Raveling, Garrett Seem to Lead USC Candidates for McGee’s Job

After a lengthy nationwide search to fill the position of athletic director, USC President Steven Sample is expected to conduct final interviews today with candidates he found on his own campus.

All indications are that George Raveling, USC’s basketball coach, and Mike Garrett, the school’s associate athletic director, are the leading candidates to take the place of the outgoing Mike McGee.

Barbara Hedges, the school’s former associate athletic director, apparently is not in contention for the position and, apparently, never was. Last week, the USC campus was buzzing with rumors that Hedges had been offered the job and would leave the athletic director post at Washington, where she inherited several alleged NCAA violations in the university’s football program.

Even though she was the subject of weeks of speculation in Seattle-area newspapers, Hedges has said she has not been contacted by USC, even though, she said through a spokesperson, she would not rule out the possibility of accepting if offered the job.

As it turns out, the Hedges rumors apparently were a welcome decoy for Sample because they helped him proceed with his process unfettered. Now, sources say that Sample is poised to make a decision this week or early next.

Raveling and Garrett appear to be acceptable to the majority of demanding boosters.

Neither would comment on the subject to The Times.

Raveling’s evolvement as a candidate has been the more interesting. Initially, he said he was not interested in leaving coaching for an administrative position. What Raveling is interested in is doing both.

Sources close to the well-liked coach have said that Raveling would accept the position if he could also coach for four more years. He is in the midst of assembling one of his best recruiting classes ever; Stais Boseman of Morningside and Jaha Wilson of San Francisco Riordon have committed to USC, and Raveling is hoping to land Avondre Jones of Artesia.

But the administrative demands of the athletic director position would make a four-year arrangement impractical. Sources say that Raveling was recently approached with the idea of taking the athletic director position and coaching only one more season.

Raveling, who is in his seventh season at USC, has returned respectability to Trojan basketball. He does not fit the definition of being a true member of the Trojan family, having graduated from Villanova, but in his case that doesn’t seem to be a large issue.

Administratively, Raveling is believed to have the skills required to run the department. He is the past president of the Black Coaches Assn., and, last season, turned down a job offer of executive director of the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches, saying that his players appealed to him to stay.

Garrett won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 as a USC running back. He returned to USC in 1990 and was considered by many to be the hand-picked successor to McGee, who leaves the job Friday.

McGee, who announced Nov. 30 that he would take the athletic director’s job at the University of South Carolina, has been back and forth between the two schools for the last month and a half, actually serving as athletic director in both places.

Sources say that one of the main reasons Garrett took the associate position was because of the possibility of succeeding McGee. At the time he joined USC, Garrett was director of business development at the Forum. He has a law degree and a reputation for a keen business sense.

Garrett oversees the USC athletic department’s financial affairs, personnel, contract compliance, football scheduling and corporate sponsorship.

Another candidate, Don Winston, might remain in the picture, but more as a possible compromise candidate for Sample. Winston, USC’s senior associate athletic director, is the sentimental favorite for the job among those who work in Heritage Hall. He is known for his success as a fund-raiser and is well-respected on campus and among the USC alumni.

Since McGee announced he was leaving USC, the search has fueled rumors and speculation. At one point, annoyed at the media attention given the subject, Sample placed a gag order on the committee that was formed to conduct a search.

The urgency of hiring an athletic director seemed to be lost after Larry Smith was forced to resign as football coach on New Year’s weekend and John Robinson was immediately hired.

That loss of urgency then gave way to a leisurely paced search that, 59 days after McGee stepped down, has apparently narrowed the field to Raveling and Garrett.

Times staff writer Mal Florence contributed to this story.