It took just 64 days at head coach for Coach O to prove that he was much more than that. Gone are the days of the Cookie Monster, gone are the days of In-N-Out, and gone are the days of "One Team, One Heartbeat." In the wake of the Sarkisian hire, the Trojan players, students and alumni are going to have to adjust to a life without the coach that turned around 2013.

 

Throughout the past nine weeks, Coach Orgeron elevated himself from interim head coach to the team's father figure. He brought a unity to the bench that was visibly lacking during the Kiffin era. He conjured up a nostalgic feeling that made the fan base recall the days of unquestioned and unparalleled national dominance from the Pete Carroll days. Yesterday, he was a celebrity in one of the largest cities in the world. Today, he is back home on the Bayou inquiring about colors other than Cardinal and Gold. 

With that said, the hire of Steve Sarkisian by AD Pat Haden wasn't the wrong move; in fact, it was probably the right one. Sarkisian is a head coach with Pac-12 and USC experience who, along with possible fellow defector Tosh Lupoi, can recruit. In fact, Sarkisian pulled off an even greater turnaround for Washington than Orgeron did for USC. He took a team that was winless and made them a force to be reckoned with. He took a team with little to no talent and made it a competitor.

Now, as he enters an environment featuring the most talented team in the Pac-12, according to former head coach Lane Kiffin, Sarkisian just might be the man to turn 9 wins into 12 or 13. The problem is getting everyone to back him. What defined Orgeron's short tenure as head coach wasn't his record, and it wasn't even the signature win against Stanford.

Instead, it was his power to get people to the Coliseum to cheer on the Trojans. It was the fourteen percent increase in attendance at home games and the intangible rejuvenation of the fans which made Orgeron the biggest man on campus. Orgeron may have lost games against UCLA and Notre Dame, but the new energy that he found might have been worth more than numbers in the win column.

What will define Sarkisian as a coach is whether or not he can maintain that vigor which Coach O brought to the sidelines, a task that even Orgeron himself struggled to handle. Following the first quarter of the UCLA game last Saturday, the bench was noticeably unenergetic, the Coliseum was quieter, and the Trojans were playing tiredly. Not even the man who reinvigorated the team could keep the fire blazing.

Sarkisian's first test as a head coach won't be in next August when the Trojans open up at home against Fresno State, in what could be a potential Las Vegas bowl rematch. His first hurdle will be rallying the team around him and fostering the family atmosphere about which so many players have raved this season. Based on the Twitter reactions of the players following Orgeron's resignation, USC is a house divided, and a house divided cannot stand. 

At the end of the day, Orgeron probably wasn't the right man for the job in 2014. His wins were impressive, but his 0-2 record against USC's rivals is hard to overlook. Orgeron's greatest addition to the team wasn't the victories; it was the little taste he gave to the Arrogant Nation about what USC football used to be about and what it could be about again: clutch wins, tradition, and a whole lot of pride.

Over the next few months, it will be up to Sarkisian to turn that taste into something more, but for now, the campus can only wait and see.