Lane Kiffin 'Relinquishes' Vote In USA Today Coaches Poll

USC head coach Lane Kiffin won't be voting in the USA Today coaches poll this season, he said in a letter to Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association.

"It is an opportunity and responsibility that I do not take lightly," Kiffin said. "However, I find it necessary to relinquish my voting status."

The saga related to Kiffin and the poll began last week when USA Today revealed Kiffin's vote after he said he "would not vote USC No. 1" when asked following a practice which team he put atop his ballot. From the USAT:

A coach's vote is normally kept confidential until the final poll of the regular season under an agreement between USA TODAY Sports and the AFCA.

But when a voter volunteers false or misleading information about his vote in public, then USA TODAY Sports, in its oversight role as administrator of the poll, will correct the record to protect the poll's integrity.

Kiffin had said last week that his quote meant he would not vote USC No. 1 if he were in the media or coaching another team. "We have less players (because of scholarship restrictions) than everybody else," he said then. "So looking at it from the outside, I wouldn't (vote the Trojans No. 1). Did I? Yeah, I did."

The Trojans' third-year coach said he didn't care if he kept voting. Guess he didn't.