Kiffin keeps falling forward to USC
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
So lets sort out this Lane Kiffin from Tennessee to Southern California deal as best as we can.
USC, one of the top-five jobs in college football, just hired a guy who went 7-6 in his only season as a college head coach. He previously went 5-15 for the Oakland Raiders. Sure, Lane brings his dad, Monte, with him as defensive coordinator, but for how long?
USC, which is facing a multi-sport, department-wide NCAA bloodletting next month, just hired a guy who in his tenure at Tennessee was a walking secondary violation (six of them), had two players booted off the team after an attempted armed robbery and leaves with NCAA investigators looking into how the program used recruiting hostesses. And, of course, he was a Trojan assistant when the compliance trouble USC must answer for began.
USC, which is still smarting from the supposed disloyalty of Pete Carroll (who left after nine years, mind you), just hired a guy who Raiders owner Al Davis accused of being immature and a flat-out liar. Kiffin, 34, did his best to disprove Davis by walking out after a single season on a UT administration that gave him a plum SEC job for no known reason.
(Wait, did USC athletic director Mike Garrett just make Al Davis look like he was correct about something?)
Oh, and Tennessee? That roll of the dice on the Smirk of the South leaves them coachless weeks before signing day when finding a viable replacement is exponentially more difficult. Hey, the one-liners about the Gators and the Pahokee High fax machine were fun while they lasted though, right?
Mike Garrett And despite all of that, I dont think this was the worst move by the Trojans.
It tells you what you need to know about Garrett and Kiffin, both of whom deserve plenty of ridicule. In terms of potential wins and losses though, this might actually work out. Thats especially true if USC winds up with a staff that includes Norm Chow as offensive coordinator and Monte Kiffin as defensive coordinator.
Of course, Lane also needs to avoid self-destructing and no one, absolutely no one, can guarantee that wont happen.
In the meantime, the real question is who is cackling harder right now: 1. Urban Meyer, 2. Phil Fulmer, 3. Notre Dame fans?
Fulmer, no doubt, doesnt look so old and uncool to the fans who wanted him out (didnt you see me in The Blind Side?). ND can point out that when it took a flyer on an unproven coach at least Charlie Weis had four Super Bowl rings as an assistant. As an added bonus, it now has a coach, Brian Kelly, who might have a decided schematic advantage over their archrival after all.
That said, based on the video of a laughing Meyer checking his text messages at Tuesdays Florida basketball game, well go with No. 1. If nothing else, Meyers stress level just returned to normal. This clinches it. Soon, the Gators are getting their daddy back.
The least happy person is Volunteer AD Mike Hamilton. He stuck his neck out for Kiffin because Kiffin talked a good game and, hey, when the clairvoyant Al Davis (for about 15 minutes) thinks someone might be the perfect coach for his new franchise quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, how dont you pay attention?
Now Hamilton is stuck wondering what happened and hoping, when it comes to an NCAA investigation, that nothing actually did. Good luck to Hamilton finding an SEC-level coach at this time of year. This will be especially difficult since the Kiffin debacle will likely undermine his authority and send his boosters into a state of infighting chaos.
After all, Tuesday night police were called in to break up a crowd of fans who were standing outside the football offices chanting obscenities about Kiffin, according to local news reports.
Or, consider my five favorite thread titles on the Volquest message boards Tuesday night (or, at least the printable ones).
5. Glad I only named my dog Kiffin.
4. Al Davis wasnt as crazy as we all thought.
3. Pat Summitt is more of a man than Lane Kiffin.
2. Its like getting a divorce from a stripper!
1. Layla can stay.
