USC Athletic Director Pat Haden must not sleep very well lately. His highest paid employee, Lane Kiffin, is underachieving and bringing the spotlight back on a football program for all the wrong reasons, once again.
USC football was in the news today and unfortunately it had nothing to do with their game vs. Arizona State this weekend. A student manager for the football team decided to deflate some game balls below the NCAA regulations during the first half of the Trojan’s embarrassing loss to Oregon last weekend. I’m not really sure the physics behind such a tactic, but it was presumably done to help USC, as a deflated ball is softer and easier to catch. The whole idea sounds ridiculous and it clearly didn’t help out USC. Someone forgot to tell this team manager Oregon’s Kenjon Barner loves soft footballs.
Who does a team student manager work for? I’m going to go out on a limb and say, the head coach, Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin is a smarmy, arrogant brat that was handed the keys to a Ferrari before he even passed his driver’s test. (Man that felt therapeutic to say)
USC is trying to rebrand its football program after getting the hammer dropped on them from the NCAA. Hiring A.D. Pat Haden was a terrific step in the right direction; however, allowing Lane Kiffin to continue to run this football program is proving to be a big mistake. Experience-wise, he isn’t prepared to handle a job of this magnitude. Lane Kiffin should be earning his stripes at a program like Fresno State. Personality-wise, I get the sense Lane Kiffin has no presence or command of a locker room. Have you ever heard him in an interview? He kind of mumbles as he talks. He doesn’t strike me as someone that can demand respect from 18 – 22 year olds. Not yet anyway. And his game day coaching has come into question this season as well.
So what’s Lane good at that may allow him to keep a job for another season? Recruiting. What’s recruiting? Recruiting is salesmanship, ‘bullshitting’ for lack of a better term. Lane Kiffin excels in this area. Lane Kiffin has no problem sitting in the living room of a 17 year kid, along with his parents, and telling him how great USC will be for his career. Lane gets kids to sign on the dotted line, yet, once they put on that uniform, all bets are off. It’s kind of like buying a used car. You have some slick talker convince you this is the right ride for you. You sign the papers, but once you get behind the wheel, all bets are off.
Pat Haden is trying to repair a damaged football program; however, it seems like every other week it’s 2 steps forward, 5 steps back. Lane Kiffin is not liked by, well, anybody. It used to be, “well, at least the Trojan family supports him.” Not anymore. The alumni are growing restless. The Trojans are the most disappointing team of the college football season. From preseason #1 to #21 in the polls. That’s not easy to do, particularly for a team loaded with high school All Americans and future NFL talent.
So how do you fix the image of a football program when the leader has a terrible reputation? That’s what Pat Haden has to ask himself. That’s probably why he has a lot of sleepless nights of late. Do you fire a bad character guy who is an average coach, but a strong recruiter? I say yes. USC is still a top10 coaching job in the country, some may say Top5. It’s not like you will need to post the head coaching job on Monster.com to get some interest. If you fire Kiffin, there will be half a dozen quality coaches out there that would make sense for USC. Jon Gruden comes to mind right off the top. Charlie Strong at Louisville has done a terrific job. Jeff Fisher is always a logical candidate if the school wants to keep it in the Trojan family.
Bottom line is Pat Haden needs to hit the “restart” button. USC will continue to be the program people love to hate as long as Kiffin is there. Sure, it can be fun being the villain when you are winning (see Nick Saban). But when you are losing and people hate you, it makes you want to crawl under a rock. If I’m Pat Haden, I wait for Lane Kiffin to get under that rock, and stomp on it.
Disclosure: I am a U.S.C. alum, class of 1993.
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