Starting Fresh – What are the priorities for five new first-year head coaches?

Steve Sarkisian’s first team meeting as head coach of the Southern California Trojans lasted an hour. There was no planned speech, only bullet-pointed priorities on what he expected from his players and what they could expect from their new coach. He strived to make his introduction as real as possible.“I don’t think you should come into that first meeting (with a new team) believing that you’re going to win over all the players,” said Sarkisian, who, after five successful seasons at Washington, was named head coach at USC on Dec. 3, 2013. “Try to give them an idea of what’s to come. Try to hit the main points that you know that you’re going to continually be coming back to in the months leading forward. And then you just try to give them an idea of who you are and what you’re about.”His introductory meeting at Washington featured a different message than the one at