UCLA athletes say they value being in same conference as USC as UC regents mull vote on expanding USC’s football and men’s basketball programs
This article is more than 8 years old
This article is more than 8 years old
USC athletic director Mike Garrett defended UCLA athletics against the accusations from ex-athletic director Dan Guerrero that the Trojans had crossed the line in the “invasive” investigation of their program.
Losing a football coach and losing a men’s basketball coach were “some real losses,” he said, but he insisted there had been a difference in the way the complaints from UCLA officials were handled.
“There was no effort to try to find out what happened,” Garrett said in an interview with The Times. “It was all done with our eyes wide open about our football program.”
USC athletic director Mike Garrett defends UCLA athletics against the accusations from ex-athletic director Dan Guerrero that the Trojans had crossed a line in the investigation of their program. Garrett and Guerrero have been friends for 50 years. Photo: Alex Gallardo, The Times
Garrett’s comments come after Guerrero told Sports Illustrated that the investigation of UCLA’s program was “invasive” and added the university’s focus “came and went fast.”
It is the second time since late May that Guerrero has leveled accusations that the relationship between UCLA and USC was tainted by a perceived anti-USC sentiment.
On his blog, Guerrero accused the Trojans of intentionally “placing a tremendous amount of attention” on the investigation into their athletic department, a charge that he later retracted.
He said that he and USC athletic director Mike Garrett had been friends for decades and should have come to the table and resolved their issues.
“Mike Garrett, I did not talk to him. I did not call him. There was no contact whatsoever to speak with him on a personal basis,” Guerrero told the magazine.