Should Swann serve as USC's AD for 10 years or more, he would remain at the school through at least '26GETTY MAGES
USC AD LYNN SWANN said that he is "here for the long haul," or at least for the "next seven years to get him to his goal of 10." Swann said, "In corporate America, they look at a tenure of a CEO and they say 10 years is about right." However, given what has "transpired over the last 18 months" at USC, it is "hard to imagine Swann reaching a decade, let alone half that, on the job" (L.A. TIMES, 3/17).
THE GOOD STUFF: NFL Panthers Owner DAVID TEPPER provided West Charlotte High School's basketball team with "two charter buses to make the trip to Raleigh" for the state championship, and also covered the team's hotel rooms Friday night. Before Tepper's gift, West Charlotte "had planned to drive up to Raleigh on Saturday morning." Tepper also paid for the West Charlotte "cheerleaders to go up on another bus Saturday" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/16)....The D-backs held their 13th annual Evening on the Diamond event at Chase Field Sunday, which raised $2.7M to benefit the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation (D-backs).
NAMES: Former Auburn men's basketball assistant coach CHUCK PERSON has "agreed to plead guilty to accepting bribes from an FBI cooperating witness to influence Tigers players to sign with certain financial advisers and business managers once they turned pro." Person's "hearing is scheduled for Tuesday" in N.Y. (ESPN.com, 3/15)....Saints QB DREW BREES and Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar co-Founder BRANDON LANDRY are "teaming up to open a new casual-dining restaurant near the LSU campus this summer, built using shipping containers." The new restaurant, Smalls Sliders, will "specialize in cooked-to-order premium slider burgers" (THEADVOCATE.com, 3/15)....The Big East "named the media work room" at the conference's basketball tournament after late AP college basketball reporter JIM O'CONNELL (NYPOST.com, 3/16).
IN MEMORY: AL SILVERMAN, a magazine editor and publishing exec who worked with Pro Football HOFer GAYLE SAYERS on an "autobiography that was adapted" into the movie "BRIAN'S SONG," died March 10 at his Manhattan home. He was 92. Silverman was "well known in sports publishing" and served as Sport magazine's Editor-in-Chief starting in '60 (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16). In the '60s, during an “era when journalists did not probe too deeply into athletes’ personal lives,” Silverman “became friendly with many sports stars and published several biographies and as-told-to memoirs” (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/16)….Catholic Priest GLENN O’CONNOR, known in racing circles as the “Priest of the Pits,” died on Friday at the age of 66. For more than four decades, O’Connor was a fixture at the Indianapolis 500 and other IndyCar races (INDYSTAR.com, 3/16).
