I guess it took a two-year bowl ban, severe holds on scholarships and an entire season wiped from the record books for the University of Southern California to realize that Mike Garrett was simply not the right guy to be the Athletic Director for USC.

So in comes in Pat Haden, who has sworn to make some drastic changes to the now tarnished USC athletic program. You knew something smelled fishy when Pete Carroll bolts for the Seattle Seahawks and Tim Floyd, former coach of the USC men’s basketball team, resigns.

Is USC taking a step in the right direction? Absolutely. I truly believe Pat Haden will be able to reestablish the USC athletic program back to where it should be: winning championships, developing student-athletes, but in an honest manner.

Garrett should have been fired as soon as the allegations really came to light a few months ago. His arrogance and lack of persistence to actively look into the allegations has cost the 66-year-old tremendously. He will no longer be remembered as the Heisman-winning quarterback, or the man who led USC to unprecedented success over the past 17 years. No. He will be remembered as an athletic director who let his arrogance and pride overcome what should have been handled a long time ago.

Instead of looking into the investigation, Garrett dismissed the allegations and even had the balls to say that people were jealous of the USC program.

As an athletic director, your job is not to show up on Saturdays and sit in the luxury suite to watch your teams play. Your job is to overlook the program, hire the best candidates to lead each program, and to make sure that they are following the rules.

As a result, Mike Garrett has an “early retirement,” and only is remembered for lacking the discipline to take care of business a long time ago when the allegations came to light. He will not be remembered for all the great things he did. Who do you think hired Pete Carroll? Instead, his arrogance and remaining completely oblivious to a pretty serious situation has cost him his reputation, as well as the reputation of the USC athletic program.

I like the idea of bringing in Pat Haden, someone with experience in personal relations and someone who is determined to bring about positive changes to a program that has been under such a negative light.

However, I think there is even a better solution to this entire recruiting violation debacle that has tormented many universities over the past few years: hire someone outside the university. What kind of precedence are you setting when you hire people who have always been associated with the university to lead a major component of your school’s revenue and success: athletics.

Mike Garrett’s biased towards the program allowed for these violations to carry over for too long, before it was too late. Someone outside the university would have looked into it, having no previous bias towards the university.

This goes for every other school as well. A qualified candidate does not have to be a former athlete for the university. Think outside the box people. Do companies only hire family? No. They have an outside source leading the group.

If you ever let your arrogance and pride overcome the blatantly obvious you have to ask yourself the ultimate question: who does this affect the most? The answer is the players. Think of the student athletes who have dedicated up to 4 years to pour their heart and soul into the athletic program.

Because of one’s lack of discipline to look into a serious allegation, you have let one player completely eradicate a season to be remembered. Reggie Bush was part of an undefeated squad in 2004. O.J. Mayo led the Trojans to an NCAA berth in basketball.

Instead, the seasons have been rescinded and the players who poured their heart and soul into competing at the highest collegiate level now have nothing to show for it.

Pat Haden is a great asset and a fine way to bring some changes to a tarnished program that should be remembered for its successes, successes that were honest and fair. Think of the student athletes. Because in the end, they come first.