Government at its best. It finally took a call to Senator Dixon to cut through all the red tape. It seemed that if you flee for your life and don’t have your passport, it’s a big problem, even if you are in the system.
He made Umberto come to his house to face his mother. Yep, David was chicken.
In the end, he was finally home.
◊◊◊
Later that night, David got a call from Alex.
“Dad talked to our people back home. When they figured out that they were in a Sandoval compound, the cartel people left. Our people are packing up your stuff and sending it to us.”
“Was anyone hurt?” David asked.
“No. Everyone’s fine. Dad has decided that we’ll stay here in LA until whatever is happening between the cartels calms down. He’s also hiring your security to protect us here in the states. He’s not happy with the people he hired last spring, so he’s letting them go.”
David had to agree that was probably for the best. As far as David was concerned, he would have hired someone like Fritz after the incident in Greece.
Then David had a thought.
“Tell me if Fritz decides on additional security at the dorm. I wouldn’t put it past him to insist that someone bunk in our living room.”
“Honestly, I might be okay with that right now,” Alex admitted, letting David know how much the stuff in Cali had shaken him up.
“If they do, tell me, and I’ll let you know which guys would be okay as roommates. The last thing we need is a problem child,” David advised.
“I’ll do that,” Alex said.
In the background, David could hear someone calling Alex’s name.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you soon,” Alex said and then hung up.
◊◊◊
Chapter 54
Drew Langford
It was officially announced that Drew Langford was the new athletic director for USC. He’d previously been the AD for Baylor and had seen them through a scandal. The Baylor basketball and football teams were both now highly ranked, making him the best possible candidate outside of the Alabamas, Ohio States, and Clemsons of the world.
His initial introduction had gone predictably. Drew had said all the right words and promised to put USC back on the map.
Once back at his office, he received a call from Chip Wagner, the sports reporter from Channel 10 who covered USC.
“Chip, I didn’t expect a call so soon.”
“I have an open slot on my afternoon sportscast. I thought you might want to come on the show and set the narrative before the FBI stuff drowns you out,” Chip offered.
“When do you want me?”
Drew knew that Chip was right. During the hiring process, he’d been advised that he was expected to be decisive and reset the course of USC athletics. Unlike what had happened at Baylor, this was national news affecting universities across the country.
The subtext was that Coach Clayton was something he needed to deal with immediately. They hadn’t told him to fire or keep the head coach. They were leaving that up to him.
He quickly told his assistant to send out a message to all athletic department staff, coaches, and student-athletes to let them know about the interview.
◊◊◊
Drew arrived at the Channel 10 studios and was escorted to meet with Chip.
“Welcome and thank you for giving me the first exclusive interview,” Chip said in greeting.
“Just be kind. I’ve only been on the job for half a day,” Drew said.
“I’ll try,” was the weak assurance Chip provided.
Drew fully expected that Chip was about to ambush him.
Chip looked at his watch.
“Shall we? It’s time,” he said and proceeded to introduce his show and his guest.
Chip: Let’s talk about your new opportunity and the challenges you face with coming into one of the most storied programs, Southern Cal. USC is currently under a cloud of uncertainty, to say the least. What intrigued you to take the position, and what’s the first item on your agenda?
Drew: This is my dream opportunity. This is something I’ve always wanted to tackle, running a world-class organization like USC.
Chip: I’m going to put you on the spot. Does the FBI investigation touch the football team, and if so, what does that mean for Coach Clayton?
Drew: You know, at this point, we are unraveling what all happened. Quite frankly, I haven’t even had a chance to sit down with Coach Clayton. I also know that the state of the football program is a topic for a lot of discussion and questions right now. I look forward to meeting with him and getting to know Dylan.
I’m excited about his leadership in taking USC to an eleven-win season last year. USC has been up and down for the past few years, and we need to get back to the USC of old, where we were consistently mentioned as a top-five program.
Chip: How many teams do you have at USC?
Drew: Twenty-three.
Chip: And you are responsible for all of them?
Drew: That’s the rumor.
Chip: Would it be fair to say that two of them take up the majority of your time? Men’s basketball and football?
Drew: That’s a fair assessment. I’m sure everyone understands that those two sports are the engines that make the rest of it go. But I will say that while they may take the majority of the time, we don’t want to lose sight of the other sports. We’re having incredible success in our other sports. Our student-athletes are doing great things, and that is an essential part of USC.
Chip: What do you see as your greatest challenge?
Drew: In California, people have many options as to who to support for the state school. What we want to do is to make USC the one they want to follow and root for. And that doesn’t start when they’re 17 or 18 and trying to decide what university to go to. It begins when they are 7 or 8. That’s why we need to communicate what our brand is, and we want people to feel connected to the state university.
It’s our state, it’s our team, and we want people to connect to that from an early age. For me, it is about raising Trojan fans. That way, they grow up dreaming about playing for the Cardinal and Gold. If we can do that, we’ll build a culture where year-in and year-out, USC is the go-to destination for in-state talent. And when we begin to bring in our own people, the rest of the country will be put on notice. USC will be champions not only in football and basketball but in the other 21 sports.
Chip: That’s a long play, but you know as well as anyone that fans want winners right now.
Drew: It is a long play, but the problem most programs have is they try to take shortcuts in their build. We might sacrifice some wins early on, but our teams will do it right so that we don’t have up-and-down seasons. We become consistent winners. Now don’t get me wrong, we want to win, and I expect us to win. I am saying that we will not skip steps in creating the world-class athletic programs that USC deserves.
Chip: I’ve always said that USC, particularly football, should be in the national conversation each year.
Drew: I agree. In 2007, ESPN named USC the number one team of the decade. As recent as 2008, we were ranked number two at the end of the season. We’ve been national champions eleven times. The most recent was in 2004. Since then, we’ve played winning football, but we have not raised our level to what it was. We need to start going twelve and oh, not eight and four. Getting there will take time.