To Chad Bowden, no detail is too small.
USC football’s new general manager has seen enough during his rapid rise through the personnel ranks to know little things can make a major impact on a program. So when he first took the reins of USC’s front office in late January, Bowden set out looking for something small to improve right away, to get the ball rolling and set a tone in the building.
He started with the toilet paper.
“Charmin Ultra Soft,” Bowden said, with a smile. “I got it in every bathroom now for our players.”
His tireless efforts since then to revamp the front office have energized the entire program this spring, sparking a stunning run on the recruiting trail that has USC — and its 22 commitments, eight more than any other school — atop every possible ranking for the class of 2026.
Read more:Professor Pete Carroll finds a rapt USC audience for his 'Win Forever' philosophy
The vibes around USC have been especially good since Bowden’s arrival. And if you ask him, the extra-soft toilet paper — or, at least, the idea behind it — is part of that reason.
Recently, one USC coach joked that it was the best change he’d made in two months on the job.
“It might not matter to some people,” Bowden said. “But everything matters in what you’re doing in a program. If you focus on that, there is a belief that starts to bleed out into the program of like, ‘Oh, we’re going to be on point in everything we do. Because that’s who we are now.’”
His first two months have been focused, in large part, on making that point — that every detail matters.
Bowden sat down with The Times on Thursday to discuss the little things that matter, his first two months on the job and his thoughts on the future. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How do you identify the little things within this program that you zeroed in on?
Everything matters. The amount of sleep our players are getting, the amount of sleep our coaches are getting, the type of life we’re all living. I think about how everything our players are doing, every single hour of every single day, matters. Everything matters. We just got out of a player success meeting, going over every single player, whether it has to do with academics, whether they’re sleeping right, what they’re eating from a nutrition standpoint, how they’re doing in the weight room. This whole thing is not just about football. It’s about developing young people. That goes with doing the little things. Accountability and discipline, we’re looking to instill discipline in this football program and take care of the little things to the best of our ability, to help them grow as men.
When did it become clear to you that the small details matter that much?
It’s always mattered to me in this profession. I didn’t really understand it. I think at my previous stop, I learned a lot about every avenue and how it all works together and how every detail of their day and every detail of this football program matters. Because if everything is aligning, from our toilet paper to them being in the B Gap, or them making sure when they’re coming back on a stop route that it’s at the yard marker you’re asking them. Every single detail matters. And if you treat it that way, you’re going to get the type of results that lead to really ...
