I hate Lane Kiffin.  Alright, I don't really hate the man, but I dislike him a great deal.  I actually can't even pinpoint why I feel this way about him.  Yeah he's smug and a little arrogrant; probably has a sense of entitlement, but those don't even bother me.  I think what bothers me the most is that he just isn't that good of a coach.  He hasn't done anything as a head coach in the NFL or in the NCAA that would make me change my mindset.  I just don't get it why he is on some sort of pedestal, basically because he's outspoken and a son of a great defensive coordinator.  Speaking of coordinators.  Why do people feel like if a team is successful then the coordinators will be successful head coaches.  There's always the cases where it works out, but there's also plenty of cases where the coaches were horrible.  It just seems like Lane once again got to a position he didn't earn with USC and turned it into a head coaching gig in Oakland where he ended with a record of 5-15.  Then comes the Tennessee head coaching job where he goes 7-6 in his first year and trades it in immediately to take over as coach of USC.  I guess the world is Lane's stepping stone.  So in my mind he's an average at best coach who has gained these positions not by merit and still I don't think he did anything wrong.  I think he did what any smart person would've done and not only moved to the position he's always wanted, but also helped his chances to achieve.

Lane Kiffin made the right move.  Call him a traitor or a crappy person for doing it, but what he did was the best move for his career.  I wrote a column in December called College Coaching Leap Frog that basically explained how as each coach moves on the next coaches in line keep on moving and it's an annual event in college football.  It's the state of college football that forces these coaches to make the moves.  We live in a win now society and I don't think Tennessee was going to grab an SEC title over Alabama or Florida in the next few years.  Kiffin moving to USC allows him to get out of the SEC and the highly competitive recruiting territory of the South, while allowing him to head to a top of the line program that basically picks anyone they want from California and half of who they want from the rest of the country.  He will be facing less talented teams while allowing his powerhouse program to continue to excel like USC has done for the past decade.  Lane Kiffin will be successful at USC.

That last sentence really shouldn't be much of a surprise.  I could be successful at USC.  Lane bringing along some friends with NFL experience won't hurt his chances at all either.  So for as much as I bash Lane and still don't think he's a good coach at all I do think he did what was right for him.  He took over the perfect program to take over, while also coming to the program he's always coveted.  I see nothing wrong with that.  There's going to be ill feelings if you're a Tennessee fan, but we need to accept that it's the state of college football we live in.  I'll see if my opinion changes in a few years when Lane has 18 NCAA violations coming at him and he jumps for the NFL again.

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