lot out of this group going forward. However, USC had a new Athletic Director, Mike McGee, who hadn't hired Morrison, and he made the decision to force him out. It was first reported as a resignation, but everyone saw through that.
There were a lot of the same things said then about the change as have been said recently. Morrison had success, and recruited well, so he should have been left in place vs. he had really underachieved with the talent he had, and probably had peaked. For the next coach USC went back to Iowa, and this time George Raveling was happy to move to LA. He lost Kimble, Gathers and Lewis, but after four very tough years would lead one of SC's best teams ever.
I'm going to stop here as I'm sure pretty much everyone on the board knows what happens after this. Heres hoping USC gets this coaching search right, and can finally reach its potential
In January of that year Boyd announced his "retirement". He would coach again at Mississippi State, and later said he regretted ever leaving SC. His leaving may have had something to do with knowing Robinson was leaving for the NBA, but most likely was because of Bruin Fatigue. He coached against the greatest sports dynasty ever, and even though he got two wins at Pauley against National Championship teams, those were his only wins against UCLA. He never beat the Bruins in the Sports Arena. The biggest factor may have been he knew, like most, that Sam Gilbert was lining the UCLA player's pockets. Boyd would later say he could beat John Wooden, but not Sam Gilbert.
Boyd's resignation is January, well before the season ended, led to lots of speculation on his successor. With Wooden now gone, here was the chance for SC to get back in the picture as a national power like they were under Sam Barry. The job was first offered to the Utah coach, Jerry Pimm. He played for Twogood in 59 and 60, and then went to work for Jack Gardner, the former player SC tried to hire in 1966, at Utah. When Gardner retired Pimm took over, and when the SC job opened up in 79 he had just led Utah to three straight 20+ win seasons, three NCAA tournaments and two sweet sixteens. Pimm turned the job down, and once again the issue of SC's lack of a basketball facility came into play. The issue wasn't necessarily the Sports Arena, which when full was a pretty good home court, but practice, locker and support facilities. USC practiced at the now very old and musty North Gym in the P.E. building, and with Utah having the 10 year old Huntsman Center, which just that year hosted the famous Bird-Magic Final Four, it is easy to see why Pimm stayed put. Next up was Iowa coach Lute Olson.
Olson had been a high school coach in Orange County, spent four strong years at LBCC, and then got the job replacing Jerry Tarkanian at Cal State Long Beach. His one year there was a smashing success, going 24-2, but the school was going on probation, which they sort of denied to Olson when they hired him. So, after one year Olson was off to Iowa, where Sam Barry had been coach. Olson did a very successful program build, and when SC was looking for a coach in 1979 he had just won the Big 10 Conference. His courting by USC AD Dick Perry was well covered in the LA papers, and it was reported a deal was done. Iowa came back with more money, but facilities then again became an issue. Iowa was about to break ground on Carver-Hawkeye arena, and when Olson asked Perry what SC was going to do about facilities, there was no answer. He ended up turning SC down, took Iowa to the Final Four the next year, then moved onto Arizona three years later. Lute Olson as SC's coach instead of Arizona's is one of the great what-if's.
SC now knew they had a facilities problem, and did try to address it. I was a student and working in the Athletic Dept in the early 80's, and the head of Development Don Winston was trying to raise money for a 5,000 seat on campus arena based on the design of Santa Clara's Toso Pavilion, constructed in 1975. That facility featured an air supported vinyl fabric roof supported by 11 large fans constantly producing a higher air pressure inside the dome, similar to the Pontiac Silverdome. Renderings were circulated for this relatively low cost solution, but nothing came of it.
