USC Morning Links: Comparing USC and Texas, Orgeron Opportunity and more links

Comparing the USC and Texas head-coaching jobs; more mail(Stewart Mandell | Sports Illustrated)

"Money is not an issue at either place, though Texas has more of it. Facilities may have been a concern at USC in the past, but they’re certainly not anymore. The John McKay Center, which opened last year, has all the bells and whistles one could ask for. Conversely, USC pays its head coaches plenty, but it’s not likely to give out $5 million a year, like Texas has to Mack Brown, or hire Greg Robinson as a quality control guy. Advantage, oil money."

Ed Orgeron embracing opportunity at USC(Andy Staples | Sports Illustrated)

"At about 2 a.m. on Monday, it sank in for Orgeron that he had finally gotten his chance to be a head coach again — and that he had gotten that chance at USC, the school where he made a name for himself as Pete Carroll’s foghorn-voiced defensive line coach, recruiting ace and sergeant-at-arms. On Wednesday, Orgeron opened his first Trojans practice with a Big Man Drill, a one-on-one competition designed to get the competitive juices flowing, and which the coach hoped would establish the physicality he will expect out of the USC player for the next two months. “This is my shot,” Orgeron said. “It’s our shot. Our shot as a team. I didn’t know if I’d ever become a head coach again. But I do have a shot, and I’m going to give it my best, I’ll tell you that.”"

First-and-10: USC can sit back and see which coaches are interested(Matt Hayes | Sporting News)

"For every coach who says he’s focusing on the job he has; for every administrator who says he won’t contact coaches during the season, I give you this: “I’ve already had two friends of mine, current coaches at BCS schools, call me and ask about USC,” a former Trojans assistant under Pete Carroll told Sporting News. “This is the way it works in our fraternity.” So when Haden says firing Kiffin now allows USC to get an early start on the process, what he’s saying is it allows potential candidates to do their own legwork on USC and make their intentions known. Potential candidates talk to friends and colleagues in the business; men and women who have direct, detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the job."

Coach Orgeron Era Officially Begins at USC, Players and Media React(Trenise Ferreira | Bleacher Report)

"The interim head coach said he planned to bring a little fun back to Troy, and so far, he’s delivering on his word. For the Trojans, it means they can move away from the uptight style of the Lane Kiffin era and let their hair down under Orgeron."