USC has banned alcohol from its locker room.
Show’s over, folks. If you planned on swinging by the USC Trojans‘ locker room for a celebratory brewski or a cocktail with the gang, best make other plans. Thanks to Steve Sarkisian getting a little too lubed up at the weekend’s Salute to Troy event, USC athletic director Pat Haden has banned alcohol from the locker room.
Alcohol has been banned from #USC locker room for games this season
— InsideUSC (@InsideUSC) August 24, 2015
In case you missed Sark’s drunken revelry, here’s a quick clip of his NSFW “Fight On.”
While booze in a college locker room sounds a bit off, according to the Los Angeles Daily News Sarkisian drank alcohol after games last season, as did his predecessor Lane Kiffin. Though former interim coach Ed Orgeron, a stopgap between Kiffin and Sarkisian, banned drinking in the locker room while guiding the program during the second half of the 2013 season.
"According to sources who did not wish to be identified within the athletic dept. administration, Sarkisian drank alcohol in the USC locker room after games last season at the Coliseum and on the road.Former USC coach Lane Kiffin also consumed alcohol after games but interim coach Ed Orgeron said he banned it from the locker room when he took over in 2013."
Sarkisian has since apologized for his actions at the Salute to Troy event and, according to Haden, coach and AD handled matters behind closed doors.
"“I met with Coach Sarkisian and I expressed my disappointment in the way he represented himself and the University at our Salute To Troy event,” Haden said in a statement. “While the details of our conversation will remain between us, I am confident he heard my message loud and clear.”"
USC will open its season on Saturday, September 5 against Arkansas State. The Trojans were selected as prohibitive favorites to win the Pac-12 South during the conference’s preseason media days.