Lane Kiffin's Hiring the Right Choice For USC (Even Without Norm Chow)

USC's hiring of one-year Tennessee Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin has sparked controversy inside and outside of USC circles.

Kiffin was not who I proposed should be USC's first choice. I wrote that Mike Riley and/or Chris Petersen should have been who USC pursued here http://bit.ly/7CSMeo . Evidently, Riley was contacted, but he did not have any interest. Petersen may or many not have been contacted.

After those two outstanding head coaches, Kiffin makes the most sense for Athletic Director Mike Garrett and the university.

Why?

Many in the media, such as Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, argued it should be a marquis name. Former NFL head coaches such as Bill Cowher, Herm Edwards, John Gruden, and Tony Dungy had their names thrown out there as the best candidate for the job.

While I understand that each of those coaches was a successful NFL coach, with the exception of Edwards, people pushing these names do not understand the difference between pro and college ball.

None of these coaches has an extensive background in the college game. Yes, each of them spent time coaching in college, but most of their resumes were in the NFL. While good for football knowledge and experience, it's terrible in the most important area of college football: recruiting.

The perception of Pete Carroll was always that of failed-NFL-coach-turned-star-college- coach. People forget that Pete Carroll spent 11 seasons as a college assistant coach, coaching at Ohio State when they went to the Rose Bowl, and also working as an assistant under Lou Holtz.

And with those big NFL names, who's to say they would not have bolted back to the NFL once the job they coveted opened up.

The job Lane Kiffin has always coveted is the USC head coaching position. While he's an alumnus of Fresno State, he cut his teeth coaching under Pete Carroll at USC. He understands (and has succeeded at) Southern California recruiting better than any other potential candidate, including Steve Sarkisian.

Arguments have been made for other coaches with more established college head coaching resumes than Kiffin. Names suggested include Kyle Whittingham, Gary Patterson, and Jim Harbaugh. While each of these guys certainly has had success as head coaches, the dynamic of coaching at USC is quite a bit different than any of the programs these coaches would have come from.

It's one thing to recruit kids to Utah and TCU. It's quite another to recruit to USC. Whittingham and Patterson have certainly been successful, but no one knows how they would do recruiting the top talent in Los Angeles. Kiffin has already established himself with the talent he recruited to the Trojans in the past.

Based on the quick recommitments of players such as Kyle Prater, the impact of Kiffin, with Ed Orgeron working with him, on recruiting is clear.

Further, many in the media speak as if Lane Kiffin is a coaching neophyte and has been handed every job just because his father is the great Monte Kiffin.

Keep in mind some things about Kiffin before you judge him as not prepared to be a head coach.

First, he was a backup quarterback at Fresno State, where his position coach was Jeff Tedford, now the Cal head coach who is well-respected for his quarterback development. Knowing he wasn't going to play his senior year, he gave up his spot on the team to be a student assistant coach and begin preparing for a career in coaching.

He then spent a year as a graduate assistant under Sonny Lubick at Colorado State, where he studied offensive line play.

After a year with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a quality control assistant, learning the organizational skills needed to conduct practices and run a team, Pete Carroll hired him at USC to coach tight ends. 

Kiffin was a Trojan assistant for six seasons. During that time, he learned recruiting from the master, Ed Orgeron. He carpooled with and observed the great Norm Chow call plays for four seasons while developing talent such as Mike Williams and Keary Colbert. He saw and heard everything Pete Carroll did as USC head coach.

During the six years he was a Trojan assistant, Kiffin received a ton of criticism, but no one questioned his hard work.

Many USC fans want to blame Kiffin for the 4th-and-2 call against Texas. Anyone who has heard former Trojan running back LenDale White (who carried the ball on that play) talk about that call knows that Lane Kiffin did not make it. 

Keep in mind the Trojan offense in 2005 averaged 49.1 points per game, with Kiffin calling the plays! His 2006 offense, breaking in a new quarterback and starting running backs, fell off to only 30.5 points per game.

Yes, he had talent. Remember, Kiffin was instrumental in recruiting much of that talent.

So he was 5-15 as coach of the Oakland Raiders. Can you really hold someone's record as Raiders coach against him?

All you need to know about his time with the Raiders is this: Lane Kiffin thought JaMarcus Russell was a waste of a draft pick. Al Davis drafted him and demanded he start. Who was right there?

Say what you want about his leaving Tennessee after one year. In that year, the Volunteers went from the 35th-rated recruiting class in Phil Fulmer's last year to the 11th, when Kiffin only had a little more than a month to put together a recruiting class. 

Based on the verbal commitments when Kiffin resigned to take the USC job, the Volunteers' class for this coming year was rated sixth, with a good chance of a Top Five class. 

Lane Kiffin made Tennessee relevant again in the SEC and went head-to-head with Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Phil Fulmer had not gone head-to-head with anyone significant for the better part of six years.

When I think of Lane Kiffin, there is a Hall of Fame coach who comes to mind.

This coach never played his sport at the varsity level in college. (Kiffin has.) After graduation, this Hall of Fame coach coached high school for five years before he went to work for his mentor as an assistant coach for 10 years. During those 10 years, he was an assistant for a national championship team and recruited many great players to his school, just as Kiffin did at USC under Carroll.

After this apprenticeship, he was named the head coach of a school that had won the NCAA national championship the year before: Kansas.

He became the head coach with absolutely no head coaching experience.

Kiffin has two-plus seasons under his belt: One and a half in the NFL, one in the SEC— going 7-6 and to a good bowl in his first season.

Who am I thinking of when I think of Lane Kiffin?

Roy Williams, now the Hall of Fame head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina. 

If Lane Kiffin's career continues to mirror Roy Williams' career at Kansas and North Carolina, USC fans should be very excited at about the future.

Just hope Lane Kiffin doesn't do the crying.

You can follow my random thoughts on the sports world on Twitter at @plh55.