Ed Orgeron needed a rope.

In late September 2013, Orgeron had been named interim coach at USC , following the school's infamous middle-of-the-night firing of Lane Kiffin on the tarmac at LAX . Orgeron had been a head coach at Ole Miss , and now had another opportunity, at a program he loved. He wrote down several things he wanted to do in operating the USC program.

First, he borrowed an exercise from former Trojans coach Pete Carroll, and obtained a rope from the fire department. He assembled everyone involved in the program -- players, coaches, support staff, even administrators -- and paired up groups for tug-of-war: running backs against linebackers, offensive line against defensive line, and so on.

"I got the coaching staff to pull against the administration, and I let the dam

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