Good news, as a USC alum. College football has been miserable this season. Sarkisian is preferable to Golden but he's not special, someone likely to run the table. The offense is missing the old standbys like actual power football, despite a top notch quarterback. The defense is too erratic. It was absurd to allow a limited player like Kevin Hogan to put up 41 points on the road.
This was a convenient out for Pat Haden, who is increasingly under fire. The USC basketball and baseball programs are floundering also. He has made plenty of fires and hires but none have really panned out, other than a couple of the so-called minor sports.
A coaching search is a great way to deflect scrutiny from his troubles and try to reestablish faith within the fan base. USC's has legit star talent entering the football program every year. They don't strike out in the late going. The stadium isn't a rental 22 miles from campus. It should be far easier for that program to attract a top notch coach than the Canes' opportunity.
Of course, that USC fan base is stuck where we were in maybe 2004 through 2007. The dominant championship seasons are still fresh in memory and no one can understand why it isn't rinse and repeat. I had a severe advantage since I experienced the Canes' run in the early 2000s and earlier, so I warned repeatedly on the USC boards that it likely was long gone for the foreseeable, that the best hope was probably a second tier finish here and there.