Plenty of people who work in college sports administration are interested in the USC job. Who wouldn’t want the USC job? The Trojans have a top-tier football program, a men’s basketball program which will probably be ranked in the top 15 heading into the coming season, and a women’s basketball program which is on the verge of taking off. The baseball program has rebounded from years of struggles. It’s a very good time for a proven athletic director to move up the ladder and go to USC if offered the job.
Yet, while we can talk about the proven ADs and the stars of the profession, there are also the athletic directors who have done good work at smaller, lower-profile programs and are waiting for an elite job.
At The Voice of College Football, the Trojan Conquest Live show — which aired Sunday evening — explored various tiers of candidates. One tier was the group of candidates looking for their big step up the ladder. Younger ADs at Group of Five or FCS schools would love to get the chance to lead USC athletics: