The Pete Carroll, Lane Kiffin Timeline

I would not expect anyone not from Southern Cal. to not know anything about it, unless you lived here in the last 10 years. Listen I have only been to Alabama 1 time in my life great place, but I would never tell people in your state how it is. Also I don’t care who or what your coaches, players, husbands, wives, kids or any thing else that goes on there.
DO YOU GET IT

I think Fozzy was just hoping that USC would get another shot at the BCS championship against the SEC champ just to settle the arguments that have been flying around for the last 8 years.

I don’t have any problem with anyone elses opinion. As long as it is respectful, and you don’t mind if I poke holes in your opinion if I see them. Some are more defensive about criticism than I am.

To answer your question, I wouldn’t characterize myself as “excited” about the hire. I am comfortable with the staff and the hire at the moment, but mostly I am in “wait and see” mode. On the field I have seen Lane Kiffin and his staff take terrible teams, and improve them. He took a terrible Raiders team, and made them competitive. He took a bad Tennessee team and made them competitive against the cream of the crop of the SEC. So as far as the on the field issues, I remain positive in thinking that Kiffin will improve the Trojans.

Off the field, and his departure from Tennessee call into question his ethics. Well there is no argument that his leaving Tennessee after 1 season left that program worse off psychologically. Whether or not it translates into the team regressing during their season remains to be seen. Ethically I do have a problem with how Lane left the Vols, but there’s nothing that I can do to make that change. I think Trojan fans are comfortable with Kiffin because he was and is a product of USC and Pete Carroll. He is one of us, and he is associated with the most successful run in Trojan history. Kiffin was a Trojan when he left, and most of us still consider him to be one of us. So for us I guess the excitement comes from welcoming Kiffin back home where he belongs.

You might be wondering why Trojan fans aren’t worried that Kiffin will leave USC in a lurch much like he did to the Volunteers. The simple answer to that is that he won’t leave USC after 1 season. This is his dream job. He left Tennessee at the expense of his reputation so he could take his dream job. He isn’t going to leave until he is finished, which will be at the earliest 5 seasons. The only thing I can see him leaving for is the NFL, which he might do someday, but not any day soon.

I hope that clears it up for you.

We’re actually a neighborly bunch here at Conquest Chronicles- for the most part. It’s just that considering all the media and (dare I say) SEC backlash to USC’s hiring of Lane Kiffin, you won’t hold it against us for being protective and defensive for “one of our own”.

What isn’t that well understood to folks outside of Trojan-nation is the fact that Lane Kiffin was a big part of Coach Carroll’s resurrection in making USC football relevant again. He was integral in all facets of Trojan football when we rose to the top back in the early part of this decade. From coaching receivers to becoming the passing coordinator (working directly under and with Coach Norm Chow) to eventually becoming co-Offensive Coordinator, before leaving to coach the Oakland Raiders. Now, his football acumen is debatable to those outside the USC Trojan circle- with much due to the fact that he was fired by Al Davis and because he came into the Tennessee Vol program with a loud-mouth and didn’t put up much of a challenge getting waxed by Ole Miss and also VTech in their bowl game. He barely lost to Bama, but that Auburn loss kinda did him in. (The Barners were on a roll in the early part of the season though). It should be noted that he took care of Georgia and South Carolina playing at home, but his away games at Florida, Bama, and Ole Miss proved too difficult for his team. He made the Vols play well against Florida and Bama though, considering the talk before the season started was whether Meyer and/or Saban would put 100 pts on the board vs. him to put him in his place. Neither of which came near to fruition.

And then he bolts Knoxville and comes back to Heritage Hall.

People will say what they will about Coach Kiffin, he can’t be proven to be a total disaster at any of his coaching stops away from USC for two important reasons:

1. He made both his teams (Raiders and Vols) competitive and some would say even better than what they were before he became their respective head coach.

2. Obviously, as a coach- he must be doing something right otherwise, why is it that GM’s and AD’s even consider him for their head coaching vacancies? He didn’t have Coach Orgeron or Coach Monte Kiffin at the Raiders, he put that staff together for the Vols. Granted, bringing his Tennessee staff over to the Trojans might have been part of the package in his hiring here at USC, but logically- it would be retarded for him NOT TO. They were doing good things over in Knoxville and they could have truly become better than their 2nd place in the SEC East from 2009, especially with the way their recruiting was going.

