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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;USC&amp;nbsp;fired head coach Steve&amp;nbsp;Sarkisian&amp;nbsp;for cause, leaving the school under the impression that it will not have to pay the remaining three years of his five-year deal, according to ESPN's Joe Schad.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;USC fired Sarkisian after he left the team to reportedly seek alcohol treatment. The dismissal came after more details of Sarkisian's history of alcohol abuse were revealed.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sarkisian&amp;nbsp;learned of his firing from emails and texts from friends, Schad reports. USC athletic director Pat&amp;nbsp;Haden&amp;nbsp;attempted to reach Sarkisian over the phone, but the coach was traveling to an out-of-state treatment facility, where he is expected to spent at least 30 days.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Los Angeles Daily News&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;reported&amp;nbsp;on Sunday that Sarkisian was clearly intoxicated at a recent team meeting.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Los Angeles Times &lt;/em&gt;subsequently&amp;nbsp;reported&amp;nbsp;that Sarkisian\u2019s problems with alcohol dated back to his time as the head coach at Washington. Several former Huskies players told &lt;em&gt;The Los Angeles Times &lt;/em&gt;that they could smell alcohol on Sarkisian\u2019s breath during team meetings.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;USC president Max Nikias backs athletic director Pat Haden&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Los Angeles&amp;nbsp;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;Times&lt;/em&gt; also reviewed hundreds of pages of expense reports from Sarkisian\u2019s time at Washington, including a receipt from January 2013 that showed Sarkisian and three of his assistants ordered eight shots of hard liquor and five beers before noon.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In August, after he appeared to be intoxicated at a booster event, Sarkisian&amp;nbsp;told&amp;nbsp;reporters he would seek treatment for his alcohol consumption but that he did not have a drinking problem. He said his actions at the event were the result of mixing alcohol with an unspecified medication. Sarkisian also said in August he would \u201Cwithout a doubt\u201D swear off alcohol for the rest of the season.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sarkisian's recent mishap violated a recent agreement that was made after the coach's incident in August.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Offensive coordinator Clay Helton&amp;nbsp;is set to assume the team\u2019s interim head coaching duties as the Trojans face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;ROSENBERG: Sarkisian saga just latest example of USC mismanagement&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Christopher Chavez&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/10/14/steve-sarkisian-fired-usc-trojans-football-cause>