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.