Why USC was Wrong in Firing Head Coach Lane Kiffin

Why USC was Wrong in Firing Head Coach Lane Kiffin

By Caroline Davenport

I’m going to lay off the SEC this week to cover my other favorite, but often-neglected conference, the PAC 12.

And this chick is taking on USC this week.

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Was USC so embarrassed by a 62-41 loss to Arizona State that they needed to fire its coach after going 3-2 so far this season? Lane Kiffin may not had been a perfect fit for USC but who could continue on the dynasty Pete Carroll left behind after his “departure” to the NFL in 2009. A departure that left USC swimming in NCAA sanctions and a young Kiffin there to clean up the mess.

The Trojans made a hasty, and ultimately wrong choice in firing Lane Kiffin in the middle of the season. If they thought this would help the team, they were sadly mistaken, and now for the rest of the season USC will have a black cloud hanging over its team.

Yes, Lane Kiffin was not the best coach, and his record speaks to that effect. He is also pretty used to a nomadic lifestyle at this point. But after starting your coaching career at the age of 31 in the NFL, he should have seen that coming. Kiffin had a rough start, going 5-15 at Oakland, for one and a half seasons.

Okay, okay, it was his rookie season.

Eventually he took his talents to Rocky Top, and took on the SEC as head coach of Tennessee. He was mediocre at Tenneessee, and made enemies in Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier, and pretty much everyone and anyone in the conference. He left Knoxville 7-6 in his first and only season there.

Something must have happened during his transition from being Tennessee head coach to USC head coach. And whatever it was, the people of LA loved it.

The Pete Carroll era of football was one that people will never forget. USC was consistently one of the best teams in the nation for nearly a decade, and a direct threat to the Alabama’s and LSU’s of the SEC. It was hard for Trojan fans to see a sub-par, obnoxious, young head coach come into a historic program built for the gods (they do play in a Coliseum), but as Californians do best, they fake smiled themselves into liking Kiffin.

Lane Kiffin defied all expectations his first season, going 10-2, and defeating #4 ranked Oregon. Despite the NCAA sanctions that did not allow USC to play in a bowl game in 2011, in 2012, USC was pre-season ranked #1 in the nation, higher than Alabama, LSU and Oregon.

Things started to go down hill from there. It’s hard to live up to high expectations, and initially, USC did live up to them. After winning their first two games (one against Syracuse, but we hung in there!) it looked as if USC could potentially go all the way, and redeem themselves from last years sanctions, but a loss from a great Stanford Cardinal team set them back. After losing to Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, and Notre Dame, it was prevalent there was an issue that needed to be addressed at USC.

  

How do you go from a No. 1 pre-season rank to ending up 7-6 and losing to Georgia Tech in the Sun bowl? Lane Kiffin felt it was the coaching staff, so out they went, including his defensive coordinator and farther Monte Kiffin.

Wow.

That brings us to 2013, and the firing of Lane Kiffin. All in all, did Kiffin deserve to be fired? No he did not. He should not have been punished for his mediocrity last season, and one blow out this year. I do not think I would say the same thing at the end of the season when Kiffin potentially could have been fired, because he seems cocky and too young to be a head coach. But USC made a big mistake in firing their coach mid-season, and this will affect their team more now than leaving Kiffin on for the rest of the season.