What Has He Done?

Lane Kiffin was named head coach of the USC football program last night after one season in Tennessee. Kiffin was a coach and coordinator with the Trojans from 2001-2006 before moving on to coach the Oakland Raiders at the age of 31. After that relationship ended in an ugly fashion he then became coach of the Tennessee football program. The circle of life completed. My question is: what has Kiffin done to deserve this job? During his stay as Oakland Raiders head coach Kiffin went 5-15 and had a rocky relationship with Raiders' owner Al Davis. During the end of his tenure with Oakland Kiffin refused to resign and was subsequently fired over the phone by Davis. Then at the press conference Al Davis called Kiffin a 'flat out liar' and that he 'brought disgrace to the organization.'

Moving on after the firing Kiffin took the Tennessee job. In his only year with the Volunteers he went a very mediocre 7-6. During his time there he was guilty of several NCAA violations including accusing Urban Meyer of calling recruits while at other schools and publicly commenting on recruitable players. I do believe Kiffin was good for Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton who had a resurgence this season but still, the team went 7-6 which is far from what was expected.

I find it very hard to like Kiffin. He's clearly full of himself but hasn't really accomplished anything as a head coach. Sure, he was a great coordinator in his first stint at USC but now he has been handed the head coaching job, something he hasn't proven he can do. Maybe Kiffin will do a great job, he has a hell of a staff coming in, and none of this will matter. Maybe he'll win 4 BCS championships in the next 5 years. Maybe he will go down in USC history as the greatest coach they've ever seen. We'll wait and see.