March 28, 2024

In-Fighting Going on at SoCal

It’s bad enough the USC Trojans are on double secret probation, had to give back a Heisman trophy, have a new AD and don’t forget they have a head coach who got chased out of Tennessee. Now USC has an alum who is considered royalty in coaching, considering he has the longest coaching tenure in the NFL, suing head Coach Lane Kiffin over the theft of an offensive coach. A freaking running backs coach nevertheless.

Kennedy Pola left the Tennessee Titans to become the offensive coordinator at USC even though Jeff Fisher was never aware until after the fact. You have to figure this process was going on during Mike Garrett’s term as AD and was already in motion by the time Pat Haden came into the office as the new AD.  I can’t believe Haden would have allowed this to happen without reaching out to Jeff Fisher especially since they know each other.

Personally, I don’t see Lane Kiffin at USC very long past this year as he has a way to even make me feel sorry for Al Davis. This guy is bad news for the university and for amateur athletics as a whole.

USC Gets Smart and Hires New AD

The USC of the west coast has finally put to pasture Mike Garrett who was their AD for the last 17 years. USC has hired Pat Haden who in the 1970’s quarterbacked the Trojans to three Rose Bowls, two National Championships and was a Rhodes Scholar before playing in the NFL for the Rams from 1976-81.  Recently he was an analyst for Notre Dame football on NBC and is a partner for a venture capital firm in LA. Haden will begin reporting to the president of the University August 3rd.

This hire will bring stability to an athletic program which is one of the best in the country, but also one of the dirtiest in recent years.

USC Already Paying the Price

It hasn’t even been a month yet and the USC football program is already feeling the effects of the NCAA sanctions levied on them. The best offensive lineman in all of high school football last year Seantrel Henderson has pulled out of his commitment to the Trojans. Henderson starred for Cretin-Derham Hall in Minnesota and was named 2009 USA Today’s offensive player of the year. The 6’8 337 pound behemoth was seen in Coral Gables over the weekend and will more than likely be a Hurricane before the week ends.

Lane, if you don’t already know this it is going to be a long two years for you in LA. Enjoy!

Lane Kiffin’s Arrogance is Despicable

Lane Kiffin has been with USC for all of two weeks yet he has already found enough time to commit a recruiting violation. According to reports from several sources the new head coach of USC decided to pick up a recruit recently from the airport in a limo. While it is only a secondary violation it is just another example that Lane Kiffin thinks he is untouchable. During his reign as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers the football program reported SIX secondary violations and the NCAA is looking into two other possible violations. I’m still amazed this joker is regarded as a top notch coach when you consider how poorly he did with the Raiders and was only 7-6 with the Volunteers. If he didn’t surround himself with the highest paid college coaching staff in the nation it wouldn’t take long at all to find out Lane is a complete fraud. I hope USC is happy with their choice now because I don’t think the happiness will last very long.

WTF? WOW! and makes sense

Say it aint so? Another coach ala Mike White from the west coast has worn out his welcome in the SEC.

Lane Kiffin has accepted the USC head coaching job and I think the Trojans really did get their man and he was more than happy to get out of Knoxville and Tennessee is more than accommodating to allow it to happen.

He doesn’t come alone as family and friends are on the plane.  Kiffin will bring his father and defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, and assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron (ex-Mississippi head coach) to Southern Cal with him. Wide receivers coach Kippy Brown will be named interim head coach at Tennessee, but that won’t last for long.

With Kiffin, USC will get a proven offensive mind who knows the system. Kiffin already has Matt Barkley and he will be able to work with the best QB prospects in the country in the coming years. What the Trojans just did was reload, not rebuild.  I don’t know how they did it, but they got better in coaching plus they have a young team primed for success and they will drive even more recruits to the school. Sorry to my beloved UCLA, but this is a great move by Mike Garrett who I hate with a passion orchestrated this along with Pete Carroll masterfully.

Now, who is the Vols next coach? Does Gruden now have a chance to take over a program where he started his coaching career as a graduate assistant in ’86? I think if he wants to coach college over pro then he wont get better than this, but he could be waiting for or an opening in the NFL in 2011.

Kiffin has left the cupboard full with a young solid team and 22 recruits leading to the #6 overall 2010 ranking from Rival Sports. 14 of the recruits are 4 stars and Kiffin recruited defensive studs, top wide receivers and straight up athletes from all over the country. See a pattern? Sound familiar? This is a win/win for both school. Also, do you really think Kiffin leaves Tennessee for USC if there was a death penalty coming? USC is the #8 ranked recruiting class with only 14 recruits, but of course three were 5-stars and eight were 4-stars.

Aaron Corp Leaving LA

All the news right now at USC focuses on Pete Carroll who is leaving the university to become the next head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll leaving in conjunction with Joe McKnight and Damian Williams declaring for the NFL draft has pretty much buried the news that backup USC quarterback Aaron Corp is transferring to the Richmond Spiders. Corp won the starting position during spring practice, but ultimately lost the starting job to Matt Barkley due to suffering an injury during the preseason. Corp didn’t want to be the backup to Barkley and since he is dropping to I-AA he can play immediately and will have two seasons of eligibility left. Corp is going to do his best to follow the path Joe Flacco laid a few years back. Flacco was at Pittsburgh, but he was stuck behind Tyler Palko so he decided to drop down to I-AA Delaware and he became a huge star.