Here is our fearless athletic director Pat Haden on the state of troy:

Haden on the 2011-12 year in USC athletics…

We showed the breadth of talent across our 21 sports with 11 teams finishing in the top seven nationally. It is a testament to the student-athletes we recruit, the coaches on staff, our great facilities and our stiff competition. We added two more NCAA titles with men’s water polo and men’s tennis completing four-peats in the same season, which has never been done here before.

Haden on the new trio of women’s basketball assistant coaches…

Michael Cooper has brought in some new blood to energize the program. When you hire assistants, a coach is looking to complement his or her style, whether it is offensively or defensively or maybe in recruiting. Coach Cooper accomplished that by bringing in Daron Park, Tai Dillard and Evan Unrau. We should be a very competitive team in the Pac-12 next year.

Haden on the new NCAA academic standards (APR)…

As long as we know what the mark is, an APR of 930 to be eligible for postseason play, we will get over the bar. Retrospectively, only men’s basketball would have been in any danger, due mostly to roster turnover with transfers, but the standards were different then. Our student-athletes and academic services staff are competitive, so with a new mark in place, we will do our best to meet it or exceed it.

Haden on fans purchasing mini-plans to see the big games at the Coliseum this fall…

You can almost smell football season. It is just around the corner. We have a great home schedule this year highlighted by the Oregon and Notre Dame games, so you will not want to miss out on the chance to experience the Coliseum atmosphere. Plus, the environment is generational. I went with my dad and now many years later, I am taking my grandkids to games.

Click here to purchase a mini-plan!

Haden on his plans for the summer…

We are learning as much as we can. I have tasked all my associate athletic directors to visit an athletic department that they admire to learn what we can do better. Plus, we have so many ongoing development projects with the John McKay Center, Heritage Hall, the Uytengsu Aquatics Center and potentially the Coliseum to keep us plenty busy.