The Curse of Lane Kiffin

DISCLAIMER: If you attended USC, please don’t be offended by this post. It’s really not your fault.

Before we head into the 2010 college football season, I just have to get a prediction out of the way, one that’s been on my mind for a while now. I’m hereby predicting a 20 year curse on the University of Southern California brought on by their hiring of Lane Kiffin as head coach. During the next 20 years, USC WILL NOT WIN ANOTHER NATIONAL TITLE. I’ll even go on to say that during this 20 year period THEY WILL HAVE A LOSING BOWL GAME RECORD, regardless of how long Lane Kiffin sticks around.

For a little backstory, Lane Kiffin coached the Oakland Raiders for a little over one season with an overall record of 5-15 as an NFL coach.  He was fired from the Raiders and even called a “flat our liar” by Raiders owner Al Davis.  He went on to sign a 6 year deal to coach the University of Tennessee Volunteers, taking over for the legendary Phillip Fulmer (the Vols were the 1998 National Champ under Fulmer). Before UT’s season even started, Lane was talking trash about SEC powerhouse Florida and their well respected coach Urban Meyer.  In 2009, Lane coached the Vols to a mediocre 7 -6 season.  To show his pride and dedication to the University, Lane even named his son “Knox“, after UT’s home city, Knoxville.

At the conclusion of the 2009 season, 5 years before the expiration of his contract, Lane turned his back on the city for which he named his son after and resigned from Tennessee to take the head coaching job at USC, which was vacant after Pete Caroll took a position with the Seattle Seahawks.  This is the move (dissing Tennessee for USC) that I truly believe will bring about the 20 year curse of Lane Kiffin, during which time the USC Trojans will not win another national championship and have a losing bowl game record.

Soon after Kiffin arrived at USC, his curse went into full effect as the Trojans were banned from postseason play for 2 years due to recruiting violations from the Reggie Bush / Pete Carroll days.  More recently, and this certainly won’t be the last controversy he causes, Kiffin went behind the back of Titans coach Jeff Fisher, one of the most respected head coaches in the NFL, to illegally recruit an offensive coordinator and he’s now being sued for it.  USC fans, good luck with your new coach. I predict that it’s going to be a tough couple of decades under the curse of Lane Kiffin.

Related articles:

• Tennessee Titans to Sue Lane Kiffin (bleacherreport.com)
• Lane Kiffin: The Most Dangerous Man in Sports (bleacherreport.com)
• Lane Kiffin Tackles the NCAA Sanctions at USC (bleacherreport.com)