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USC Fires Lane Kiffin

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The USC Trojans have fired coach Lane Kiffin not six hours after dropping to 3-2 after a blowout loss to Arizona State.

Trojans athletic director Pat Haden broke the news to Kiffin after the team's charter-flight arrival back in Los Angeles early Sunday morning after the 62-41 loss at Tempe, Ariz., the school said in a statement on its website.

USC has lost seven of their past 11 games dating to last year and both of their first two in Pac-12 play this season.

Kiffin's overall record in four years at USC was 28-15.

Haden will hold a news conference at USC on Sunday afternoon, the school said. The specific time and location of the event was unknown.

Kiffin had been retained for 2013 despite the Trojans' three-game skid to end last season while losing five of their last six. That included a 38-28 loss to crosstown rival UCLA, a 22-13 defeat to then-No. 1 Notre Dame and a Hyundai Sun Bowl setback to Georgia Tech, 21-7, on New Year's Eve to cap the season.

The Trojans debuted at No. 24 this preseason before dropping out of The Associated Press Top 25 in the third week.

They had entered the 2012 season No. 1 but finished unranked -- the first team in nearly a half-century to accomplish the ignominious feat.

Kiffin's stay at USC -- like many of his other jobs -- came with a quick, tumult-laden exit.

Kiffin was an NFL head coach at 31, a head coach in the SEC at 33 and became USC's head coach at 34.

If there was a consistent trend to those stops with the Oakland Raiders, then the Tennessee Volunteers and finally the Trojans, it was turmoil.

With Oakland, he lasted only 20 games and his departure became a messy, public feud between he and Al Davis, the former owner who died in 2011.

His arrival in Tennessee was not warmly received by all Vols fans, given the loyalties many had to the former coach there, Phillip Fulmer.

And then came the USC era. The Trojans were hit with severe NCAA sanctions a few months after Kiffin arrived -- he had nothing to do with the wrongdoing that wound up costing the school 30 scholarships over three years and the right to go to the postseason twice -- but it set the tone for another bumpy ride.

Between the ongoing issue with the sanctions and injuries, the Trojans played at Arizona State on Saturday night with 56 recruited scholarship players. The lack of depth was evident at times in that game, and in the end, Kiffin was held ultimately responsible.

Lane Lacked Punch

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Pac-12 rank PPG 26.0 Last Yards PG 380.4 Last 3rd down 27.7% Last Pass YPG 189.8 11th -- ESPN Stats & Information

USC next plays on Oct. 10 against Arizona, so the Trojans have a bye week to try to settle down the coaching situation and get some players healthy. USC may have lost wide receiver Marqise Lee to a left knee injury, one that Kiffin said on Saturday night after the game may be serious. Lee is expected to have his knee evaluated later Sunday in Los Angeles.

"It didn't look very good," Kiffin said. "It didn't sound very good or look very good, so that's all I got for you."

Hours later, Lee's health took a backseat among the problems facing USC's storied program.

Kiffin addressed his spot on the proverbial "hot seat" after Saturday's loss, saying he's fine with it and that his own job security is "the last thing I'm worried about."

"We have to find a way to coach better," Kiffin said.

Instead, USC and Haden now have to find a different coach.

"I think the guys on this team that really do care and can turn this thing around," USC quarterback Cody Kessler said Saturday night, a few hours before the firing decision was announced, "It's going to be hard -- I'm not going to lie -- but with the character and leadership that we have we can do it."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

Saw this coming.

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As said earlier in the shoutbox... Hopefully this ends his reign of sucking but still ending up with better jobs. I could maybe see him getting hired by a school like Middle Wyoming State Tech A&M, but that might even be a stretch.

Has there ever been anyone in this profession (or even any other) that has actually failed upwards like Lane Kiffin has?

It disgusts me, really... And I don't want to see him anywhere near the sport.

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He would be a good coordinator or position coach I think. He isn't ready to be a head coach. The dude is still relatively young and it shows.

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I've never really been quite sure what the hype surrounding Kiffin was. He's never really been successful at anything he's been handed the reigns of.

 

I always looked at his hiring with USC as a simple stop gap. The sanctions that the NCAA put on the school had their hands tied and they needed a guy to hold the spot while they worked through the penalties. Kiffin was that guy. He was utterly terrible and didn't even give USC the choice to try and keep him on board. He was a goner before his tenure really even started. No loss here for USC or the players for that matter. Kiffin is probably done in terms of big jobs, he'll end up at a small school with no talent and quickly fade away from any limelight.

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I just hope he's always remembered for sending Janikowski out for a 76 yard field goal attempt into the wind once it was clear he was done in Oakland

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