Junior Pomee has been removed from the USC Trojans. (Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

University of Southern California tight end Junior Pomee has been charged with five felonies on the suspicion that he received stolen goods, and head coach Lane Kiffin said he has been removed from “all team activities until we get all the information.”

Pomee is facing charges of grand theft, burglary and possession of stolen goods after being arrested last week near the USC campus, according to a report from The Los Angeles Times. Among the stolen goods that he had in his possession were an iPad, an iPad Mini and an iPhone 5. He plead not guilty at a Jan. 31 court appearance and is scheduled to be back in court Feb. 15.

“[O]fficers responded to an intoxicated student who passed out in an alley behind the location. The student became combative when contacted by the officers and had to be physically subdued. The officers found the student in possession of a tablet computer and other property that did not belong to him and they subsequently determined that the items had been stolen.”

Pomee, who stands 6′ 3″ and weighs 250 pounds, is a sophomore at USC. He red-shirted as a freshman, playing in every game last season but did not catch a pass.  He is free on $110,000 bail until his next court appearance.

USC athletic director Pat Haden says coach Lane Kiffin’s job is safe for now. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

USC athletic director Pat Haden gave a wide-ranging interview to the Los Angeles Times about the state of his program and gave no indiction that head football coach Lane Kiffin’s job is in jeopardy.

USC began the season ranked #1 in the Associated Press preseason poll and ended the season at 7-6 after a blowout loss to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.

Haden said whatever problems the Trojans have “can be fixed and they all can be fixed by Lane Kiffin.”

“His reputation,” Haden said about Kiffin, “it’s going to be really hard to sanitize that over time unless he kind of wins a lot of games and does things right, which we plan to do. He’s anti-Teflon.”I mean, stuff sticks to him that doesn’t even belong on him.

When asked what it would take for Kiffin to keep his job beyond next season, Haden was less than forthcoming.

“I’m not answering that question,” Haden said. “Sometimes when you’re calling plays . . . you don’t sense maybe the whole team. So I think he has to really sense the whole team and feel and have the relationship with the whole team.”

It was a disappointing season for Robert Woods and the USC Trojans. (Harry How/Getty Images Sport)

Ten to 15 USC players were involved in an altercation in the team’s locker room after the preseason No. 1 team in the nation closed its season with a loss in the Sun Bowl, reports the Los Angeles Daily News‘ Scott Wolf.

Wolf, citing “sources,” reports that the altercation started when a group of freshmen questioned the effort given by some of the team’s seniors in the 21-7 loss to Georgia Tech. The Trojans finished the year 7-6.

“It was one of the worst things I’ve seen in a locker room,” a player who didn’t want to be identified told Wolf.

The Trojans entered the year ranked first in the Associated Press poll, and senior quarterback Matt Barkley was considered one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy.

But the past few months have been turbulent for the Trojans – both off and on the field.

Back in August, head coach Lane Kiffin voted USC No. 1 — after saying he wouldn’t.

The Trojans came under scrutiny for swapping the jersey number of its backup quarterback against Colorado. Later in the season, USC was fined $25,000 after one of its student managers deflated footballs during the team’s game with Oregon.

On the field, USC’s offense struggled in a loss to Stanford early in the year. After four straight wins, the Trojans collapsed down the stretch. USC lost five of its final six games — to Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. Barkley didn’t play as well as in 2011 and was injured late in the season.

Kiffin’s father, long-time NFL assistant Monte Kiffin, resigned as defensive coordinator after the regular season.

USC defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin will resign from his position after the school’s bowl game to “pursue opportunities in the NFL,” the program announced Thursday night via Twitter.

USC assistant football coach Monte Kiffin has resigned effective after the bowl game to pursue opportunities in the NFL.

— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) November 30, 2012

Kiffin has coached the Trojans’ defense for the past three seasons under his son, head coach Lane Kiffin. He came under increased scrutiny late in the season, as USC struggled down the stretch. In the midst of a 1-4 end to the season, the Trojans defense gave up a program-record 62 points in a loss to Oregon. USC ranked just 63rd in total defense this season.

CBS’ Bruce Feldman reported recently that a consulting job in Seattle could be a potential NFL landing spot for the elder Kiffin.

Matt Barkley was injured on a sack by Anthony Barr late in UCLA’s win. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Lane Kiffin told the media Sunday that USC senior quarterback won’t play against Notre Dame on Saturday. Kiffin has selected backup quarterback Max Wittek as his starter.

Kiffin classified Barkley’s injury as an AC sprain to his shoulder. Barkley was injured while being sacked from behind by Anthony Barr late in the game.

Barkley left the Rose Bowl with his arm in a sling.

USC is the only team standing in the way of Notre Dame claiming the No. 1 spot in the BCS rankings and a berth in the national championship game.

