Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports
Early Sunday morning, the USC Trojans announced the firing of head football coach Lane Kiffin and the only surprise that comes from the announcement is the timing — it was long overdue.
USC gave up 62 points in a 21-point loss to Arizona State in Week 5, which prompted Trojans athletic director Pat Haden to make the decision while traveling back to Los Angeles after the game. For a team of USC’s caliber, starting the season 3-2 and winless in Pac-12 play is completely and totally unacceptable and Kiffin knows that. He was never cut out to lead a major college football program and Haden must have bonked his noggin the day he hired Kiffin. Still, the fact Kiffin stumbled into this gig after a mediocre first year at Tennessee and the departure of Pete Carroll to the NFL is mind-boggling, and not in a good way.
How in the world Kiffin managed to finish 7-6 in Matt Barkley‘s senior year is astounding and again, not in a good way. Sure, the Trojans were plagued by sanctions from Carroll’s days, but the Trojans only finished with more than eight wins once in the full three years during which Kiffin was at the helm. Regardless of the obstacles, that’s simply unacceptable for a program like USC, which has now lost seven of its last 11 games, dating back to the 2012 season.
So now the search will begin for a new head coach, which will likely span into the offseason leading up to the start of the 2014 season. But Trojans fans should look on the bright side — things can’t get much worse in the meantime.