SC then turned to their third choice, Stan Morrison, who had just led Pacific to the NCAA tournament. He was from Lynwood, and had played on Pete Newell's championship Cal team, and was an assistant to Boyd on the 24-2 team. As a 16 year old I wanted nothing more in life than for Stan Morrison to lead USC basketball to the Final Four, but it wasn't to be. A good man and very hard worker, Morrison had trouble building relationships with his players. His first year he inherited a Tournament team, and even though Robinson had left for the NBA, they still had talent like Purvis Miller, Lionel Marquetti, Mo Williams and Don Carfino. After beating #16 UCLA for the first time at the Sports Arena since 1963 they were 11-3, but would win only 1 game the rest of the way, losing 12. A story circulated that Morrison blew up at the players at a restaurant because a strawberry daiquiri was sitting on the table. Not a good start.
The next year Marquetti left the program, but Morrison brought in two high end recruits, JR guard Dwight Williams, and FR Clayton Olivier, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound center who averaged 30.7 points and 12 rebounds as a senior and was two time Orange County Player of the year. This was a huge recruiting win, but unfortunately Olivier would be plagued by foot problems his entire career. In 81 SC was a .500 team pretty much all season, but did get a win at Pauley for the first time since 1970. In 82 Morrison brought in Wayne Carlander, who averaged 33 pts a game at Ocean View, and Ken Johnson, who was Parade All American second team. SC was 7-4 when they faced 19th ranked UCLA at the Sports Arena, won, went 12-4 from there, and made their 6th ever NCAA tournament. The season was known for two things. First Stan Morrison said he would jump off the roof at Julies into the pool if they made the tournament, which he did, and this shot by Dwight Anderson, which may be the best in SC history:
SC was an 8 seed in the tournament, but lost to 9th seed Wyoming in the first round after leading at half. Another Opportunity squandered. SC was 17-11 the next year, and was looking forward to 1984, but they went backwards, finishing 11-20, 8th in conference. 1985 was my senior year at SC, and a show me year for Morrison. SC was led by seniors Olivier, Carlander, Ronnie Holmes and Glenn Smith, Jr Larry Friend and Soph Derrick Dowell. They played #2 Duke, Coach K's first Final Four team, close at the Sports Arena. SC trailed 71-61 with just 1:41 remaining, but Duke's inability to convert free throws allowed USC to come back. Derrick Dowell scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but SC couldn't pull it out at the end. The highlight of the season were the two thrilling wins vs UCLA. SC won in two overtimes at the Sports Arena, then won again in a wild 4 OT game at Pauley... the best basketball game I ever attended. A key win was at #16 Oregon State, but there were three key home losses at the end of the season that cost them. First was against Detlef Schrempf at Cal State Dominguez, because the Sports Arena was hosting a dog show. Next was against Olson's first power team with Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott, and the last one was the last game of the year against AC Green and Oregon State. A win would give SC a 20 win season, and its first outright conference championship in twenty four long years. The Sports Arena was rockin' and in a tight game SC was in control late, but OSU fought back. Still with the game tied, Larry Friend had two free throws to ice it. He missed them both, and SC lost in overtime. The game felt like a lot of others in SC hoops history, and they would bow out of the NCAA in the first round against Illinois State, 58-55, after leading by four at half. Carlander was named Pac 10 player of the year.
In 85-86 Morrison brought in a whole new team, and a lot of talent. Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble were recruited to USC by Morrison and his top assistant, David Spencer. They were joined by high school All-American Tom Lewis from Mater Dei, and Rich Grande as the "Four Freshmen" star recruiting class. It was a lost year, as they finished last in Conference, but Morrison was expecting a lot out of this group going forward. However, USC had a new Athletic Director, Mike McGee, who hadn't hired Morrison, and he made the decision to force him out. It was first reported as a resignation, but everyone saw through that.
There were a lot of the same things said then about the change as have been said recently. Morrison had success, and recruited well, so he should have been left in place vs. he had really underachieved with the talent he had, and probably had peaked. For the next coach USC went back to Iowa, and this time George Raveling was happy to move to LA. He lost Kimble, Gathers and Lewis, but after four very tough years would lead one of SC's best teams ever.
I'm going to stop here as I'm sure pretty much everyone on the board knows what happens after this. Heres hoping USC gets this coaching search right, and can finally reach its potential
Comment