Lane Kiffin’s job is safe at least for another season. (Harry How/Getty Images)

Despite USC being the first preseason #1 team to lose four regular season games since 1984, athletic director Pat Haden said head coach Lane Kiffin will be the coach next season, reports ESPN.com.

When asked via text message by ESPN.com if Kiffin would be the coach in 2013, Haden said ”Absolutely.”

The Trojans (No. 18 BCS, No. 21 AP) entered the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, but have lost to Stanford, Arizona, Oregon and UCLA, with three of those losses in the past month, to drop to 7-4.

“Obviously, we’re extremely disappointed in the season. We’re too talented to have this many losses, and that falls on me,” said Kiffin, who is in his third season with USC and has an overall record of 25-11.

Kiffin reportedly escaped the Rose Bowl through an emergency exit to avoid the media after USC lost 38-28 to crosstown rivals UCLA on Saturday. The Trojans play third-ranked and undefeated Notre Dame next week.

Lane Kiffin’s tenure at Tennessee has resulted in additional penalties. (Mike Zarrilli, Getty Images)

The University of Tennessee’s football program has been hit with another setback, albeit a relatively minor one.

The university and the NCAA announced Friday that the football program will receive additional penalties relating to recruiting violations when Lane Kiffin was head coach. Tennessee’s probation will be extended for two years, and the coaching staff will have 47 official recruiting visits allowed, down from 51 before the penalties. Tennessee is also forbidden from providing recruits free tickets to their first two SEC games next season.

The penalties stem from the actions of former assistant coach Mack Garza, according to a USA Today report. Garza funded a recruits visit to campus and then lied to the NCAA authorities during the course of the investigation.

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.

USC coach Lane Kiffin voted his team No. 1 — after saying he wouldn’t. (Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

USC coach Lane Kiffin voted his team No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sport Coaches’ Poll, after telling reporters that he would not vote the Trojans No. 1, reports USA TODAY‘s Brent Schrotenboer.

“I would not vote USC No. 1, I can tell you that,” Kiffin had told reporters earlier in the week.

USA TODAY revealed that Kiffin had in fact voted for the Trojans as the top team in the nation. (Coaches’ votes are confidential, except if they make what appear to be “false or misleading” comments about their vote publicly.)

Kiffin clarified his comments to USA TODAY on Thursday. He said that he meant that if he was a member of the media or another coach, he wouldn’t pick the Trojans because the program is still under scholarship restrictions.

“We have less players than everybody else,” Kiffin told USA TODAY. “So looking at it from the outside, I wouldn’t (vote USC No. 1). Did I? Yeah, I did. That’s not based off of 75 vs. 85. That’s based off of (USC players) Matt Barkley, T.J. McDonald and Robert Woods and Marqise Lee. When everybody has the same record, I can’t go into a meeting with our players and have them say, ‘You put that team and that team ahead of us.’ That’s why I did that.”

Silas Redd was slated to be one of three Penn State representatives at Big Ten media days beginning Thursday.

But the star runningback was exchanged for senior linebacker Michael Mauti after Redd decided to meet with University of Southern California’s head coach Lane Kiffin on Thursday.

According to ESPN’s Joe Schad on ESPNU, Redd is meeting with Kiffin on Thursday to discuss a potential transfer. The NCAA has ruled that players may transfer from Penn State without having to sit out a season.

But USC is already at full capacity with their scholarships, and CBSSports.com’s Bruce Feldman offered two scenarios for Redd to become a Trojan.

If Silas Redd ends up going to USC, expect a walk-on who had been placed on scholarship to come back off to make room.

—
Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) July 26, 2012

Mauti was one of nearly two dozen Nittany Lions who, in front of several reporters and cameras, reiterated their commitment to Penn State. Redd was not among them.

On Wednesday, Penn State released a promotional football video on YouTube.

University of Southern California coach Lane Kiffin was fined $10,000 for comments about the officiating in USC’s triple overtime loss to Stanford Saturday, several media reports have indicated.

Kiffin was largely upset with the fact that his team wasn’t granted a timeout at the end of regulation, even though he had alerted officials before the play that he wanted to use one at the conclusion of the play. Replays showed that a second remained when Trojans receiver Robert Woods was tackled, but no timeout was given. The ball was at Stanford’s 33 yard line, and Kiffin hoped to attempt a game winning field goal.

Referee Michael Batlan defended his crew’s decision, saying that an official must signify a timeout for it to take affect.

“The ruling on the field was that we were going to overtime,” Batlan said after the game. “Any coach can ask for a timeout, but he doesn’t get one until an official grants or signifies it. I was not a part of any conversation or meeting with regards to a requested timeout.”