Trojans Fire Lane Kiffin

It's become a fact of life at this point for football fans across the country. The Lane Kiffin era never ends well. In Oakland, Kiffin left during a messy feud with the legendary and now late Al Davis. He resurfaced at Tennessee, where he was essentially hated by everyone from day one, but still managed to piss everyone off even more when he left after one season to take over at USC. As a former Pete Carroll assistant, he seemed to be the bright young coach that could return the Trojans to the glory

This face pretty much sums it up

days that Carroll brought to Coliseum, when the USC depth chart had All-American's competing for a place on the third string. Unfortunately, the Lane Kiffin era at USC ended very messy and very abruptly. USC is not on the precipice of greatness. As a matter of fact, they are currently 0-2 in their conference and did not receive a single vote in either the media or coaches polls this week. During the halftime show of what would turn out to be Kiffin's final game as head coach, a studio analyst mentioned that he thought USC could pull off an upset. The problem with that statement was that the apparently upset-minded Trojans were playing Arizona State, an unranked team that less than a decade ago didn't even belong on the same field as USC. Once one of the great dynasties in college sports, the Trojans are just a fiesty group trying to pull off an upset or two. The media hype machine may have done more harm than good to Kiffin's tenure. USC opened up last year as the preseason number one team in the country. They boasted promising skill position players like potential Heisman candidate Matt Barkley and the reputation of being one of the game's traditional juggernauts. However, the 2012 season unraveled, quickly exposing the team for what they were -- a team robbed off its depth by scholarship sanctions relating to Reggie Bush's time on campus [when Carroll was the coach]. USC looked good when you glanced at the starting lineup, but their depth chart was a mess. The Trojans would go from preseason number one to postseason number nothing, an unheard of occurrence in college sports. All of this occurred under the watch of Lane Kiffin. Ultimately, Kiffin's undoing took place on the recruiting trial. Pete Carroll bolted from the program once it became apparent that the school would be punished for improprieties during the golden era of Bush and Leinart. Kiffin took the position and would quickly feel the wrath of the NCAA. Kiffin's first USC team was ineligible for the postseason, and he has never recruited a full class at the university due to sanctions. Despite the drawbacks, excellence was still expected by the likes of athletic director Pat Hayden, and it was not delivered. As Carroll's recruits left campus, the wheels on Kiffin's wagon became more and more likely to one day fall off. Kiffin has always seemed to rub people the wrong way, and apparently this must have been the case on the recruiting couch as well. Kiffin brought in good classes, but nothing near the level of his predecessor. It didn't help that USC's scholarship restrictions coincided with the resurgence of California programs such as UCLA and Stanford [two of the Pac-12 conference's three best teams as of now]. This past Saturday, around the time when Arizona State was tallying their 62nd point of the night, the wagon officially found itself without wheels. Twitter erupted with speculation over whether Kiffin was done. College football writers such as Yahoo's Pat Forde had essentially chalked up his demise. The overwhelming sentiment was that giving up 62 points to Arizona State was the equivocal point of no return. The Twitter-verse was right. Pat Hayden fired Lane Kiffin in the airport terminal after the game. Kiffin reportedly pleaded for his job but to no avail. Another Lane Kiffin era has ended with the sky falling on top of his head. USC will turn to veteran staffer Ed Orgeron to guide the team in the interim, and former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio has been mentioned as a possible permanent solution. As for Kiffin, who knows where he will resurface. When he does, we will wait for his seemingly inevitable demise. Nobody leaves a job in a more dramatic and entertaining fashion than Lane Kiffin.