The move with Ellis and the new coach is strategic and not a demotion. Remember last week when Cooper went to LSU? Well, Cooper was well liked, but Ellis wanted the new guy Arkansas guy. He actually brought the Arkansas guy to Petrino before he skipped town to join Spurrier.</p>
USC has given the Arkansas guy the title of DC to pay him a competitive salary and also stroke EJ with a nice position. Ellis choose not to raise Cooper and offered similar money to the Arkansas guy. As an FYI, the Cock fans are still enthusiastically drinking the Spurrier "is a genius" thing. They went ballistic when the recruiting coordinator that defected to Tennessee claimed that Spurrier was retiring.
Finally, the reason USC is mired in mediocre results despite having the big name coaches and some decent money... is that USC is a party school. The fans pay more attention to the keg than the score. They lack the "football school" mentality of Clemson. In 2009 they are in a **** load of trouble. They have had two QB's quit football in one season and they are only left with the problem child, Garcia.</p>