USC Robs Tennessee, Lane Kiffin and his “Gang” fill Coaching Vacancies; Norm Chow not included
Well it’s been pretty well documented, but after the dust cleared, two things are clear: USC has a new, replenished, accomplished, and somewhat experienced coaching staff. Lane Kiffin, the ex-head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Oakland Raiders (14 months removed) was named USC’s head football coach on Tuesday, filling Pete Carroll’s vacancy.
Kiffin, who brewed quite a storm (riot and hate parade) in Knoxville, also brought his dad, Monte Kiffin, and his D-Line/Recruiting Coach Ed Orgeron from Tennessee. Within a few hours of Lane’s hiring, Shelley Smith from ESPN spread false rumors about current UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow joining the all-star team in Los Angeles. Norm last coached the Trojans in 2005 in their last National Championship run, and they have not won a BCS or AP title since. We all later discovered that Norm Chow was never even contacted until Wednesday. Talk about poor journalism.
Aside from Chow, Kiffin’s Dad, Monte is regarded as one of the premier defensive coaches in the game. Ever since Monte got to Tampa Bay, his coveted Tampa 2, 4-3 Defense has dominated the NFL and had a superb first year at the college level as the Vols, despite losing Nick Reveiz, their starting Middle Linebacker, the defense had a very productive season. USC’s long line of Linebackers will be magnified… again.
Now on to Orgeron, Ed Orgeron was the mastermind of the 2003 and 2004 recruiting classes, crowned, of course, with Reggie Bush. Orgeron quickly jumped to Ole Miss where he mimicked the Pro-Style offense of USC, but failed miserably. Orgeron had a year in the NFL, but soon bolted with Kiffin to Tennessee.
Orgeron and Monte are definite masters of their realms, and will immediately impact USC. There are only a couple of problems:
- Lane Kiffin has twice as many wins as a head coach than NCAA secondary infractions.
- Ed Orgeron openly committed a recruiting violation within minutes of being a USC coach
- Norm Chow isn’t going to USC any time soon
There are easy things to nod at as well
- Everyone doubted Pete Carroll in the beginning of his career
- Kiffin has never inherited this much talent, and has been a promising recruiter everywhere he has been
- Monte is going to hit the PAC 10 in the mouth, even if Lane is calling bogus plays.
There are plenty of question marks, but a lot to be excited about, whether you are a UCLA or a USC fan.
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Comment by pkcourt on 18 January 2010:
Nice right up BUT Coach O did not commit a Violation the recruits contacted him first.
Comment by Scott Bergen on 19 January 2010:
The story I read was that while Kiffin was announcing he was leaving, Ogeron was in his office at Tennessee calling recruits and telling them not to attend class that day so dropping out and enrolling at USC would be easier. Probably illegal, certainly classless. But then that’s basically the motto for USC football.
Comment by Josh on 19 January 2010:
There are actually several interviews that were recorded that said Orgeron had called all the recruits while Lane was telling the players he was ditching him. I wasn’t there, so that’s all I’ve heard IRT contacting recruits
Comment by Johnny on 20 January 2010:
Good article.
But just some things for you.
Lane Kiffin’s violations are minor, the worst being the hostesses thing, and there was actually a list that was online and the number of violations was the average amongst college football.
Coach O’s “violation” is not a violation. If you go into the NCAA rule that can be found online, you will see that even though it was a dead period, there is an exception to recruits being contacted and those recruits are early enrollments. So even if Coach O contacted them first, he was within the rules.
Norm Chow would have been great but Lane Kiffin is the play caller and I personally think it would have led to problems down the line. Lane is a good play caller, and was the head OC when USC had one of the best offensive seasons in college football history. Tennessee also had better stats then USC in a majority of offensive stats, for example a better pass offense, even with below average Crompton leading the show.
Lane needs to be given a chance. He is getting a lot of talent and this program got a new energy it desperately needed for the last two or three years.
Comment by pkcourt on 21 January 2010:
Johnny,
Thanks for enlightening the Ruins, always trying to give USC the death Penalty. They need to understand you have to Beat someone to get ahead of them in the standings oh and I forget you need to beat the other teams too. In fact coach was probably still employed buy UT at the time or not even employed by anyone until the next couple of days. So this is really a he said she said things, maybe we can make it a reality show (Crying with the Ruins).