No hard feelings: Welcome extended to USC

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 9:58 a.m.

Attention Ripley's Believe It Or Not:

Guess who will be holding Las Vegas Bowl practices at UNLV's Rebel Park later this month?

Yep, USC.

That would be the same USC whose athletic director, Mike Garrett, fired current Rebels head coach and soon to be athletic director John Robinson by leaving a message on his telephone answering machine in 1997, less than two years after the Trojans had won a Rose Bowl.

That would be the same USC that made it clear that Robinson would be persona non grata at this summer's Salute To Troy banquet celebrating the 25th anniversary of Robinson's first Trojan team in 1976.

That would be the same USC that didn't bother to invite Robinson to be among the eight speakers at a recent on-campus function honoring the late John McKay, the man Robinson replaced as Trojan head coach in 1976.

So why are the Trojans going to be practicing just under Robinson's office window starting Dec. 20?

"(USC coach) Pete Carroll called me and asked me if he could use our field and facilities and I said yes," Robinson said. "We'll mark the field for them. We're not charging them anything. ... It's just the natural thing to do."

Still, considering his well-publicized feud with Garrett, who didn't even speak to Robinson during his final year as USC head coach in 1997, why wouldn't Robinson just tell the Trojans to practice at some local high school field or on the old Las Vegas Outlaws practice fields outside Sam Boyd Stadium?

"I'm not bitter at USC," Robinson, who coached the Trojans to their last national championship in 1978, said. "It's long held a special place in my heart. I've always thought that SC was a great place, and I still have a lot of affection for a lot of the people there."

Robinson will probably only be around for the Trojans' first practice tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Dec. 20. After that, he said he will be traveling to California and Arizona to spend Christmas with his family.

Robinson recruited many of the players on USC's roster, including starting linebackers Mike Pollard and Frank Strong, defensive backs Antuan Simmons and Kris Richard, defensive lineman Ryan Nielsen and Lonnie Ford, offensive lineman Faaesea Mailo and Zach Wilson, fullback Charlie Landrigan, tight end Kori Dickerson as well as quarterback Carson Palmer, who committed shortly after his firing.

Meanwhile, Utah is expected to practice on the football fields outside the north end of Sam Boyd Stadium.