USC athletic director Pat Haden visited adjunct journalism professor Jeff Fellenzer’s Journalism 380: “Sports, Business and Media in Today’s Society” class to provide insight about how media affect college-level sports.
The Q-and-A discussion allowed both the professor and students to ask Haden some pressing questions about media, college athletics and recent NCAA sanctions. Haden said student-athletes need to be aware of their actions at all times.
“There is no such thing as a private moment,” he said. “You think there is, but there is not. At the end of the day, everybody makes those decisions themselves but remember that you think you’re alone but in this day and age where everybody owns a cell phone camera, you’re not alone.” Haden also noted how drastically college football has changed since his days as a college athlete. “Our athletics were not all consuming, I did not lift one weight all four years, I wasn’t even sure we had a weight room,” he said. “We weren’t thinking about the NFL and the money that comes with the NFL.” Haden talked in detail about how some of the best athletes at USC struggle to make ends meet. “We have kids who are literally hungry at the end of the month,” he said. “It is unconscionable for us not to do more for our student athletes.”
His biggest point of advocacy was that “stipends need to be increased across the board. The money is just not right after all the expenses. They have like 120 dollars for food based off of a formula set by the financial aid office,” he said. He discussed the USC image and how it has been affected by NCAA sanctions and USC’s recent rejected appeal. “There are more misconceptions than truths coming out about the topic,” he said. “I feel bad for the academics at USC because the athletics have such a tiny budget but such a high profile reputation. Right now, we just have to be grateful for what we have, which are some great athletes and we just need to revere their excellence.”
