Under the reign of head coach Pete Carroll the USC Trojans had one of the most respected football programs in the country routinely bringing in top talent on both sides of the football.
Quarterbacks Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush won the Heisman Trophy Award though Bush would later get forced to return his after an investigation revealed he received improper benefits from a marketing agency while playing. As a result USC received discipline from the NCAA, which included a two-year postseason ban, four-years’ probation and loss of scholarship. Carroll left before the punishment got handed out and wound up coaching the Seattle Seahawks.
This forced the Trojans to replace a coach that went 97-19 in nine seasons and hired to replace that production, Lane Kiffin. He coached the Oakland Raiders for a little over a season and then became the youngest coach in NFL history during the modern era. After a 5-15 start and clashing with then owner Al Davis, he got fired.
In 2009 Kiffin became coach the Tennessee Volunteers after replacing long time coach Phillip Fulmer who went 5-7 in 2008. On paper his recruiting class was among the best in the country, yet didn’t find much success going 7-6 and losing to no.12 Virginia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl 37-14. The biggest win for the Volunteers came against came against no.21 South Carolina.
When the head coaching job for the Trojans opened up after Carroll left for the NFL it was Kiffin who became the no.1 front-runner for the position and ultimately took the job leaving many Tennessee fans upset. In his first season with USC he went 8-5 and in year two went 10-2 with quarterback Matt Barkley, Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and Curtis McNeal leading the way to one of the more explosive offenses. Defensively Dion Bailey, Hayes Pullard, T.J. McDonald, Nick Perry and Nickell Robey led the way.
Barkley had the chance to enter the draft after his tremendous junior season and ultimately decided to stay for his senior season. A move that didn’t work out well for him as his season got ended prematurely due to injury. The offensive line struggled as well without Matt Kalil who got taken no.4 overall by the Minnesota Vikings.
Defensive end Devon Kennard had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle forcing him to miss the season and Perry who had 54 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks got drafted in the first round by the Green Bay Packers.
As a result USC went just 7-6 and lost 21-7 to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl meaning that a team that started the season 6-1 lost six of its last seven games. For Kiffin it meant to keep his job he would need a strong start to the 2013 season.
That didn’t happen in conference play first losing to Washington State 10-7 and the last straw a 62-41 defeat to the Arizona State Sun Devils. Now the questions becomes who will coach USC in 2014? As for Kiffin he is likely to find another coaching job most likely at a small school as he desperately needs to repair his reputation.
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