Norm Chow Won’t Be Joining The Lane Kiffin Reunion Tour At USC

/finds25centsinthecouch

Southern California introduced Lane Kiffin as their new head coach Wednesday night. Kiffin naturally called USC a “perfect fit.” The entire press conference had an odd feel to it ... delusional? Slimy? Disingenuous? I’m not sure what the correct adjective is, but whatever it is, it isn’t positive.

At one point, T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times began grilling Kiffin, prompting this response from the new SC head coach: “I don’t know that you don’t know that we know what we know now to be inaccurate.”

Seems that like their current counterparts, former Tennessee players aren’t too fond of this “Lane Kiffin” fellow! The Knoxville paper caught up with a few Vol alums who were only too happy to share their thoughts on the imbroglio:

It gets worse (of course it does). Read on.

The search is on for Tennessee’s next football coach. According to SB Nation’s Rocky Top Talk, who covered Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton’s press conference today, that search could be over by the end of the week. Hamilton reportedly said the university hopes to have a coach in place by Friday or Saturday, which would help them prevent Kiffin and departed assistant Ed Orgeron from getting more of Tennessee’s recruits to follow them out west.

Assistant coach Kippy Brown will serve as the team’s interim head coach, and will reportedly also receive consideration to stay on in that position permanently.

Team Speed Kills says Kiffin’s statement that he’s leaving the program in better shape than he found it is another example of his only real accomplishment at Tennessee: Spin.

All of which prompted Kiffin to boldly declare as he left Tennessee under cover of darkness Tuesday: “I know ... that we’re leaving here fourteen months later a lot better team than we were fourteen months ago.” Exactly how so, Boy Wonder? Fourteen months ago, Tennessee was an average football team that had gone almost .500 the previous season, just lost its head coach and faced an unsettled situtation at quarterback. Now, Tennessee is an average football team that went slightly better than .500 this past season, has just lost its head coach and faces an unsettled situation at quarterback.

While Lane Kiffin spoke (briefly) to gathered media after it became official he was leaving for USC, the real story was happening outside. Upon learning their coach -- the same guy who once said, “I’m really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee, for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year, it will be a blast” -- was departing for Southern Cal, after just one year at UT, the students, well ... they weren’t too pleased. And like true college students from generations before them, they reacted by TAKING IT TO THE STREETS, MAN!

All images via SB Nation’s Rocky Top Talk.

Wait, wha—- Yes, to recap: Lane Kiffin is no longer the head coach at Tennessee. He did not leave this position to walk the earth, attend law school, or pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a forest ranger. He’s leaving for another job.

So, what does this mean for Tennessee? Rioting, or at least a mild variation of it outside the UT Athletic offices. Tennessee player Renaldo Woodridge documented some of the mayhem on his Twitter feed, including some light tear-gassing of a crowd alternating chants of “F—- You Kiffin” and the coach’s address.

Not so fast on all that Norm Chow to USC talk.

ESPN’s Shelley Smith went on ESPNews earlier Tuesday night and said that Chow was joining Lane Kiffin in USC as the team’s offensive coordinator. However, the guys over at our UCLA blog, Bruins Nation, who are absolutely all over this, by the way, are reporting that Chow is still under contract through “next season at least.” That obviously would make things more difficult (but not impossible; see: Kiffin, Lane).

Lane Kiffin gave a (very) brief statement tonight, where he spoke for about a minute, and did not take any questions.

Here is the video, via WVLT in Knoxville:

It’s early still, and seemingly came out of nowhere (don’t the parties involved know America is trying to watch “American Idol” tonight?!), but SB Nation’s USC blog, Conquest Chronicles, offers their insta-reaction on Lane Kiffin becoming their team’s new head coach.

They’re getting the band back together. Norm Chow, after two seasons as the offensive coordinator at UCLA, will be joining Lane Kiffin in the same role as the reunion tour pulls into USC. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Shelley Smith on ESPNews.

Chow served as the Trojans’ OC from 2001-2004, and spent the past two seasons with the crosstown rival Bruins.

From SB Nation’s USC blog, Conquest Chronicles (where they are obviously a bit stunned just like the rest of us), comes the official release from Southern California.

And now what ESPN reported is also confirmed: Ed Orgeron and Monte Kiffin and heading to Troy, too.

Via the hilariously unreliable Knoxville paper (see headline), Lane Kiffin’s buyout at Tennessee is a “mere” $800,000. The cost to the Vols themselves will be far greater: With Kiffin, it’s very safe to assume, will go his father and DC Monte Kiffin, recruiting coordinator/wildebeest Ed Orgeron, and any number of crackerjack recruiters (and recruits). One coach staying put is newly hired Kippy Brown, who has been named interim head coach.

Via the actually reliable Wes Rucker, news emerges that some sort of press event will take place at 9:30 tonight at UT.

Lane Kiffin is going going, back back, to Cali, Cali. According to sources, Kiffin has agreed to become the new head coach at Southern California.

ESPN’s Joe Schad tweeted the same thing: “USC has hired Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, sources say.”

Jack Del Rio will stay in Jacksonville, according to Peter King’s Twitter feed. King did not say this because it doesn’t fit in 140 characters, but this move clearly defines class and clutch, and Del Rio is a great guy. (Please send me 1.2 million a year for such insightful

analysis. Sincerely, guy who just wrote like Peter King at a steep discount.)