Kiffin will take his aggressive recruiting style to Southern California.
It looks like Lane Kiffin won’t get his chance to sing Rocky Top all night long.
ESPN reported early tonight that University of Tennessee Volunteers head coach Lane Kiffin will take over the reigns of the USC Trojans.
This comes on the same day USC saw Pete Carroll leave for a 5-year, $33 million deal to coach the Seattle Seahawks.
Kiffin, who was 7-6 in his lone season at Tennessee, was part of Carroll’s coaching staff at USC from 2001-2006. He served as wide receivers coach and then offensive coordinator.
He later was hired by the Oakland Raiders to be there head coach in 2007 but was fired during the 2008 season following a dispute with owner Al Davis.
USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said the program is happy to have the 34-year old coach back in the fold.
“We are really excited to welcome Lane Kiffin back to USC,” he said in a statement. “I was able to watch him closely when he was an assistant with us and what I saw was a bright, creative young coach who I thought would make an excellent head coach here if the opportunity ever arose. I’m confident he and his staff will keep USC football performing at the high level that we expect.”
Kiffin won’t be the only one coming from Tennessee to USC.
Multiple reports say that his father, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, and defensive line and associate head coach Ed Orgeron will also be heading to Southern Cal. Oregeron is expected to retain his former job as a recruiting coordinator.
It also being reported that Norm Chow is thinking about heading back to USC to serve as Kiffin’s offensive coordinator. Chow, 63, held the same job at USC from 2001-2004 before leaving for the Tennesse Titans. He currently serves as the offensive coordinator for the rival UCLA Bruins.
USC and Kiffin both have something in common: questionable recruiting tactics.
The NCAA, which finished their probe on USC’s atheltic program Monday, has already reached a conclusion on the program, Yahoo! Sports reports. The NCAA’s Committee of Infractions will meet from Feb. 19-21 to discuss findings from the investigation.
Last season, Kiffin came under scrutiny for his aggressive recruitment, which resulted in some minor recruitment violations that were reported by Tennessee to the NCAA.
(Sources: ESPN, AOL Fanhouse, Yahoo! Sports)
See ya'. Wouldn't wanna be ya'.
Why is it that I have a feeling UT will be getting the last laugh?