Steve Sarkisian has had some rough times personally, so you can imagine that he's not the best frame of mind right now.
That being said, Sarkisian has a history of venting behind close doors (he bashed Cal at a Washington donor event after snatching peak recruiter Tosh Lupoi away) and open ones (he made fun of fancy uniforms at Pac-12 Media Day, and Oregon was quick to pounce). Saturday night, he went peak Sark Week on Saturday Night at the Salute To Troy event. The Salute to Troy is the official kickoff to the USC football season and an annual school-sponsored event for big donors and is usually a festive showing.
But it turned south pretty quickly when Sark took the stage in front of the USC players, staff, coaches, their families and friends and all the assorted donors.
We only have some tidbits of his antics via Twitter, but here are the key points that we can focus on.
- Sarkisian was definitely drunk at the event and slurring his words during the speech. That's been confirmed by multiple sources at the party.
- Sarkisian dropped an F-Bomb while introducing his team to the donors. UPDATE: Here is the video.
Steve Sarkisian clip leaked: "GET READY TO F—ING FIGHT ON BABY!" http://t.co/FVRfSHnlba http://t.co/5Xap8odwLl
— Pacific Takes (@PacificTakes) August 23, 2025
- Sarkisian said that Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame all suck. Sark is 0-9 against Oregon and Arizona State and has always lost to the Ducks by three scores or more.
Sarkisian could not complete his speech and was pulled off stage by athletic director Pat Haden and John McKay Jr., son of former Trojan legend John McKay.
Sark apparently said some other inappropriate things during the speech that we cannot confirm at this time, but it sounds like a lot of Trojan donors who were present were not too happy with the proceedings. We'll update the post if we can confirm any of the other things.
It sure gives this Tweet a whole new level of meaning.
#TurnUpSC
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) July 18, 2025
UPDATE: Sarkisian has apologized in a statement from USC Athletics.
Here are USC head coach Steve Sarkisian and athletic director Pat Haden on Saturday night's Salute to Troy event:
Sarkisian: "I sincerely apologize to my players and staff and to our fans for my behavior and my inappropriate language at our kickoff event Saturday night. I have a responsibility to all of them and I let them down. Pat Haden talked to me after the event about my actions and I assured him this will not happen again."
Haden: "I met with Coach Sarkisian and I expressed my disappointment in the way he represented himself and the University at our Salute To Troy event. While the details of our conversation will remain between us, I am confident he heard my message loud and clear."
