Haden's Heisman push might not be what Trojans' Barkley needs
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| Matt Barkley has a bright future even (especially?) if he doesn't win the Heisman Trophy. (AP) |
Pat Haden came to Southern California as the new sheriff and conscience of an athletic department gone rogue, and so far has hit his marks every time.
But then he had to go shoot off his mouth about his failure to generate a Heisman Trophy campaign for quarterback Matt Barkley early enough. And suddenly you want to hit him with a stick and make Black Friday a Black-and-Blue Friday.
Haden's logic, apparently, is that ... well, let's be fair to the lad. Here's what he said in a radio interview in L.A.:
"There's buzz now, but he's been playing great for a good month. He's been playing sensationally and he's clearly done his part, so I wish I would have initiated it earlier, thought about pushing it earlier.
Apparently that's how Heismans are won -- with a campaign -- the same kind of mechanism that has given us the laugh-rich presidential process.
But they're not won that way at all, and never have been. Candidates are preselected early by the influential, thorough and complete whackjobs that cover college football in what can best be described as "something you do on a slow news day in August, and then people pop in and pop out of the list based on what they do, not on the glitz their sports information director can devise."
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Example: Robert Griffin III of Baylor. You think a snazzy mailer or two would have bumped him toward the top earlier? Answer: Don't be an idiot.
In fact, there is something to be said for the organic campaign, in which you send out nothing whatsoever and let the player do it with his deeds, like Toby Gerhart of Stanford, who finished second two years ago. Oh, he did the interviews and all that, but there was no "campaign" as such.
Thus, Haden's idea comes off as a perfectly L.A. solution to a problem that couldn't have been solved. As they see it, they needed to shout louder, and wear spangly costumes while they did. Production values, production values, turn turn kick turn, turn turn kick turn.
Well, no. First, the absurdity of saying a USC player lacks publicity is among the most ridiculous things that can be said. Even in a year in which they can't go to a bowl game because of the rampant cheating and weaselry that swept Haden into office, people knew Matt Barkley, and they were watching him.
Secondly, according to Haden, Lane Kiffin initiated the meeting to get a PR campaign started after the Oregon win, in which Barkley was indisputably exemplary. This was the point where Haden should have asked one question -- "Can you get Matt to tell me this himself?"
Odds are Barkley, who seems the eminently sensible type, would have said, "It's not really necessary, because that's not what we should be about here." It would have been the perfect answer to springboard him either to next year's Heisman or a long and fruitful career in the NFL -- as the team-first quarterback.
And though Kiffin's heart and head might have been in the right place for Barkley, the idea that he thought of using USC's PR might this late in the game seems to open a window on how he thinks the school should be perceived. The Trojans have had a superior season by any measurement, and the fact that they aren't going to a bowl game is entirely their doing.
Well, the doing of their predecessors. That's NCAA justice, though -- wait until the miscreants blow town and then hold the innocent bystanders in custody.
"Generally, we try to let guys win it on the field, but we probably should have done something more for him," Haden said, skipping over the right answer. "We just owe it to him as a kid, too. We're hopeful Matt's going to have a great shot."
He may very well have a great shot. This is a muddled Heisman field, in that Andrew Luck of Stanford is no longer the putative favorite but one of several candidates, including Barkley, Griffin, Trent Richardson of Alabama, Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State, Kellen Moore of Boise State and Case Keenum of Houston.
But our vision of Barkley is that of the guy who says, "I don't want to win it because Tim Tessalone (USC's SID) sent every Heisman voter an inflatable Traveler. I want to win it my way."
And if our vision is wrong, it will reveal itself in time, to Barkley's detriment. He has made his name himself this year, with the obvious help of coaches and teammates, and he has done so without complaining about an alleged low profile. This is a grand thing. And if he doesn't win, it should be because people thought Griffin or Luck or Richardson were better. Not because USC was insufficiently L.A.
Besides, if Barkley wants to be a successful NFL player, history shows he's better off without any kind of campaign at all. In short, be careful what your bosses wish for you, Matthew. You're the one who has to walk the road.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.com.
