Is Lane Kiffin’s USC future in doubt?
USC coach Lane Kiffin has been the center of some controversy this season. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
The Pac-12 Conference’s reprimand and fine of the USC Trojans football team after a student manager intentionally deflated several footballs during the Trojans’ 62-51 loss to Oregon on Saturday may be the last straw for coach Lane Kiffin, according to Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times.
On the field, this team with unbeaten talent is 6-3 while gaining national recognition mostly for reckless penalties and questionable play-calling.
Off the field, Kiffin has dragged the team through an array of distractions and ethics dilemmas that have tarnished the athletic department’s sterling post-probation image cultivated by Athletic Director Pat Haden.
Kiffin was not hired by Haden, and there is now real doubt about his ability to keep his job beyond this season as the department sinks deeper into embarrassment. Kiffin was a Mike Garrett guy, and there are indications that Haden is ready to rid the program of the last traces of that legacy. As always, winning solves everything, and it appears Kiffin is going to have to do plenty of it in these final three regular-season games.
Like, maybe, win all of them?
At 37, Kiffin is the youngest coach of a Bowl Championship Series conference team. While he managed to avoid controversy during his first two seasons at USC — during the program’s NCAA probation — Kiffin has been criticized for recent decisions including banning visiting teams from Coliseum walk-throughs the day before games and temporarily banning a reporter from writing about injuries. Prior to the deflated ball incident, Kiffin changed jersey numbers on USC players possibly violating an NCAA ethics code.
I'll try this line that folks love to use on ND. Is USC still relevant?
Kiffin, a clown fired by Davis, left UT in shambles, and is running USCs program into the ground. Good bye Lane. Auburn, who has been known to turn its back on NCAA rules violations (wink wink, Cam, wink) will probably hired you and your recently "retired" daddy.
The problem is not with Kiffin,Its with Haden, If he would stand up and tell Kiffin to put down the play book and start looking at what the problem is on the field, the team might get some direction.
Solution, Get rid of Haden, then top down, get rid of Kiffin and his dad.
You can't spell sucks without USC.
@Notre Dude This "sucky" USC team has owned you recently. Shut your trap, and I'll see you back here after you get whooped in a couple weeks by us. USC ain't Pitt, townie...err friend.
Kiffin is a wimp a young punk undeserving of any coaching job especially a marquee job like USC. USC deserves better than Lame Lane the Liar.
I'm psychic - I've foreseen the future. U$C will dismiss Kiffin in January after the Trojans shuffle to a lifeless 7-6 finish, and after taking a few months off, he'll be offered a huge contract to replace Andy Reid coaching the Philadelphia Eagles.
It makes no sense, but neither has any other turn in this guy's inexplicable career.
Is Kiffin's future in doubt? It should be. Given his long trail of questionable ethics, it was a curious hire for a program trying to regain its integrity. Given that this is big time football, everyone was willing to look the other way as long as they won, but now he doesn't even have that to fall back on. Experiment failed. Time for somebody else.
@SanityClause Why all the talk about ethics? Sketchy character matters little if the coach in question can generate major revenue and win championships. The real problem with Kiffin is that he's been the recipient - repeatedly - of the most undeserved career advancements in the history of modern athletics. The guy's been a decent coach at best in his brief, odd history, but the college (and pro) world has treated him like a bonafide wunderkind and I just. Don't. Get. It.
@Michael14 @SanityClause Because his ethics are far below other coaches. That's why it stands out so much....
SoCal got what they wanted with Kiffen..They wanted someone that represents what they stand for..The world smiles!!
Kiffin will survive because Haden is a weak kneed AD and so is the USC administration and the NCAA President. Kiffen will continue to lose games and USC will continue to decline.
@Lionel when you as a school decide to hire a guy that you know is sketchy, but you want to win games more than you care how.... then Karma gets invented.... and here we are (again) with Kiffin (regardless if he really did something directly or indirectly..... you know its fishy regardless)
He disgraced his dad's name who's right there by his side.
Unequivocally, THE BIGGEST SCUM in college sports. Kiffin absolutely, positively knew about the deflated balls ....
which will be the term to describe Kiffin when he gets fired. He is pure scum with a litany of underhanded, indecent
activities ledgered on his resume. What a loser!
This team should have been a National title contender. When he was hired trouble was bound to ensue as there's been nothing but drama everywhere he has coached. Time to go, Lane...apologies to Matt Barkley who deserved a better end to his college career.
Didn't he also vote for his own team n the Coaches Poll and then lie about it. I know he gave up his right to vote in the poll. What a tool!
@maplot Now this I'll defend him on. He did not say I won't vote for my team #1. He said I wouldn't vote my team #1. That's a big difference. Won't means he's not going to. Wouldn't means if he were another coach. It might be semantics, but if he hadn't voted his team #1 then the media would have gotten hold of that and slammed him for not believing in his team. I'm no fan of his latest antics, but this one I think he got the shaft on.
USC not to worry. Kiffin can recruit...he might know X's and O's, but he can't coach. That Mike Garret experiment failed. So Haden and USC can go thru their long list of coaches who would jump at the chance to the the next big SC guy.
As a life long Tennessee fan, i can't think of a more deserving individual to be terminated from his coaching position. College Football will be better overall if Lame Kitten quietly moves off into the sunset. As for USC, be careful of what you wish for...... you may just get it.
They made the conscious decision to hire somebody who had repeatedly demonstrated a lack of character and they ended up with... a coach who lacks character. They are reaping what they sowed. How awesome that he's also falling apart. I just hope his next job isn't in the Pac 12. Maybe Arkansas will hire him.
