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As I type this up at 9:00 pm, Ed Orgeron is at Heritage Hall looking at video of recruits mere hours after becoming recruiting coordinator for USC. Again.
The bigwigs are desperately trying to pluck Norm Chow out of UCLA to become the USC offensive coordinator. Again.
Defensive genius Monte Kiffin is on his way to LA to become defensive coordinator.
While this news has Trojan fans across the city sporting some wood, they are blind to the fact that the hiring of Lane Kiffin will do more harm to USC in the end.
Kiffin has scorched the earth everywhere he has been post USC. He angered Al Davis to the point that Davis emerged from his hard plastic silver and black leisure suit to actually talk to the media about how horrible Kiffin was.
In one year at Tennessee he violated some minor NCAA rules and angered the SEC with his false allegations of Urban Meyer violating recruiting rules while recruiting Nu’keese Richardson. This is the same kid that Kiffin had to kick off the team since he, two other freshman players and another student were arrested for attempted armed robbery.
So for a USC program that’s already flirting with NCAA sanctions to hire someone like Kiffin is a disaster ready to happen.
Don’t kid yourself. The big names surrounding Kiffin will not be a buffer. In fact aside from his daddy, he does not get along with the assembled staff. Actually he never really got along with the Trojan players. Remember: this is not a head coach by committee - Kiffin and Kiffin alone is the skipper steering this ship.
And the ship seems to be heading backwards.
When Pete Carroll was hired in 2001, there was a break from the past that USC seemed to be mired in. Carroll preached about the future which gave them an Orange Bowl berth in Carroll’s second year.
But Kiffin is a blatant attempt by USC to try and relive the past.
We all know this almost never works. John Robinson didn’t work so well the second time around. Home Alone 2 was not nearly as great as Home Alone. And Kiffin and the regurgitated staff will not bring the Coach’s Trophy to Heritage Hall.
So the only thing I have left to wonder is who actually made this hire. The talk is that athletic director Mike Garrett has been rendered powerless by USC Board of Trustees members Pat Haden and Ed Roski who have been calling all the shots. In fact while Garrett reported was fighting to get Jack del Rio last night, Roski and Haden were fighting for Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian.
There is so much chaos around USC with almost no chance of things calming down soon, it’s nearly impossible for any success to come out of it. So if I were a Trojan fan, I wouldn’t celebrate right now.
