A really bad ideaAndrea Adelson
Orlando Sentinel
Lane Kiffin is no Pete Carroll, no matter how many years the two spent working together. Giving Kiffin the keys to the USC dynasty is like turning over the keys to your Bentley to a 2-year-old. Really bad idea.
There is no question Kiffin can recruit, and he has an excellent staff already in place with his father, Monte, and recruiter extraordinaire Ed Orgeron. The problem is we have no idea whether Kiffin can coach. He went 7-6 in his lone season as a head coach at Tennessee and appeared to be building something in Knoxville. We will never know what.
As Raiders coach, he went 5-15 before being fired. So that means a program that has won 97 games in the last nine years is in the hands of a man who has coached a total of 33 games. In his life. That does not bode well for the mighty Trojans.
Enabler running the showPaul Doyle
Hartford Courant
So a program with possible NCAA sanctions looming hires a guy who caught the eye of NCAA rules people in his only season as a college head coach? Smart move, USC.
Lane Kiffin may be a familiar face to Trojan Nation, but he's the wrong guy for this job. A program in need of a watchdog will be led by an enabler.
And aside from those pesky NCAA rules he seems to know nothing about, what exactly qualifies Kiffin to lead one of the most revered programs in the country? He failed in his only NFL job and he has but one forgettable season as Tennessee coach.
Pete Carroll was the fourth choice and that worked out well, but he had some success as Patriots coach and was a celebrated defensive coordinator in the NFL. Kiffin might be up to the task of running the Trojans someday.
But not now.
Only time will tellChris Dufresne
Los Angeles Times
Lane Kiffin was a dynamite hire at USC, and you can interpret that any way you want. It was definitely the hire of the week - daring, dashing, thrilling - but will it be the hire of the year?
It was a bold move for a program that needed to save face. The Trojans were up against the recruiting clock and needed to act fast to save high school prospects in advance of the Feb. 3 signing day.
The real question: Can this hire hold up for the long haul when and if the NCAA comes down on the football program? This can only work if Kiffin is dedicated to a long-term plan that might involve a crippling loss of scholarships. Does he have a nine-year plan? That's how long it took Alabama to recover from a major NCAA hit in 2000. Kiffin might be the right answer today, but will he be in two years?
NCAA rules? What rules?Teddy Greenstein
Chicago Tribune
It's a great move if USC wants to spend the next decade in the NCAA's doghouse. The Trojans are already in trouble - self-imposed probation - because Tim Floyd allegedly slipped cash to an O.J. Mayo rep.
If the affairs of Reggie Bush and Joe McKnight don't increase the sentence, the actions of Lane Kiffin surely will.
The guy can't help himself. He accused Florida's Urban Meyer of cheating instead of holding up a mirror to himself. Kiffin either didn't know or, more likely, didn't care that it's against NCAA rules to mention the name of an unsigned prospect on a radio show. Or to Tweet about a recruit. He should spend this offseason memorizing the NCAA manual rather than jumping ship to sign a lucrative deal with USC.
The guy cannot be trusted. I wouldn't buy a Band-Aid from him if I were bleeding.