Diary Series: Bob Cantu, Assoc. Head Coach - USC

Well for the first time in my career I can really appreciate what it means and feels like to win by suffering through the true feeling of losing this season.

We have lost more players in a two year period than any D-I team in America. Between losing a top recruiting class after a coaching change, NBA Draft picks, graduation, and injuries we have truly began the rebuilding process with only one player that even played last year.

Since our team has been struggling I decided to discuss and comment about other things happening in sports.

First of all I am a huge 49ers fan and am so excited that we are one game away from a Super Bowl appearance. Jim Harbaugh is an amazing coach. I always enjoyed watching him and Pete Carroll go at it in college.  He has pretty much the same team as last year.

I also have been amazed at all the coverage of Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow. He is a true competitor that believes in himself. Crazy how he changed the Broncos and got them to the playoffs.

The coach that I truly respect and would like to learn more about is Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban. His presence is amazing and what he has done at Alabama is remarkable. I would love to follow him around and observe him for a few days. I remember when they lost to Louisiana-Monroe during rebuilding and everyone was upset. Seems like so long ago now. He is a recruiting head coach and I always believe that recruiting head coaches change programs in any sport and any level.

I think as a coach we can learn so much from coaches of other sports and women's coaches. Kim Mulkey at Baylor is an amazing coach who has achieved greatness in a tough region. Her teams are tough and play hard. I have gotten to know her and really enjoy watching her teams compete.

I am also a huge Laker fan and have been watching them closely. I remember staying home from school in 1987 to watch the Laker Championship parade on TV. Kobe Bryant is playing so well. He is still the best player in the NBA after all these years.

One of the things I do enjoy daily is reading the box scores of all the current USC Trojans in the NBA. We have six currently playing. Brian Scalabrine and Taj Gibson with the Chicago Bulls, Demar Derozan with the Raptors, Nick Young with the Wizards, OJ Mayo with the Memphis Grizzlies, and Nikola Vucevic with the Philadelphia 76ers... They are all playing significant minutes and its exciting to follow them daily. The good thing is that most of them come to USC in the summer to work out and so I get to catch up with them.

Best of luck to everyone the remainder of your seasons!

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