USC’s Pat Haden says fired coach Lane Kiffin misunderstood, Vince Lombardi couldn’t have won with these sanctions
USC AD Pat Haden joined the show to talk about why he fired Lane Kiffin over the weekend.
Dan asked why midseason. “There’s no great time to make a change in college football,” Haden said. “Unlike professional football where there are windows.”
Haden did praise the work Kiffin did. “In a lot of ways he’s a misunderstood guy,” Haden said. “He did a lot of great things for USC.”
Haden said a big part of the problem was sanctions. He pointed to Michigan State and Alabama who were around .500 when they had sanctions like this. “If [Kiffin] had known the sanctions that were going to be handed down he might not have even taken the job,” Haden said.
Dan asked if anyone could have won with these sanctions. “Vince Lombardi would have had a hard time getting through this,” Haden said.
Haden said they haven’t started a coaching search. He said it’s not important it’s a USC guy, head-coaching experience is important, and NFL experience isn’t a positive or negative either way right now.