Who Are We Getting?

What a bummer Pete Carroll left USC. Why in the world he would do this -- I haven't a clue. Head coach of USC football is basically the best job on the planet. It'd be like inheriting prime California coastal real estate and then finding an oil well in your backyard and being blessed with a hot body. USC is at a competitive advantage in relation to all the other Pac-Ten schools. Here is USC's pitch to the vast pool of Southern California talent:

1. Historically, we are the top 1-2 programs in the entire country.
2. Here is our Heisman trophy cabinet.
3. Here is our list of alumni playing in the NFL
4. You are close to home.
5. We have the best looking chicks in the conference.
6. We have a gigantic stadium that can fit 80,000 people.
7. We are in LA and you WILL party with movie starlets and Kobe Bryant.

No other Pac-Ten school can claim any of these things.

Why would Pete Carroll leave? My theory:

1. He can't imagine coaching a team with Matt Barkley as quarterback for another season, let alone three.
2. He seeks revenge on Mark Sanchez.
3. He's sick of dealing with guys who think they're more talented than they are like Joe McKnight.
4. He lost all his trustworthy assistant coaches.
5. His best players are jumping ship for the NFL - Damien Williams

All true. But Carrol built up the program from mediocrity and into the most exciting program in the country (until Tebow came along). All his coaches got sucked away from him, true, but none of them are very successful once they leave. Couldn't he get Norm Chow to return if Kiffin can? And plus - Seattle? They suck. Why would he go to Seattle? He's going to get beaten up by the Niners and Arizona for another couple of years.

And now we have Lane Kiffin and the hatred coming out of Tennessee is palpable.

If there were a stock car race between all the frauds, egomaniacs and two-faced weasels I've ever covered, Lane Kiffin would have the pole position all to himself.

Kiffin is a spin doctor without a medical degree. He thinks truth comes in different shades of gray. He demands loyalty, but gives none himself.

Kiffin is a used car salesman with a whistle. Wait, that's not fair to used car salesmen. He ditched Tennessee for USC after just 13 games. The remaining five years on his contract, the players he left behind, the nine high school recruits who planned to enroll early, they all meant nothing to Kiffin.

According to someone who was in the room, the Tuesday night farewell meeting between Kiffin and the Tennessee players was "very, very, very hostile." Kiffin told them that coaches come and go, that USC was his dream job. The players, orphaned after less than 14 months, responded angrily.

If not for interim coach Kippy Brown, who calmed the players down after Kiffin's appearance, the tension and anger could have redlined. Put it this way: Kiffin is lucky no one took a swing at him. That was the level of betrayal felt by the players in that meeting room.

Not a good sign. I don't like this guy already.