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If you look at USC history, you'll see that its basketball program tends to do best when the football program is struggling.
The Enfield Era, when the program has been the healthiest in its history, coincides with the Helton Era, when the football program has settled into a (possibly) permanent declined state.
The fall just before USC went to the Elite 8 with Clancy and Scalabrine, the football team was 5-7 and fired Paul Hackett. The fall after it went to the Elite 8, it was 6-6 under Pete Carroll and lost the Vegas Bowl, while the basketball team the following spring was ranked for stretches of the season and won 22 games.
In 1997, USC basketball went to the tournament and finished second in the league while USC football went 6-5 in football and fired John Robinson.
In the fall of 1991, USC football had its worst season since 1957, going 3-8. That same academic year, the USC basketball team finished the regular season ranked 8th and had the SI National Player of the Year in Harold Miner. Arguably the best USC season between 1971 and 2021.
In 1985, USC basketball won the Pac-10 conference regular season title in a spring season that was sandwiched between two USC football teams that went a combined 14-10 under the soon-to-be-fired Ted Tollner.
In 1971, USC went 24-2 and was ranked as high as second in the polls. The previous fall, USC went 6-4-1 in football. The following fall? 6-4-1.
The mid-1950s was considered a lackluster era for USC football (and a really good one for UCLA football). All USC basketball did was go to the Final Four in 1954, while the previous fall USC went 5-3-1 and got shut out by UCLA (the following fall, the Bruins won a share of their only national title in football).
USC sent to its other national semifinal in 1940, as the Howard Jones Era limped to an end with a record of 3-4-1. The basketball coach Sam Barry took over the reigns of the football program the following fall and he went 2-6-1 (the worst season until the 1957 debacle).
The last time USC football and USC basketball were good at the same time, both programs went on probation.
So the point here is that football has tended to suck all the oxygen out of the USC's room. The psychic energy (if you believe in that sort of claptrap) of USC fandom and its avatar that is its administration is focused on football and thence here is rarely much left over for basketball. It is only when the big brother football program struggles that the little brother basketball program is allowed an opening to get some of the attention of mom and dad.
Ideally, we'd like Mom and Dad to give attention to all its children. Could a conference title be what does it? It would be great if the administration capitalized on this season with a serious, committed drive to promote the program, its players, drive attendance and give the coaching staff more of what it needs to succeed at a high level.
The Enfield Era, when the program has been the healthiest in its history, coincides with the Helton Era, when the football program has settled into a (possibly) permanent declined state.
The fall just before USC went to the Elite 8 with Clancy and Scalabrine, the football team was 5-7 and fired Paul Hackett. The fall after it went to the Elite 8, it was 6-6 under Pete Carroll and lost the Vegas Bowl, while the basketball team the following spring was ranked for stretches of the season and won 22 games.
In 1997, USC basketball went to the tournament and finished second in the league while USC football went 6-5 in football and fired John Robinson.
In the fall of 1991, USC football had its worst season since 1957, going 3-8. That same academic year, the USC basketball team finished the regular season ranked 8th and had the SI National Player of the Year in Harold Miner. Arguably the best USC season between 1971 and 2021.
In 1985, USC basketball won the Pac-10 conference regular season title in a spring season that was sandwiched between two USC football teams that went a combined 14-10 under the soon-to-be-fired Ted Tollner.
In 1971, USC went 24-2 and was ranked as high as second in the polls. The previous fall, USC went 6-4-1 in football. The following fall? 6-4-1.
The mid-1950s was considered a lackluster era for USC football (and a really good one for UCLA football). All USC basketball did was go to the Final Four in 1954, while the previous fall USC went 5-3-1 and got shut out by UCLA (the following fall, the Bruins won a share of their only national title in football).
USC sent to its other national semifinal in 1940, as the Howard Jones Era limped to an end with a record of 3-4-1. The basketball coach Sam Barry took over the reigns of the football program the following fall and he went 2-6-1 (the worst season until the 1957 debacle).
The last time USC football and USC basketball were good at the same time, both programs went on probation.
So the point here is that football has tended to suck all the oxygen out of the USC's room. The psychic energy (if you believe in that sort of claptrap) of USC fandom and its avatar that is its administration is focused on football and thence here is rarely much left over for basketball. It is only when the big brother football program struggles that the little brother basketball program is allowed an opening to get some of the attention of mom and dad.
Ideally, we'd like Mom and Dad to give attention to all its children. Could a conference title be what does it? It would be great if the administration capitalized on this season with a serious, committed drive to promote the program, its players, drive attendance and give the coaching staff more of what it needs to succeed at a high level.
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