@MPS
I doubt Kiffin will have a next job if he's fired from USC. MAYBE as a quarterbacks coach somewhere in college. That's it.
Think about it. Kiffin has burned a lot of bridges. He failed in the NFL and had a well publicized spat with the team owner. He didn't do well in one season at Tennessee, racked up violations, and then unprofessionally bailed abruptly on his new employer. Now he's failing at USC and racking up yet more controversies.
Prospective future employers will ask themselves what, objectively, Kiffin has to offer, what he's actually *done* as a head-coach. And the resume is simply terrible.
- can't be trusted to keep his program scandal free (Tennessee and USC, a clear trend)
- can't be trusted to be loyal (bailed on Tennessee, was unprofessional with the Raiders)
- can't be trusted to get winning results (failed with Raiders, failed with Tennessee, failing with USC)
+ he's a good recruiter
If Kiffin gets fired from USC, his career as a head-coach at any major level is already over at age 37. He can't trade on his father's name any more
ND fan here. Pat Haden is a class act and a guy of high moral character. He is extremely sensitive to USC's reputation and image. He won't tolerate this. I don't think that even beating ND and UCLA will save Kiffin's hide.
@EstebanRaphaelSoto I am also an ND fan and agree that Haden is a pretty classy guy. But then why, why, why, why, why would he hire this guy in the first place? It makes no sense.
@SanityClause @EstebanRaphaelSoto He didn't hire him. He's a holdover from the Mike Garrett era.
He probably has a job in waiting on Belichick's staff.
@ianlinross or maybe Pete Carol's
they deserve each other.....mahahaha!
bunch of freakin cheaters!
Deflating balls? Swapping jerseys? And the whole "no reporting about injuries" business. I really can't stand this kind of messing around at the edges of legality to try to get an advantage -- especially when they have talent pool SC has. It's more fun to root for Oregon. Fast, fun, friendly. And they're Ducks. I remember when the Trojans were might one year in the 60s and the Ducks weren't but won 3-0 in Oregon in the rain, costing SC a Rose Bowl berth. My dad, a diehard Trojan, about blew a main gasket. Funny how time changes things.
@JamesBadham1 "It's more fun to root for Oregon. Fast, fun, friendly. And they're Ducks" Well considering that half the "Ducks" team is smoking pot... I wouldn't be too fast to brag about them over USC. The current player make a play and rush to the sideline for a snack. Nacho's is thinking of being their main sponser next year.
@Ray9 @JamesBadham1 Not too familiar with the current batch of Ducks, are you? If they were stoned, they wouldn't be anywhere near as fast as they are.
@Ray9 @JamesBadham1 Wow, Ray, those grapes must taste pretty sour.
@JamesBadham1 Ummm, actually it was Oregon State that fielded the Giant Killers and defeated USC. However, that said, I agree with everything else you've raised regarding USC. They're not quite as bad as ND in trying to be great based upon their past, but they're working in that direction. I really think Kiffin as screwed up what should be a pretty good team, and there's little doubt he's got the bodies to have been a great team. Yes, he's short on depth, but that hasn't been the issue. This isn't about injuries...unless you count how Kiffin tries to lie about them.
@Craig @JamesBadham1 Right. It was OSU. A loooong time ago. Seemed like in those days every time SC went north, it rained and my dad spent an afternoon or longer freaking out!
kiffin--got all his jobs from his dad's name & background. He can't coach, but keeps getting hired for big jobs, somehow.
He looks the part. He talks the part. But, in the end, he can't back any of it up.
Monte must be so proud.
I really don't understand how Kiffin keeps getting these jobs. He's never proven himself to be anything but Monte Kiffin's son and a spoiled brat at that.
@nfinitwordsfoto He apparently is good at getting jobs, but not so good at keeping jobs. There's difference.
And here I thought the impudent sleazeball Kiffin would be the perfect match for the University of Spoiled Children...
I hate admitting I'm a USC fan, because they're pretty easy to take shots at, especially after something like the student manager thing, but I really think Pat Haden can put the whole athletic department back together. Hopefully their next coach (hopefully next season) will do right things the right way.
Here comes Nick Satan for the right price of course
@goatmanchu Please make that happen. LSU would love that.
@goatmanchu Oh man Nick Saban at USC would be FRIGHTENING. USC would be an unstoppable juggernaut.
A team with so much talent having to resort to cheating day in and day out, is a team suffering from low self esteem thanx to it's coach.
Why would any coach do any of those things. Nothing listed benefits your program, the walkthroughs etc only demonstrate the professional courtesy programs display to one another show a complete lack of professionalism. Athletic programs may be judged on winning and losing but I prefer to believe that programs at least at some levels are also responsible for sending a valid message about sportsmanship (that may sound naive) but I don't think it is. Anyway, it seems like something a classless program would do and if I were the Athletic Director I would have serious concerns
@stephenmcgilligan Agree completely
University of Serial Cheaters. Nuff Said
Yes, USC has done its share...but can you name any U powerhouses that have not? Don't think you can. I'm not a USC fan, and morever, I believe the entire NCAA system is broken. The cheating is rampant. I'm done with spoiled athletes of today.
I've never figured out Kiffin. What has he ever done to deserve the kind of coaching jobs he gets? Shouldn't USC have sought a coach with some history of success, rather than failure, embarrassment, and ethical issues like Kiffin had?Oh wait, this is the same school that hired Pete Carrol. Nevermind.
@bskott Pre-Pat Haden my friend. Even as an ND fan, I just love Haden and what he stands for, He's a scholar, an athlete and a gentleman with character. USC is lucky to have him. I watched him play at Bishop Amat in high school and have seen him grown into a leader.