USC, Where Bad Press Is Better Than No Press At All

Maybe incoming President Max Nikias and his handpicked athletic director Pat Haden would prefer not to have a headline on ESPN’s front page nearly every day.

They would probably welcome a day without seeing the name Lane Kiffin pop up on the websites of nearly every national sports publication.

But let’s face it.  Lane Kiffin and USC have become college football’s equivalent to the much-maligned LeBron James and without the aid of Maverick Carter or LRMR Marketing.

Instead they have done it with a huge assist from the NCAA, the governing board, some like to think, of college football.

Thanks to the sanctions that the NCAA levied upon the team that most college football fans love to hate, the Trojans have limited the Dodgers and Angels to the bottom of the sports section even though Fall Camp is just getting started.

Here in Los Angeles, only another championship run by the Lakers and a hectic NBA free agency whirlwind prevented USC from taking over the sports section entirely.

Since last January, Lane Kiffin, the brash, young and, some would say, immature head coach of the Trojans has had a lot to do with USC’s ability to grab headlines.

In less time than it takes to sing “Rocky Top, you’ll always be home sweet home to me,” Kiffin became the most hated man in Tennessee. 

After only a year as the Volunteers head football coach, Kiffin bolted for the sunny shores of Southern California to replace his former mentor, Pete Carroll, at USC.  And thus began the deluge of bad press.

Timing, that seems to be Kiffin’s Achilles’ Heel.  He left the University of Tennessee without a head coach just one month before National Signing Day after promising the Vols that he was there to stay.

And need I mention that he took half of the Volunteers coaching staff with him along with their strength and conditioning coach?

But what’s wrong with that?  After all, this was Kiffin’s dream job.  Everyone knows that nothing, not even timing, should stand in the way of a dream job.  Just ask Pete Carroll.

Nevertheless, the vitriol followed Kiffin and his coaches all the way across the country, forcing USC to endure the fallout from former Athletic Director Mike Garrett’s decision to hire Kiffin in order to keep USC’s recruiting slate intact.

The angst toward Kiffin grew so immense nationally that nearly every sports media outlet was urging the NCAA to lower the boom on USC.  And that’s exactly what the Committee on Infractions did.

Reggie Bush became Public Enemy Number One.  USC became the University of Sorry Cheaters.  And Lane Kiffin?  The most hated coach in all of college football even though he had nothing to do with the infractions that brought about the severe sanctions.

Of course, only one football player—Reggie Bush—had cheated.  Not masses like you had at Alabama and Miami in years past. 

The university had failed to bolster its compliance office, which led to the Bush oversight.  But no one on the staff had actually cheated by paying recruits to commit or having boosters giving players handouts of one kind or another.

In recent years, none of USC’s players had been arrested for DUIs, drug possessions, armed robbery and assault as has been the case at other schools across the country including those in the Pac-10, the SEC, and the ACC.

But the NCAA doesn’t care at all about criminality.  They leave that up to the individual schools to discipline as much or as little to still insure wins on Saturday.

In recent years, USC has not gray-shirted any players.  In fact, the coaching staff has under-recruited.

However, gray-shirting is a gray area that does not concern the NCAA.  They are moot on the point of a school pulling its scholarship offer to an incoming student-athlete just before he is due to report, especially since it occurs at schools other than USC.

But let Lane Kiffin offer an NFL assistant coach a better opportunity at his alma mater before he informed the NFL head coach and not only does it garner villainous headlines but even a law suit from the NFL team.

How villainous?  One reporter actually compared Kiffin to Cambodia’s Pol Pot, who was responsible for the murders of millions in that country.

But after all, Kiffin’s actions came just a week before NFL camp began.  So, perhaps the comparison was somewhat deserved.  I mean the NFL is sacred ground, is it not?  One never violates sacred protocol.

So, what do USC fans think of all the negative press? 

"Bring it on’"seems to be the overwhelming opinion.  Bad press is better than no press at all.   And why not?

The media and their shill, the NCAA, have created their own monster.  And while USC fans may not love all the negativity, they certainly are willing to put up with it.

Last year was a terrible year (9-4) by USC standards.  All four losses came in the Pac-10 and that was, to say the least, an embarrassment of astounding proportions, especially the losses to Stanford and Oregon.

Fans were disappointed in the lack of energy and spirit, the lethargic and seemingly careless play that earmarked the final half of the season.

What the media and the NCAA have created is a new us against the world attitude among Trojan players.  And that has carried over to the Trojan Faithful.

If a ton of bad press means an invigorated team that won’t quit on the field no matter what the score, if it means a disciplined, competitive group of players that have each other’s backs, if it means guys willing to play shorthanded with an us against the world, no quit posture, then bring it on.