This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Steve Sarkisian was looking to have some fun.

That was what he said, back when he was in his first year as quarterback at BYU. The year was 1995, and the Cougars had run through a tough season, their first punctuated without a bowl game in nearly two decades. They were blown out by Air Force and UCLA, badly beaten by Arizona State and Utah.

Sarkisian, too, had had a difficult time. In the ASU loss, he threw an interception and fumbled on the BYU 1-yard line, enabling the Sun Devils to come back from an eight-point deficit. He threw four picks against the Utes, and, on one sorry play, lined up behind Elias Faupula to take the snap. Problem was, Faupula wasn't the center. He was the right guard. Utah defensive tackle Henry Kaufusi kindly directed Sarkisian back to the correct place and position.

The quarterback tried and tried again to be what BYU needed him to be that season. He just couldn't quite do it.

"That's what was so frustrating," he said at the time. "The harder I tried, the worse it got."

It's cruel, how football sometimes mirrors life.

Twenty years later, Sarkisian was fired as USC's head coach on Monday after appearing one-off at a team meeting on Sunday morning, behaving strangely before disappearing and missing practice. An unnamed USC player told the L.A. Times that Sarkisian "did not seem right" at the meeting. During a recent game, ironically, at Arizona State, the coach acted less than his normal self. In August, he had seemed intoxicated at a USC booster event, at which he slurred his words and used profanity in front of the crowd.

At that time, Sarkisian explained his behavior away, saying he had mixed drinking a small amount of alcohol with taking a medication. He also said he didn't know if he had a drinking problem, that he would seek counseling to find out. He apologized and said his actions would "not happen again."

But, then, they did happen again.

After talking with Sarkisian on Sunday, Trojan athletic director Pat Haden determined that the coach was "not healthy." He initially put him on leave, and then, a day later, fired him.

There are those who are criticizing both Sarkisian and Haden, Sarkisian for setting a poor example for his players, and Haden for allowing his coach to do so by dawdling on the matter. When evidence of Sarkisian's issues first arose, the L.A. Times contacted numerous people at Washington, where Sarkisian had coached for five years before taking the job at USC, and reported that Sarkisian's drinking was known by those in and around the program there.

Whatever.

This isn't a football issue. It's a life issue.

It affects a high-profile college football team to be sure, it's an embarrassment to a university, but, more significantly, it's a tale of a talented man who is ill, a man who needs help, a man going through a divorce, working a pressure-packed job, looking for relief in the wrong places. If he didn't know he had a problem in August, that veil of denial surely has been ripped away now.

His firing is the best thing that could happen to him.

The sidelines of the Coliseum, with his team losing two straight home games, with a hundred thousand fans baffled and angry after having such high expectations for a great year, is no place for an ailing man to get well.

That has to happen away from the burn of the spotlight. Pray that will happen for Steve Sarkisian now.

Back to the reflection in football's mirror: When the QB was plowing through that arduous first year at BYU, he finished up the season with a great game against Fresno State, a game during which he completed 31 of 34 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns.

Afterward, he said: "I was relaxed going into that game. I told myself, 'I am going to have fun. I am going to enjoy this. I am not going to put pressure on myself. I am going to remember that the only reason I started playing this game as a kid was because I loved it.' At times this season, I wasn't having fun. I put too much pressure on myself. I tried to go out and win games. But the times when I just did my job and everybody else did theirs, we performed our best. I'm excited about next year. I'm going to relax, sit back and enjoy it. Take time to soak it up and have fun."

That next season, Sarkisian led BYU to one of its most memorable years in the school's history, going 14-1 and beating Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. He was a big part of that success — as a custodian more than a star.

He won, and he can win again.

Not so much in football, in life. Maybe, one day, in football, too.

Those who want to judge Sarkisian will do whatever they do. He set a lousy example for his players, he denied his problem and he lied, covering up his habits when he could have, instead, openly sought the aid of those who could help him change them. He was confused and lined up behind the right guard rather than the center.

He was sick.

Let him heal, away from the commotion of high-level competition and everything that surrounds it. Let some kindly body direct him back to the correct place and position. Then, he can find some peace, some real fun, and the kind of victory that matters most.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson. —

Steve Sarkisian's coaching record

Year School Rec

2009 Washington 5-7

2010 Washington 7-6

2011 Washington 7-6

2012 Washington 7-6

2013 Washington 9-4

2014 Southern Cal 9-4

2015 Southern Cal 3-2

Total 47-35