UPDATE (7:43pm ET): Norm Chow tells Fox Sports Radio Thursday that he never talked to any USC representative about a job with the school. He added that Lane Kiffin left him one voicemail.

During the interview on the Petros & Money Show, Chow said he never seriously entertained leaving UCLA for USC because he never received an offer.

Quite a spirited recruiting effort by Kiffin.

–

As I wrote earlier today, Lane Kiffin has made it clear that he “anticipates” running the USC offense now that he’s been gifted the head coaching position by USC Trustees and Jerry Buss.

(Garrett expects Kiffin to ‘recruit’ Chow to take job Kiffin himself wants)

Figurehead Athletic Director Mike Garrett though does provide some comedy gold on the subject of Norm Chow in his interview with Gary Klein of the LOS ANGELES TIMES today.

Klein: How did Norm Chow enter into this? Was that you suggesting it? Was it Lane suggesting it?
Garrett: It was my idea. I said, you know, it would be nice if we brought that whole staff back and I don’t think Lane was against that. So that’s what we’re trying to do.

Klein: So you’re looking forward to . . .
Garrett: Well, it’s a possibility. It still has to happen and we’ll see.

Klein: Are you a part of that process in terms of a negotiating process?
Garrett: No, it’s really Lane’s deal. He’s going to recruit him and see how it works out.

If you read SbB you already know that Garrett isn’t involved in anything, so the fact that he’s claiming that the Chow recruitment is up to Kiffin, and not the real guys in charge, USC Trustees Ed Roski and Pat Haden, is no surprise.

You also know that if Chow does cross the street from UCLA, it will be despite Kiffin, not because of him.

Kiffin is the last person USC power brokers like Roski and Haden would ask to “recruit” Chow. The process involves doubling (at least) Chow’s salary into the mid-$1Ms range and forcing Kiffin to take his former colleague.

Though Chow’s agent Don Yee has denied that his client is jumping ship, along with UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel, we’ve yet to hear from Chow himself. No one would be surprised if Yee and Neuheisel end up being wrong and Chow does take a position with USC. But if he does leave UCLA, we know it’ll have nothing to do with Kiffin’s “recruitment.”

Besides Garrett’s farcical comments about Chow, Klein unearths one other gem from SC’s fake AD.

Read more…

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel confirmed to Dan Patrick on Fox Sports Radio this morning that Norm Chow is not going to USC. Why? It had nothing to do with loyalty to UCLA or money.

(Kiffin said he “anticipated” calling USC plays on UCLA station last night)

Keep reading.

The past 48 hours there was been a tug of war between USC and UCLA over Chow. USC reportedly was wooing Chow to cross the street and rejoin the Trojans in order to reprise the offensive masterpiece he conducted at the Coliseum in the mid ’00s. While Chow was offensive coordinator at USC, Lane Kiffin was an offensive assistant who also happened to be very close to Pete Carroll. (Monte Kiffin was Carroll’s mentor.)

There’s plenty of conjecture that Lane Kiffin eventually helped undermine Chow with Carroll, leading to Chow’s eventual departure to the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and a strained relationship between the two. After Chow left the Trojans, Lane ascended to offensive coordinator and then assumed the same position with Tennessee, calling the plays for the Vols during his tenure in Knoxville.

After being pushed hard by Carroll to USC, Kiffin was hired by the school as head coach two days ago. As a condition for his hiring, Kiffin assured the USC coaching search committee, which included former USC quarterback Pat Haden, that he was willing to allow Chow to be in charge of the offense - a duty that Kiffin has always coveted.

Yesterday from Los Angeles, Pat Haden said this about Chow to Petros Papadakis and Matt Smith on the Petros and Money Show on Fox Sports Radio: “I think Norm Chow is the best offensive coach I’ve seen in 40 years of watching and covering college football.” (Kudos to show producer David Vassegh for booking Haden, the man behind the USC coaching curtain.)

We know now that the Kiffin hire was a package deal predicated on Ed Orgeron and Monte being on staff if Lane was to get the job. Another prerequisite was Lane’s willingness to take on Chow if Haden & Co. at USC could lure the current UCLA assistant across the street.

So if you’re Lane Kiffin and you know how fragile negotiations are between Chow and USC at the moment, what would you say if asked publicly if you wanted to call the plays?

We found out the answer yesterday.

Read more…

You know it’s a significant Twitter misstep when the sender not only deletes the tweet, but takes down his entire Twitter page. That’s what UCLA freshman receiver Randall Carroll has done following his ill-advised tweet to a pal concerning Bruins offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

Carroll, (Twitter name OCiAM), sent a tweet to La Cañada St. Francis High running back/safety Dietrich Riley, dated Oct. 22, that included a racial epithet to describe Chow, who is of Chinese descent: Read more…

Welcome to the most awkward co-mingling of cultures since those discoverers of bubblin’ crude skedaddled to Beverly Hills and settled in to ruin prime-time television as part of the Backwoods Triptych (”Beverly Hillbillies”, “Green Acres”, and “Petticoat Junction”).  We’ll be working blue tonight… as well as orange… we fear this will never make the Bravo Web site.

(We miss college, where we could get drunk and pretend we were saying meaningful things next to an inflatable swimming pool and a UC-Irvine DJ…)

Brooks has stationed himself next to SbB Girl Alex at the Rose Bowl for the game (made possible by My Boy Barry!), delivering the kind of southern California atmosphere that only Brooks can provide.

Below is Brooks’ pregame report and pictures of SbB Girl Alex coaxing shy college football fans in front of the camera.
Read more…

• The ASSOCIATED PRESS tosses news that Roger Clemens has been invited to join the Astros - at one of their pitching camps.

