USC's athletic department makeover continued Monday with the dismissal of three senior officials, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Steve Lopes, USC's longtime CFO/COO; Ron Orr, a senior associate athletic director who oversaw the Trojan Athletic Fund; and associate athletic director Scott Jacobson are out due in part to the recent controversies that have beset the department, including "Varsity Blues" admissions scandal, according to the report which attributed the information to unnamed sources.
USC hired Carol Folt as its news president last spring and she formally took over in the summer. It didn't take long for her to start the restructuring within the athletic department, as athletic director Lynn Swann "resigned" in September and Mike Bohn was hired away from Cincinnati in early November.
In the meantime, Dave Roberts served as the interim AD and conducted an internal review and assessment of the department, referring his recommendations on to Folt and Bohn, who retained Roberts as a special advisor.
Lopes was named CFO and COO in July 2012, but he began working in the department in 1984 as an assistant strength coach and later moved up to administrative assistant, business manager, finance director, assistant athletic director in 1992 and associate athletic director in 1995.
According to the LA Times report, Orr, a former All-American swimmer at USC, had been with the athletic department for as long as Lopes and was promoted to senior associate athletic director in 2010, taking control of Trojan Athletic Fund.
