Back in October, the University of Southern California fired second-year head football coach Steve Sarkisian when it was obvious he hadn’t been able to get a handle on his drinking problem. On Monday, Sarkisian sued USC, contending that school officials didn’t make a good-faith effort to help him fight his alcohol dependency.
The Los Angeles Times obtained a copy of Sarkisian’s complaint. Read it here. Sarkisian is suing his former employer for breach of contract, wrongful termination, discrimination, and failure to accommodate his disability, among other things. He is seeking at least $12.6 million in damages, though his lawyers say their client believes a minimum of $30 million in actual and punitive damages is appropriate.
Sarkisian sheds some light on the events that ultimately derailed his tenure in Troy. Early in 2015, his wife of 17 years filed for divorce. The weight of this, combined with the usual stress of leading a high-profile college football program, sent him into depression and fueled what he openly admits was a serious drinking problem. It finally boiled over in August, when Sarkisian appeared to be severely intoxicated at a booster event. Sarkisian says that the combined effects of a couple of beers and his anxiety medication made him slur his speech and appear inebriated. Athletic director Pat Haden made noises about firing him on the spot, but ultimately forced him to publicly apologize and undergo weekly counseling. Haden also put Sarkisian on a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol use.
Sarkisian admits that his drinking ramped up in the days after the Trojans were upset by Washington on October 8. On October 11, he was scheduled to lead a team meeting before practice. He claims that the combined effect of his anxiety medication, drinking the night before, and his impending divorce made him not appear to be himself at the meeting. He realized this, and asked his personal assistant to take him home. By the time he got home, Sarkisian said he was “upset, teary, and nearly hyperventilating.” He realized he needed to get help.
Later that day, Haden placed him on indefinite leave. The next morning, Sarkisian left for an inpatient rehab facility, and learned via email that he’d been fired. Haden later said that he wanted to call Sarkisian personally, but couldn’t reach him. Sarkisian argues that in doing this, “USC kicked him to the curb” rather than support him when he needed it the most. Sarkisian argues that USC was legally required to make a “reasonable accommodation” for him to seek help. He implies that rather than do so, Haden cooked up the drinking problem as an excuse to appease alumni who wanted him fired after the Washington loss.
ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson thinks that Sarkisian has a case. Munson says that California law doesn’t allow you to be fired for having a disease, and alcoholism is a disease by any definition. However, Munson is ignoring a potential 500-pound gorilla in the room. On October 12, reports surfaced that several of Sarkisian’s assistants believed their boss was drunk during the Trojans’ rout of Arizona State on October 3. Within hours of those reports surfacing, Sarkisian had been fired.
All available evidence suggests that Haden was prepared to go forward with Sarkisian as head coach as soon as he was healthy enough to return. After all, Haden refused to take Sarkisian off the sidelines after the August incident, even in the face of demands from sports commentators that he do so. However, no school with any iota of integrity or concern for its players’ welfare can allow a coach who shows up to a game under the influence to keep his job. Sarkisian states that any claims he was intoxicated during that game are “categorically false,” but doesn’t elaborate.
If it does turn out that Sarkisian was drunk on the sidelines, then if you’ll pardon a pun, that’s the end of the ballgame. While Sarkisian deserves credit for admitting he has a drinking problem, it’s entirely possible that he either doesn’t know or doesn’t understand how serious it is. That’s about the only conclusion you’d be able to draw if it turns out he was fired for being drunk on the sidelines, not just because of a drinking problem.