• Speaking of comebacks, Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett is coming out with book in February.

• 100% INJURY RATE studies the evolution of football video games.

• For your viewing pleasure, here’s another enjoyable episode of ‘Blog Show‘, with your hosts, Jamie Mottran and Dan Steinberg.

• DEADSPIN tries to muscle in on Lleyton Hewitt’s hardbody sister.

Just don’t try that posing at the Gold’s Gym in Provo.

• AZ SPORTS HUB gets the good word from Anquan Boldin, who’s nice enough to record a personal voice mail.

• 100% INJURY RATE needs to cool down, as they get funky with this fat Flyers fan.

• In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., THE WORLD OF ISAAC offers up these memorable sports speeches.

• DAWG SPORTS barks up what the pigskin coaches had to say at the latest NCAA convention.

Read more…

New UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel had his introductory press conference Monday, and UCLA fans were treated to the same phony baloney we’ve come to expect from the former disgraced Washington and Colorado coach.

Bill Dwyre of the LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that Monday “he told a Times reporter that he’d take a run at Norm Chow to become his offensive coordinator, and repeated that several times after his news conference.”

One small problem, before mentioning his interest in Chow to the media, Neuheisel hadn’t even contacted him.

And it’d be a (Music City?) if Chow stepped down from his NFL gig as offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans to take the OC job at UCLA. Especially considering he just interviewed for the head coaching position with the Bruins, before withdrawing from consideration fo the job.

What everyone north of Wilshire Blvd. seems to forget about Neuheisel is that when he left Colorado for Washington, the Buffaloes’ program was in decline. And that Neuheisel’s firing at Washington was based more on failing teams than minor rules violations over a betting pool (UW just used that as an excuse to throw him out on his a**).

Neuheisel never consistently produced top-quality teams at Colorado and Washington, school’s with much less stringent academic standards for football recruits than UCLA. Yes, he started fast with both schools, but much of that success was with players recruited by his coaching predecessors.

Once Neuheisel got his players into the programs, the records got worse with both the Buffaloes and Huskies. What makes UCLA fans think his stay in Westwood will be any different? Hello Mike Archer!

PC RUNNING INTERFERENCE FOR INCOMPETENT ASSISTANT: Adam Rose of the LOS ANGELES TIMES records Pete Carroll admitting that he “blew it” by allowing quarterback John David Booty to finish the USC loss to Stanford this season despite a “broken hand“:

“We really blew it against Stanford. We screwed it up because we played a guy that was hurt. I made a mistake on that. That was me. That wasn’t Norm or Lane or Eddy-O, or any of those guys. That was me screwing it up and not recognizing it, and sitting on the football at the end of the game. We kept throwing it with a guy with a broken hand.“Pretty contrite, eh? And if you don’t know anything about USC football, you would think Carroll is legitimately owning up to his own mistakes. But what he’s really doing is covering for under-fire offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Why else would Carroll mention former offensive assistants Norm Chow and Lane Kiffin in his denial?

Like we said, that works well for the masses outside the 213, but if you really know what the hell is going on, you understand that Carroll’s inability to hire quality assistant coaches has been the major on-field downfall of the program.Norm Chow made the careers of Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and based on his USC, NC State and BYU accomplishments, may well be the most-decorated assistant coach in college football history. Here’s what he told Scott Wolf of the L.A. DAILY NEWS last year about the competence of Sarkisian and Kiffin (in relation to UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker): “I know DeWayne Walker may be better than both of those guys.”

And we all know what happened last season at the Rose Bowl.If Carroll really wants to own up to the true error of his ways, he should fire Sarkisian. Because since they are such close friends, that won’t happen. But you can bet Carroll will be working hard to get Sark a “promotion” this offseason - much like the black hole Kiffin has since been sucked into in Oakland.

• DEADSPIN spots a tasty dish, as they hunger for a mouthful of Erin Andrews:

• Speaking of the sideline siren, IGN jiggles their joystick at news that Erin will be appearing in the newest edition of EA Sports’ March Madness.• BLACK ATHLETE offers a preview clip of “Blood Equity”, a documentary about retired NFL players, and the medical hardships many face without much help from the league.

• WKMG reports Urban Meyer may give the Florida football captaincy back to unsafe safety Tony Joiner:

The Gators coach probably just wants to spare himself from any death threats.• Scott Wolf of INSIDE USC crunches the numbers, and the Trojans’ strength of schedule would rank 107 out of 120.

• Speaking of the succumbers to Stanford, Arizona’s UA SPORTS FANS BLOG believes the troubles in Troy may have started when former offensive coordinator Norm Chow said sayonara to the southland.

• In wake of the Hurricanes’ close shave against Georgia Tech, MIAMI SPORTS BLOG has this hair-raising pic of a UM fan showing his unique grooming style:

• FOX reporters hate our freedom, as HOME RUN DERBY finds a couple of Boston-affiliate broadcasters talking over the national anthem.• AWFUL ANNOUNCING goes for a new look, as “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” puts on a Beard.

• Think you can make as much sense as the Harris Poll? BCS FAN POLL wants you to rock their vote. (Warning: Don’t pull a Spurrier and put Duke at #25.)

• MAVRIX ONLINE is still standing, as Sir Elton John serves up one smash hit after another:

(Bonus fact: Elton’s song “Philadelphia Freedom” was written for Billie Jean King, who played for the Philadelphia Freedoms World Team Tennis squad.)• HOOPS VIBE goes on a Buss trip, as they theorize where Kobe may end up.

• Mike O’Hara of the DETROIT NEWS feels like an idiot for picking the Lions.