Mick Haley "resigns" as USC coach

[sunger4222]

That is a very bold statement Vollyguy, where does that information come from? Opinion, personal knowledge from players, or I know someone who once knew someone else......

[sunger4222]

Dec 17, 2017 9:27:47 GMT -5 oldman said:

Dec 17, 2017 9:15:33 GMT -5 loken said:

There are always so many behind the scenes reasons for these decisions. Having been an assistant at USC under JMac, I can tell you that the expectations are very high. I remember then AD, Hesiman winner Mike Garrett, walking into our office in the middle of a mediocre 92 season,(us having won the NCAA in 90 and finished 2nd in 91) and asking Jim why we were struggling. Jim was a bit shocked, but I was like “What do you expect? This is USC.” I thought Garrett not only had every right to grill us but it was good to have high expectations.

Mick Haley by his own admission had an adversarial relationship with his boss. And you are SURPRISED your contract does not get renewed?

And as an attorney, I guess you don’t have much cause when your contract doesn’t get renewed. There is not only no obligation to renew a contract, but California is a right to work stare and employees can be fired without cause. So really Mick has no case here. Claim age discrimination all you want. But you need to prove that. Good luck.

I am not an AD apologist. But managing up is a critical skill in any organization.

Very thoughtful post. I first thought is when you have a contract and its over...its over. Nothing more is owed.

I do think its sad that Coach Haley could not just announce he is retiring. However if he was given the opportunity well then.

[sunger4222]

Mick didn't retire because he wants to continue coaching somewhere. I hope he finds a meaningful position somewhere.

[bprtbone]

So disappointing that he didn't get to go out on his own terms. A legend that the game will miss.

[bigjohn043]

Dec 16, 2017 20:54:59 GMT -5 @sbvb said:

Dec 16, 2017 19:33:53 GMT -5 volleyguy said:

People don't seem to understand that if your contract is expired, you don't have anything from which to "resign." The only face-saving option would have been to retire, but Mick obviously isn't ready to do that (and wasn't willing to go quietly).

Other people don't seem to understand that his contract isn't expired.

USC cancelled his contract, which ran through June (according to VBMag).

I am not sure what you mean by cancelled his contract.  My guess is that they are going to pay him the remainder of his contract for essentially doing nothing.

[Fight On!]

Dec 17, 2017 2:25:22 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Dec 17, 2017 0:10:57 GMT -5 Fight On! said:

They struggled in 2016, were abysmal in 2014. I am not sure only 2017 counts.

Mick has consistently had USC in a top position given their personnel.

2015, 2013, 2012 elite 8
2010 & 2011 Final Four
2007 Final Four

Take his "down years"

2014 - Injuries and even with a crippled team with horrible hands , they were up 1st set and had a late lead in the second set AT North Carolina. They lost two deuce sets, otherwise they could have swept UNC.

2016 - USC loses Bricio. He has to recover and reform his team with many new faces and a different offensive pace. Then, in the NCAA tournament Missing starting OH2 and MB, USC pushes Hawaii to 5 in the NCAA's. 15-13 in the 5th with a clearly weak USC team playing Sarah Freaking Livingston at OH. And i really really liked Sarah - amazing person. But no business as a PAC OH particularly in the NCAA's.

Mick never missed the NCAA's with USC. He was one of the very very few to beat Stanford at Maples in the last few years (And did it twice) He turned Jupiter into a NPOY and while she was a baller - she had a lot of rawness and really needed to be developed. Look at how Bricio is killing it internationally - she was a stud too arriving at USC but constantly got better.

This year, Reni rapidly improved. Garrick did some better things as the year went on. Abercrombie peaked at the perfect time. She was hitting all parts of the court effectively. Lanier is getting better all around

I agree on all point. Was just giving context to the “this year” focus of the discussion to date. If Swann wants FFs and NCs, unreasonable as it may be, it wasn’t happening.

[Sorry Ass Sal]

Dec 17, 2017 11:04:04 GMT -5 bigjohn043 said:

Dec 16, 2017 20:54:59 GMT -5 @sbvb said:

Other people don't seem to understand that his contract isn't expired.

USC cancelled his contract, which ran through June (according to VBMag).

I am not sure what you mean by cancelled his contract.  My guess is that they are going to pay him the remainder of his contract for essentially doing nothing.

No. They terminated his deal prior to its expiration in June. Check the links from the volleyball mag article.

[southie]

Any lawsuit Mick files pretty much guarantees that no other program is going to hire him for fear of him filing an age discrimination suit against them if things were not to work out and new school was wanting to terminate him for any reason, or elect not to renew his initial contract. He's digging his own grave . . .

[ay2013]

Coaches get fired/contracts not renwened all of the time regardless of what their success or lack there of. Unless Mick has some accidental CC email where someone in a position of hiring authority explicitly said Mick is too old, or someone close to AD is willing to testify that the AD said that to them, I really don’t see a case here.

[loken]

I think that is a valid observation. Filing a lawsuit means you aren’t interested in coaching again. Because no AD would hire you for fear of the same.

[southie]

Dec 17, 2017 12:34:56 GMT -5 loken said:

I think that is a valid observation. Filing a lawsuit means you aren’t interested in coaching again. Because no AD would hire you for fear of the same.

Even if no lawsuit ends up getting filed, him going public like that to the media has painted himself as a troublemaker, and no other AD in the country will want to employ him.

[Frank Costanza]

If you really wanna know how players and supporters felt about Mick, go to Lori Okimura’s Facebook page and read all the comments from former players and fans and supporters of USC Volleyball. Many players despised him.

[geddyleeridesagain]

Ugh. Completely unprofessional for the Chairperson of the USAV board to weigh in on a college hire/fire move. Although, having known Lori and witnessed her antics for many a year, I'm not particularly surprised.

[trojansc]

Dec 18, 2017 1:52:09 GMT -5 Frank Costanza said:

If you really wanna know how players and supporters felt about Mick, go to Lori Okimura’s Facebook page and read all the comments from former players and fans and supporters of USC Volleyball. Many players despised him.

Meika Wagner is the only former player on there that openly said something. (And she wasnt even coached by Mick at USC but had an experience on the national team many moons ago).

I worked with USC back in the Jupiter days - and almost everyone liked Mick alot back then (and I was the type of person you could confess anything too). When the indoor players crossed over for beach, they had a tough time with Anna, not Mick.

Were the transfers his fault? What "key" player left besides Ebony? And Ebony's situation was more of injury/homesick laden. A lot of Wisconsin fans on here were critical of Gillis, who simply wasn't getting it done as a USC OH. Sary's issues were not with Mick. Schmidt wasn't looking to be that much of a stud. If LeGrand transfers - would that be Mick's fault?

As someone who attended USC - this is freaking Los Angeles. A lot more is going on in these college girls brains than Mick Haley. There's a plethora of reasons why someone might not be a particular fit at USC. I've seen girls transfer schools because of a boy that they didn't even last with.

[ay2013]

tea is spilling all over the place...someone grab a mop.