Okay, so a number of his players went awry with the law and some were kicked off and/or put on probation? Have you seen the Gainesville police blotter lately? Crazy things go on in certain programs, it happens everywhere. Lane had only one year in Knoxville, chances are- he would have cleaned it all up and made less errors as a mentor and coach for the Vols. This, I’m sure of. He’s only 34, going on 35!

We’re excited about Coach Kiffins hiring because he brings a breath of fresh air to, what some would consider, a stagnant program. Before Coach Carroll bolted for the Seahawks job, it’s been said on this Trojan blog and others that Coach Carroll had surrounded himself with ‘yes’ men and was in the throes of losing his ability to “reach” his players by being to hard on those players in “his doghouse”, limiting the team’s potential by not following through with his self-proclaimed philosophy of letting the best players play on Saturdays through his “always compete” mantra, and hiring/promoting key staff members that were “safe” (as in, not outshining him/ not rubbing his ego wrong/ and not being ‘so good’ at what they do that they’d soon leave to a better position/different team). There’s a lot minutiae involved internally with the Trojan football up until this past season that hardly gets mentioned outside of Los Angeles, as I’m sure it is with many teams in Div. I college football. Lemme put it to you this way, there must be a reason why USC loses to a Stanford, a fUcla, Oregon State, and (OMIGOD!!!) a Washington Husky team year in and year out.

Coach Kiffin was a big part of our signature wins in the early 2000’s. Granted, he was the co-OC in our loss to Texas in the ‘06 Rose Bowl but. . . . .C’MON! THAT WAS AN EPIC GAME! It wasn’t our offense that lost that game, it was our young defense that found it quite difficult in stopping an incredible Vince Young in that game.

We’re excited about Coach Kiffin because he’s one of our own, he’s a Trojan legend already, and he brings a lot of FIRE that we feel we may have lost in the past couple of years. We embrace him with open arms, and with the hopes that he keeps our program clean (as we’ve always been! different story for a different thread at another time), and with aspirations to bringing our program back where it belongs: IN THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP games in the near future.

Hope that clears a bit of it up for you bhambammer?

(it’s all about hope, brotha. just as any fan would have for whatever team they might root for. our heads aren’t in the sand, our heart is where it belongs. . . .with fellow Trojans. There’s a saying here: Trojans For Life. It’s more than just a saying around here, it’s a way of life. Believe it!)

Maybe you can explain where Lane Kiffin failed. He improved every team he took over.

Third Date with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

. . . . because it wasn’t too long ago when QB-hero Mike Shula took over the reigns as HC for my childhood-favorite Tide football team after the “Franchione-Price” coaching debacle back in ‘03. That was about around the time Lane Kiffin was earning his stripes as Recruiting co-Coordinator – slash – TE/Receivers Coach for ’SC. Shula did what he could and got some decent results, he just couldn’t quite capture the magic he once had as Tide QB- in becoming a 38 yr old head coach in the SEC. But. . . . .no one begrudged Bama-fans the faith and hopes that a young Mike Shula might be able to turn the Tide around back then? He did better than most people thought he would, but the Crimson Tide demands greatness- where good or decent is definitely not ever good enough.

Coach Kiffin’s hiring might NOT continue down our path of success. Coach Carroll set the bar quite high, he had none helluva run. Indeed, down along the line in a few years we might need a new coach, new blood. Coach Saban took only 3 years at making Alabama relevant on the Div. I college football landscape. He almost had it in year 2! Coaches Carroll and Saban are a rare breed indeed.

In the end, you might be right that Kiffin ain’t “the guy” to coach Trojan football. Then again, you might be wrong? Come pay us a visit in the future, and I’m saying this with all sincerity. Not being facetious nor smart-alecky whatsoever. You can either come back and say, “I told you so!” or you can come back and say, “We got lucky, Lane Kiffin grew up and proved a lot of people wrong!”

Either way, thanks for being a good sport over here at CC. We are pretty decent folk over here and enjoy ‘gentlemanly’ discussions and debates. You sound like a good egg bhambammer. I’ve enjoyed reading your comments/replies and I especially enjoy how well-mannered you are. ‘Least, that’s what I’ve gathered of your disposition from these few back and forths.

Roll Tide!
Fight On!