Lane Kiffin Out at USC

I had Kiffin on the hot seat in one of my preseason posts, but I didn't think he would get canned so early in the season. The Trojans got destroyed by Arizona State 62-41 on Saturday night after which Kiffin was promptly fired. Its not just that he was fired: apparently he was pulled off of the team bus when the team landed back in LAX and told he was fired. Not only that, but USC Athletic Director Pat Haden said the decision to fire him came in the third quarter. Kiffin was a dead man walking. Could you imagine if he was fired at half time in the locker room? That's asking for a lot, but is it really that far off from what actually happened?

What this means for Kiffin
Kiffin is in a bit of a tough position now. There isn't exactly going to be a line of athletic directors waiting for him to pencil them in for an interview. He has shown nothing to give any program any sort of hope for their future. He has so much talent from the fantastic recruiting he is responsible for, but can't do anything with it. And its not just that he is an inept coach. He is also a terrible leader to have in a locker room. Kiffin has built up a terrible reputation for being an arrogant, self entitled dick because he is an arrogant, self entitled dick. Numerous coaches who have worked with him at the pro and college level can't stand his attitude. And he has already shown that he isn't subject to morality, so what is to keep from leaving some minor, less glorious position the moment Texas or Nebraska becomes available? I can see some mid level team take a chance on Kiffin at the end of this season just to see what they can get, but I can't imagine him landing another dream job.

What this means for USC

Well, as if the Trojan's season wasn't already dead, now its been buried and read its last rights. There is so much dysfunction on this team it is unbelievable. The team somehow loses a game to Washington State 10-7, and then loses 62-41 a few weeks later to a team of slightly better competition. There really is no explanation as to how that happens. I'm starting to believe that Lane Kiffin was some sort of Bane-like character sent by the NCAA to topple the mighty USC program. The team still has a lot of key pieces to being a good team, but the quarterback play is inconsistent and they are being coached by an interim coach. They still have a tough road ahead of them, having to play at Notre Dame and Oregon State while making home stands against Stanford, Arizona and UCLA. This could really turn into an ugly season, and it wouldn't be surprising if they are happy to get into a bowl game. It seems like quite a number of coaches could be getting fired after this season, so USC could find a good replacement for Kiffin in the offseason. Seriously, at this point anyone would be better.