By Julie Buehler
I’ve never been addicted to anything. I don’t pretend to understand the struggle and won’t pretend to comprehend the magnification of that struggle when faced in the public eye.
I, however, do recognize the unconscious abyss addicts fall into and the seemingly eternal distance between their inebriated state and sobriety.
And I also know, without a doubt, that no addict can be helped until they are willing to help themselves.
So whether you consider alcoholism a disease or not, is irrelevant.
Whether you think an alcoholic can perform well enough to coach at a major university is pointless.
Whether you believe someone should be given a fair chance at sobriety before becoming the offscouring of society doesn’t weigh in on the matter between Steve Sarkisian and USC.
The only questions are: does Sark want to get sober? Is he willing to work diligently towards it?
Those are the questions that matter.
The lawsuit only deals with money.
Earlier in the week, the former head coach of USC, one of the nation’s most prestigious football programs and institutions in general, sued his former employer for wrongful termination, siting the alcoholism he was dismissed for as the “disability” the Trojans scorned.
Some 8 weeks after he was fired, Sarkisian is mounting his case.
“Alcoholism is a recognized disability under California law,” Sarkisian’s lawyer, Alan Loewinsohn, told TMZ. “So firing somebody because of that disability is against the law.”
He claims he made his ‘disability’ know to Athletic Director Pat Haden and was ridiculed for it. And he wants some $30 million dollars for it.
USC says Sark’s claims are “untrue.”
I don’t know California law, and I don’t know employment law, but I do know football and enjoy employing common sense and what Steve Sarkisian is doing is woefully selfish.
He claims he’s served a stint in rehab and is ready to return to coaching.
Sure, because one stint in rehab is enough to clean up a guy whose alcoholism supposedly evade USC in the vetting of the hiring process.
He claims he was unfairly treated once he asked for some time to get his health together.
Sure, perhaps because he lied so many times before to cover his public intoxication that he figured a little time to would be required for Haden to discover the truth.
He thought he’d have time.
He was wrong.
Haden was wrong for hiring him in the first place and I wouldn’t be surprised if Haden was wrong in the handling of the situation.
But Sarkisian is wrong for claiming his ‘disability’ is about anything but himself.
He forgets the 70-some players and 20-some coaches and support staff and interns and equipment guys and grunts and executives and boosters whose lives and livelihoods directly relied on his sound judgment as a head football coach.
Except we’ll never know how sound it was or if he just liked the sound of his own self-pity.
He forgets the key mantra he taught his players: accountability.
Instead, he’s claiming USC wrongfully fired him.
He hid his addiction long enough, and when it was discovered, rather than approaching this disgraceful situation with humility and resolve for resolution, he’s chosen to blame someone else.
Don’t forget, he was fired after 2 occurrences of public drunkenness. One in which he claimed it was a bad combination of medication and the other in which he couldn’t finish practice, his assistant coaches had to send him home.
So, it’s the medication’s fault for the first instance, not his.
And his coaches needed to pull the plug on his downward spiral, not him.
I don’t care if Sark claims a disability and works his way through it, but he needs to be accountable for his actions.
He can’t hang his self-pity on a limb and expect everyone else to reach for it.
He’s made millions thus far; he needn’t cost USC any more.
And while I adamantly disagree with his lawsuit, find it selfish and nothing more than a money-grab, I do hope, for his sake and his family’s sake, he wants to rid himself of this ‘disability.’ Because unlike someone with MS or other incurable physical maladies, IF he wants help, he can get it, and he already has the resources to do so.
Julie Buehler hosted the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day for 3 years, but now she can be exclusively seen on KMIR sharing the coolest stories in sports and heard on 103.9 FM ESPN from 6-7 pm nightly. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in to KMIR’s nightly news or KMIR.com for her sports reports.
