Chris Huston is a former USC football sports information dept. staffer who now publishes the bible of Heisman Trophy-tracking websites: HeismanPundit.com.
(Buss gave $7.5M to USC in 2008, reportedly paid Kiffin UT buyout)
His weekly Heisman Pundit Poll is nationally-syndicated and features these main media panel members: Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, Teddy Greenstein and Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, Olin Buchanan and Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com, Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman, Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com, J.B. Morris of ESPN the Magazine, Austin Murphy, B.J. Schecter and Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated, plus Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News.
I’ve spoken to Chris many times and dude knows his stuff. Today he posted some previously unreported info on the Lane Kiffin hire, along with observations from the perspective of a true USC insider.
Huston, who knows Kiffin and Ed Orgeron probably as well as any media member covering the team, was appalled by the hire considering Kiffin’s past run-ins with the NCAA at UT and his previous USC coaching stint:
Had the announcement been concurrent with a move to hire more NCAA compliance people–USC has just four on staff to oversee 19 sports (compared with its eight equipment guys and five video staffers, for example)–then maybe we could acknowledge a serious move on its part to instill some discipline in a department that has been under the pall of investigation for the latter half of this decade.
Love that, twice as many “equipment guys” in the USC Athletic Dept. than NCAA compliance staffers.
(Buss, LA NFL guy Ed Roski and Pat Haden were involved in SC search)
As I also reported earlier today, Huston notes that Lakers Owner Jerry Buss was a prominent part of the machinery that facilitated Kiffin’s arrival as head coach.
Los Angeles Lakers owner and Trojan alum Jerry Buss stepped to the plate and paid for the Kiffin buy out from Tennessee. Public Storage owner Wayne Hughes provided much of the cash for the incredible staff that is coming with Kiffin to Los Angeles.
The NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN reported last night that Kiffin’s UT contract buyout was $800,000.
Huston also breaks this off:
Oh, by the way, the L.A. Daily News reported that a source said “He (Kiffin) will do everything that Pete (Carroll) did and continue all the traditions and practice the same way.”
And therein lies the problem.
What Huston is saying isn’t lost on the men who brought Kiffin back to USC. But as I posted earlier today, the school’s search committee hired Kiffin and the accompanying staff in an attempt to achieve some measure of continuity and prevent the program from falling off a cliff.
But that unwillingness to take the p.r. and recruiting pain short-term by hiring a lower-profile candidate may result in injury to the program that might render the quality of coach and his staff meaningless for years to come.
7:33 pm on January 13th, 2010
Higher profile candidates turned the job down, and if they waited longer more would have. USC took a risk with a SEC head coach, and that coach is also taking a risk going to soon to be on probation USC.
I see this as a very good hire for USC. Kiffin brings continuity and an excellent staff. USC will be just fine…
7:50 pm on January 13th, 2010
The NCAA should bring the pain after this one. Coach O is a cheat. It was going to catch up with him in the SEC and now his arrogance and placed him back in the skillet where he pulled many of his other escapades. Wonder if there are any players he will try and pick a fight with after tearing his shirt off (like he did at Ole Piss) or any LA hotel rooms he can destroy in a roid rage (again like he did a couple of times at Ole Piss).
Kiffin deserves everything that happens to him and the Trojans. I thought Dad would have a better influence on Son, but maybe he is just the spoiled brat he appears to be.
8:12 pm on January 13th, 2010
you said…..”But that unwillingness to take the p.r. and recruiting pain short-term by hiring a lower-profile candidate may result in injury to the program that might render the quality of coach and his staff meaningless for years to come.” …………………….. Anything is possible. But there are a few immediately known facts. 1> The move stopped the hemorrhaging of recruits, and may even result in a few of the Tenn recruits who were drawn to Ed O or Kiffin, not U of T to come along to USC. 2> Just how good a coach could USC have hoped for, with the scimitar of the NCAA hanging overhead? Kiffin alone would have been a yawner. But the triumverate is a far far different story. Ed O is probably the best recruiter in the u.S., definitely the best on the west coast. Kiffin Sr., is the father of the tampa 2, and one of the best defensive minds around. So I’m thrilled. Imagine how ugly it could have become had we continued down our wish list and continued getting rejected. Reminds me of the nfl draft and a qb hoping to go top 3, who’s still there at 14, 15, 16. We are secure and given we lost PC……..this is as good as it could be. FIGHT ON!!!
8:47 pm on January 13th, 2010
Given that the NCAA sanctions programs, not coaches, it’s not much of a surprise that this accelerates the trend of coaches incurring NCAA investigations and leaving town for a better gig just before the hammer falls.
9:42 pm on January 13th, 2010
While you get a good kick out of the comparison of equipment men to NCAA compliance officers, you don’t tell us how that compares to any other school, rendering the point meaningless. There’s still time for you to get a degree at journalism school so you can see how this job is really done.
9:53 pm on January 13th, 2010
I work in the Ath. Dept for a D1 school and we have 12 sports and 1 full time compliance director and 1 part time person. It’s not that hard.
USC had major turnover in that department over the past two years. The jobs were posted on the NCAA site every few months.
8:38 am on January 14th, 2010
How many compliance officers would a school need? It stands to reason with all the sports a Division 1 school has they would have triple or more equipment managers.
6:57 pm on January 14th, 2010
Well, Scoop, you’ve uncovered many of the intrigues associated with this event. Pete going, Lane Kiffen coming and all of the back room conspiracies and Ides of March plots.
So what?
These are INTRIGUES not FELONIES!
I would love to know how anyone in the world could imagine that deals were made and events manuvered to suit you and your publication.
The deal is: SC landed on its feet, not on its rear end.
No one got bruised, no one bled and no one in this transaction will influence the decision of the NCAA by their presence.
Success came our way under Pete Caroll. When he got here the media had him leaving on the next stage out of town……….Cut these guys some slack; time and truth will win this one.
10:50 am on January 19th, 2010
How many colleges have to get caught paying players before the NCAA realizes they are the problem and not the players.
Let’s hear something about the NCAA.
Come on Brooks, get some real sports blogging going instead of chasing Tiger.