Lane Kiffin’s life in pictures
Kudos to Kegs ‘N Eggs for an inventive post about Lane Kiffin.
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Mike Garrett out as USC AD, Pat Haden in  The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Pat Haden will replace Mike Garrett as USC’s next athletic director.
Reports state that Garrett “retired,” but the fact is that he’s being pushed out and Trojan fans should rejoice. Some like to point out that Garrett oversaw the football program’s success over the years, but don’t forget that it was former graduate coaching assistant and current Syracuse AD Daryl Gross that brought Pete Carroll to Southern Cal – not Garrett. Garrett’s claim to fame is subsequently having a hand in the departures of basketball coaches Henry Bibby and Tim Floyd, ruining a once proud USC baseball program with the firing of Mike Gillespie (the university maintains that he retired, but even he is on record as saying he was let go) and now, being the man in charge when the NCAA handed down its two-year bowl ban in light of the Reggie Bush investigation. Garrett may have held the position for 17 years, but his recent track record speaks for itself and the USC faithful should be encouraged that Haden is coming in. Pete Carroll, do yourself a favor and close the open hole on your face 
Pete Carroll is like that friend who eats the leftovers that you had been saving in your fridge, then denies it, then says, “Are you kidding me? Why would anyone steal your leftovers? That just isn’t right. Whoever did that is a bad, bad person. I’m disgusted that somebody would do that to you – just disgusted.” It was you, Pete. We can’t prove it was you, but it was you. And since we can’t prove that it was you, you might as well just move on and shut your mouth. Last week, Carroll released a non-convincing video saying he was “absolutely shocked” and “disappointed” about the sanctions that were levied against USC’s football program. This week, he’s actually going as far as to suggest that the NCAA can start a witch hunt against a player without reasonable cause.
I may actually throw up – is he serious? The NCAA doesn’t investigate unless there’s something to investigate. Does he actually think that they just target random programs and punish them without cause? How does USC not being able to play for a national championship help the NCAA? It hurts them if anything because USC is one of the most recognizable programs in the country. They want them to have something to play for so that the sport prospers. They didn’t want this, but what went on was wrong and USC has to be held accountable since it happened under their watch. Truth be told, Carroll should be held accountable as well. But since he got out of there at the right time, he should let it go and move on. Considering he’s coaching in the National Football League now, he should have plenty on his plate. I know he wants to save face in So Cal, but he should do the smart thing and stop commenting on the subject before somebody actually proves that he’s a liar.
Pete Carroll “shocked” about USC ban Former Trojans head coach Pete Carroll says he’s “absolutely shocked” about the sanctions that were recently levied by the NCAA against USC’s football program, which include a two-year postseason ban and the loss of 30 scholarships over the next three years. Here’s the video: Like most kids growing up, I used to hide things from my parents. Progress reports, poor test grades, and of course, the occasional Playboy or two. (Stop it – you know you hid them, too.) Granted, I was often successful in hiding these items from my folks. But hiding a crumbled up Playboy is a little easier than sneaking free hotel stays, rent-free homes, suits and limousines past my parents. In other words: How the hell didn’t Carroll and USC know that Reggie Bush was getting free crap? How did they not know that several of his family members were staying in rent-free homes, or that he rode in a limousine wearing a brand new suit when he accepted the Heisman in New York in December of 2005? You can sneak a lot of things by unsuspecting people, but not on a college campus and not when the program’s most recognizable player is involved. Even if Pistol Pete didn’t know, someone had to. Someone had to have seen what was going on. Are you telling me that a jealous player didn’t see everything Bush was getting and not tell other people? Come on – word travels fast, I don’t care what the situation is. I refuse to believe that USC was completely oblivious to what was going on when Bush was there. And as so many people have pointed out over the last couple of days, it’s hardly a coincidence that Carroll agreed to head back to the NFL during the same year that USC was punished. USC football program gets two-year postseason ban 
USC just got gorilla-smacked by the NCAA.
