By Dan Wetzel
Yahoo Sports
It was Lane Kiffin's occasional habit after watching a play that was drawn up sound but wound up haywire: He'd crouch on the University of Southern California sideline, take his laminated play sheet and spin it in the air between his hands in frustration.
It was like he couldn't imagine how the Xs and Os that were represented in a certain call from that sheet – a call that was supposed to deliver yards, points, victory and continued glory to the Trojans – could instead turn so disastrous with sacks, picks, fourth-and-longs and loss after loss.
Yet it wasn't a typical coaches' sideline rant or rage – all teams have failed plays. There was a certain resignation, a certain stunned playfulness, a certain, well, there goes another one and I have no idea why.
Kiffin was fired Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, not long after USC lost 62-41 at Arizona State, a game framed by 612 Sun Devils yards gained and four Trojans turnovers committed.
The 38-year-old Kiffin was 28-15 at USC and had lost seven of his last 11 games. It took just an 0-2 start in Pac-12 play for athletic director Pat Haden's preseason declaration of "100 percent" support to drain to zero.
Kiffin had his moments in L.A., but the momentum was clearly against him at this point. There were the losses. There was the poor play. There was even a cooling of USC's might on the recruiting trail – even locally. Suddenly it was UCLA that was the hot local program.
The program was suffering from the NCAA sanctions imposed following the Reggie Bush scandal. Scholarship limitations sapped depth, which not only changed the way USC could play, but also practice. Even Kiffin's early success at landing a small group of elite recruits failed to pay off. And the 10 fewer kids he was able to sign each year were showing up elsewhere in the Pac-12, notably over in Westwood.
Perhaps as much as anything, however, were those visions from the sidelines – the spinning play sheet is just one of the take-your-pick visuals of a coach who looked overwhelmed, outclassed or incapable of weathering the considerable NCAA storm.
Kiffin, the son of a legendary NFL coordinator (current Dallas Cowboys assistant Monte Kiffin), was once considered the boy wonder of football coaching when he was hired at age 31 to lead the Oakland Raiders.
He lasted just four games into his second season before the late Al Davis fired him, but that blowup was blamed as much on Davis as Kiffin. By November, Kiffin was tabbed to take over at Tennessee. In an eventful 14 months, he ruffled feathers, won some games, recruited like few others (at least on paper) and seemed set to establish himself as a college coaching presence.
Then his old boss at USC, Pete Carroll, left for Seattle, and Kiffin jumped at the chance to return to California. The move was considered betrayal in Knoxville, Tenn., which says all you need to know about how positively he was once viewed. USC thought it had found the kind of presence needed to navigate the heavy sanctions. Everything looked pretty good – USC won 10 games in 2011 and was preseason No. 1 in 2012.
And then it all turned to mush, Kiffin looking overwhelmed and unable to even diagnose the problems, let alone fix them. He became more humble in his public speaking and a punching bag to comedic fans. Suddenly, L.A. area recruits weren't lining up to commit. USC had just seven players verbally committed, a class that ranked 63rd on the current Rivals.com list.
It was all very un-USC like.
Yahoo Sports
It was Lane Kiffin's occasional habit after watching a play that was drawn up sound but wound up haywire: He'd crouch on the University of Southern California sideline, take his laminated play sheet and spin it in the air between his hands in frustration.
It was like he couldn't imagine how the Xs and Os that were represented in a certain call from that sheet – a call that was supposed to deliver yards, points, victory and continued glory to the Trojans – could instead turn so disastrous with sacks, picks, fourth-and-longs and loss after loss.
Yet it wasn't a typical coaches' sideline rant or rage – all teams have failed plays. There was a certain resignation, a certain stunned playfulness, a certain, well, there goes another one and I have no idea why.
Kiffin was fired Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, not long after USC lost 62-41 at Arizona State, a game framed by 612 Sun Devils yards gained and four Trojans turnovers committed.
The 38-year-old Kiffin was 28-15 at USC and had lost seven of his last 11 games. It took just an 0-2 start in Pac-12 play for athletic director Pat Haden's preseason declaration of "100 percent" support to drain to zero.
Kiffin had his moments in L.A., but the momentum was clearly against him at this point. There were the losses. There was the poor play. There was even a cooling of USC's might on the recruiting trail – even locally. Suddenly it was UCLA that was the hot local program.
The program was suffering from the NCAA sanctions imposed following the Reggie Bush scandal. Scholarship limitations sapped depth, which not only changed the way USC could play, but also practice. Even Kiffin's early success at landing a small group of elite recruits failed to pay off. And the 10 fewer kids he was able to sign each year were showing up elsewhere in the Pac-12, notably over in Westwood.
Perhaps as much as anything, however, were those visions from the sidelines – the spinning play sheet is just one of the take-your-pick visuals of a coach who looked overwhelmed, outclassed or incapable of weathering the considerable NCAA storm.
Kiffin, the son of a legendary NFL coordinator (current Dallas Cowboys assistant Monte Kiffin), was once considered the boy wonder of football coaching when he was hired at age 31 to lead the Oakland Raiders.
He lasted just four games into his second season before the late Al Davis fired him, but that blowup was blamed as much on Davis as Kiffin. By November, Kiffin was tabbed to take over at Tennessee. In an eventful 14 months, he ruffled feathers, won some games, recruited like few others (at least on paper) and seemed set to establish himself as a college coaching presence.
Then his old boss at USC, Pete Carroll, left for Seattle, and Kiffin jumped at the chance to return to California. The move was considered betrayal in Knoxville, Tenn., which says all you need to know about how positively he was once viewed. USC thought it had found the kind of presence needed to navigate the heavy sanctions. Everything looked pretty good – USC won 10 games in 2011 and was preseason No. 1 in 2012.
And then it all turned to mush, Kiffin looking overwhelmed and unable to even diagnose the problems, let alone fix them. He became more humble in his public speaking and a punching bag to comedic fans. Suddenly, L.A. area recruits weren't lining up to commit. USC had just seven players verbally committed, a class that ranked 63rd on the current Rivals.com list.
It was all very un-USC like.
