Interim USC AD Dave Roberts goes in-depth on his role and the AD search

Dave Roberts says taking over as USC's interim athletic director last month was like "getting hooked up to a firehose."

Since accepting the appointment, he's met with every USC athletic team individually, has made one hire to his support staff and is conducting an internal review of the athletic department.

What he's not doing, he made clear in an interview earlier this week with TrojanSports.com, is evaluating football coach Clay Helton's future or factoring into the search for a permanent athletic director.

"I'm not on the search committee, and I understand that because I'm sitting in the position. They've got a number of really highly-qualified people on that. They absolutely consulted me on what I thought were the issues, some thoughts about what I think an athletic director should or shouldn't be, and I'm quite sure they'll probably let me know what's going on," Roberts said.

"... I mean, it's just getting off the ground so it would be premature for me to tell you exactly how they're going to report to me, but I'm confident there will be consulting there, but I'm not going to be a decision-maker."

Asked about the process "just getting off the ground" -- Lynn Swann "resigned" as AD on Sept. 9 with the search committee already in place to find his replacement -- Roberts clarified that doesn't necessarily mean a decision is way in the distance still.

"I wouldn't say that. I suspect, and again I've kind of taken a hands-off view on this because I think it's fair that those people do it, I am quite confident there are some names that are probably at the top of the list that are probably going to be confidentially sought out and the question is are those people interested or not?" he said. "And if they're interested then it will probably move faster. If they're not then we're dropping back to a larger selection from a candidate group and it's probably going to take a little longer."

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Roberts, who meets regularly with university president Carol Folt, was USC's first vice president for athletic compliance from 2010-17 and has served on the NCAA's Committee on Infractions since 2015 (currently as the COI's vice chair). He also worked as an outside lawyer for USC previously and has a depth of familiarity with the school and athletic department from those varied perspectives.

In regard to his internal review and assessment of the department, Roberts was careful with his words when asked if he had any preconceived opinions about what was wrong or lacking prior to his appointment.

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