I’ll have more on this topic when more details are released, but here are some quick-hit thoughts: - Looks like Pete Carroll got out of So Cal at the right time. Think he knew the shit storm that was about to come down on the program when he decided to take the Seahawks job in January? Many people thought it was odd timing for Carroll to head back to the NFL when the decision was announced, but something tells me Pistol Pete had an inkling that something was about to go down and decided to hightail it out of town. Before Captain Wiseguy points out the obvious, yes, I’m just speculating. But let’s be realistic about the situation: Carroll, who has been courted many, many, many times throughout the years by NFL teams, decides to accept the Seahawks’ head coaching job five months prior to USC getting a two-year postseason ban. Coincidence? I think not. - I wonder how Lane Kiffin feels about leaving Tennessee in the dust to take over for Carroll at USC now. If you listen closely enough, you can her Vols fans laughing in the distance. - That 2004 USC squad is highly considered one of the greatest college football teams of all time, so the fact that the program will have to forfeit their 13 wins from that season is jarring to say the least. People will still remember how powerful that team was, but from now on, it’ll always be associated with this ban. - Soooo, is Oklahoma now the 2004 (or 2005) BCS National Champion? How does that work?
USC may have to forfeit wins; Bush could be stripped of Heisman 
According to ESPN.com, the NCAA committee on infractions will release its findings regarding the USC football and basketball programs on Friday.
As the article notes, the football program was sanctioned back in 2001 so if allegations concerning Reggie Bush are found to be major violations, USC could be forced to forfeit victories during the running back’s time in the program. That would be a massive blow considering the Trojans won a national championship and lost in the BCS title game during that span. Bush should be concerned, too. If he is found retroactively ineligible, then he could lose his 2005 Heisman Trophy award.
Taylor Mays improving his draft stock? 
Entering Senior Bowl week, Taylor Mays was drawing comparisons of Panthers’ defender Thomas Davis, which is both good and bad. The good is that Davis has developed into one of the better outside linebackers in the NFL. He can play the pass just as well as the run and he’s a solid all-around playmaker and tackler. The bad is that Davis was a safety in college, which is the position Mays played at USC. Mays would like to stay at safety, but reports have surfaced that pro teams view him as an outside linebacker or even a hybrid OLB/S in a 3-4 scheme. The reason for the potential position change is because Mays displayed poor ball skills in college and has trouble matching up with receivers in man coverage. He also plays too tall, doesn’t move his hips well and struggles in space. That said, Mays is turning heads at the scouting combine. He ran an unofficial forty time of 4.24 on Tuesday, which would make him the fastest player at this year’s workout. He also turned in a 41-inch vertical and 10’5-inch broad jump, which are equally impressive. If he wanted to prove to teams that he can play safety at the next level, he’s certainly making a strong case at the combine. Of course, the combine can only help a player so much. Once teams review film on him at Southern Cal, they’ll still see Mays’ weaknesses and might draft him as an OLB regardless of how he performs this week. Still, his numbers are impressive and he certainly didn’t hurt his draft stock in Indianapolis.
College Football Program Power Rankings  Welcome to a new feature on The Scores Report. We thought it would be interesting to tally up all the major accomplishments of a college football program and assign a point value to each category in order to rank them against one another. Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed. Here’s how the points are calculated — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million — Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name. We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools. Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program upgraded or downgraded its head coach in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.) So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.
1. Florida Gators (61)
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (58)
3. Texas Longhorns (49) Posted in: College Football Tags: 2009 College Football season, 2010 College Football Season, Alabama Crimson Tide, Boise State Broncos, Cincinnati Bearcats, college football power rankings, college football program power rankings, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Iowa Hawkeyes, LSU Tigers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas Longhorns, USC Trojans, Virginia Tech Hokies, West Virginia Mountaineers USC lands top quarterback recruit…who happens to be 13. Lane Kiffin got a solid jump on the Class of 2015 when he got 13-year-old David Sills to commit to USC. Wait…what? From ESPN Los Angeles.com:
Here’s the YouTube footage: Watch the drama before the Lane Kiffin press conference [video] This video was taken before Lane Kiffin sat down to speak to the Knoxville media about his decision to leave Tennessee to take the USC job. One television reporter (or producer?) doesn’t want to agree to Kiffin’s terms. It’s pretty funny to watch thirty people trip over each other trying to get a stupid press conference started. |
