FOOTBALL

USC Thrives When It Has Leader Of Men

Just a follow-up to this morning. When Lane Kiffin coached at USC, one of my main criticisms was that he was not a leader of men.

You could talk to the players and they would express their dissatisfaction or lack of respect.

Same with Clay Helton.

But that is not an issue now. USC has never needed a great coach. It just needs a competent coach.

And to be fair, I think Kiffin is now a much better leader than he was at USC. He got the Raiders, Tennessee and USC jobs too young. Now he’s older and wiser.

38 thoughts on “USC Thrives When It Has Leader Of Men”

    1. Apparently our Scott underwent some form of religious experience last Sunday. He’s displaying the kind of wisdom I associate with Thomas Aquinas.
      #ThisMayWork…
      #…IfMixedWithUncontrolledSnarkEveryOtherDay..
      #WeNeedAquinasBlendedWithOscarLevant

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      1. Michael, when you go intellectual on me you lose me as in, “What’d he say?’
        — I have heard of this Aquinas guy, but who is the Oscar Levant dude?

        Liked by 3 people

      2. He was everybody’s favorite bad boy of the ’50’s and ’60’s —he appeared in a few movies such as An American In Paris —basically playing himself (a smartass with great musical talent). Once, during a talk show, he turned to Joan Collins and said “I’ve seen every square inch of you except for your forehead —could you pull back those bangs and give us a look?”

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Except Lincoln resists the temptation of saying “clever-wever” stuff when you point a mic or camera at him….
      #Riley=VeryFootballSmartAdult
      #Kiffin=VeryFootballSmartLittleBoy

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      1. He was only 31 when he first took the USC job and very immature and immaturity is a real bad trait when you are the USC football coach because there are so many people out there in the media who hate you and are looking to jump on anything you say and make a mountain out of a molehill. Just look at the way they have tried to portray LR so far.

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    2. Running bubble screens every other play makes Kiffin an offensive genius?

      That clown carries the Denny’s menu play sheet and he only runs about 4 different plays.

      Kiffin is such a genius he coached Kessler and Wittek to a 60 yard total passing game against WAZZU at the Coliseum in a 10-7 Trojan loss. 60 yards for the both of those clowns combined.

      LOL!

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  4. hi john,i jussed notissed that the so calld englisch poeple got them selfs a king,u thinck we shud get wun to,may be make preznint bidin a king so the englisch aint got nuthin on us,or may be we can shair thare king and saiv som munneys,

    Liked by 2 people

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    2. hi john,i jussed notissed that the so calld englisch poeple got them selfs a king,u thinck we shud get wun to,may be make preznint bidin ? By da way, mi posterior is stretched out of shape, n it becuz i luv som good Peenus ..smdh

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    3. Eddie, why do you consistently ask questions that I have no answer for?

      I don’t know much about Washington D.C., but it strikes me that some of our past presidents have had more power than English kings and queens.

      So maybe we should start using titles of King Trump or King Biden. I don’t know, Ed, why do you ask me such esoteric questions, figure it out yourself

      I mean afterall, you have told us that you were No. 1 in your class,
      whereas in my small mid-year SC class I was 345 out of 345 students, so guess who is smarter?

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      1. I guess class rankings don’t tell ya everything, John — a young kid named Cassius Clay graduated next to last in his class —and turned out to be one of the wisest men of the 20th century…..

        Liked by 3 people

    1. MG
      Whatever you think of Ali(and I have mixed emotions), he did say a lot of wise things. One of his quotes was “The man who views the world at 50, the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

      Liked by 2 people

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    2. Boogs, do you remember the 2012 game vs. ND? ND was ranked 1, and USC had a chance at the Colli. Wittek was QB, and the Trojans had first and goal, and Kiffin called the exact same pass play to 5 times to Somu Vainuku. 5 because there was one penalty against ND. Same f’ing play. If they had scored there, they perhaps could have had the upset win.

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      2. I remember that trojan1967, that’s why I call him lame lame. He earned that nic name with the same stupid plays over and over again thinking they’re going to work. Not. So glad he’s so far away from so Cal.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. College 18-22 year-old college footballers are not quite the age of mature men, and are dealt with differently than their grown-men counterparts in the NFL

    So it is difficult for me to accept the proclamation that Kiffin
    “was not the leader of men.”– The ‘Kiff’ had had prior experience dealing with NFL-types, so I believe he would have had no difficulty handling college kids face-to-face, and would have cared less what some disgruntled players had to say about him.

    And as for ‘Ton-o-Hel,’ say what you will and most of you already have,
    but reports are that the kids basically liked the guy.

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      2. Everyone loves the daddy that lets you do whatever you want, however when it’s time to pay him for sucking the balls of his clients, he can be physically rough. He slapped me around many time like a little bitch to collect his money

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      3. Ever so true, Steve, in my entire life I have never disliked anyone who offered me ice cream.

        But that said, the Helton-player dynamic may have been more complex than us clueless alumni know– He was a genuinely ‘nice’ guy that the players apparently bought into, but yet who did not perform up to even average-grades except 2016, which was lorded over by the magic of one Sam Darnold

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      1. One of my first interviews out of college was with an abrasive insurance handler
        who informed me that “The world is littered with nice guys,” and they did not want any nice guys working for their company

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  8. I wish Hollywood would get off their lazy asses and come up with new ideas.

    They are not going to improve upon Scott Bakula & Dean Stockwell with this new Quantum Leap!

    Liked by 2 people

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  10. Stewart Mandel:

    Most watched games, Week 2:

    Alabama-Texas (FOX): 10.6M
    Tennessee-Pitt (ABC): 4.5M
    Kentucky-Florida (ESPN): 4.3M
    Wazzu-Wisc (FOX): 3.9M
    Stanford-USC (ABC): 3.0M
    Marshall-ND (NBC): 2.5M
    Baylor-BYU (ESPN): 2.4M

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. Lane Kiffin is a good offensive coordinator. He is a good recruiter. I hope he stays in Florida. Lincoln Riley is an offensive guru that has produced Heisman Trophy Winners (like Norm Chow). Lincoln Riley has a plan, like Pete Carroll and John McKay. Give me Lincoln Riley over Kiffin or Sark any day of the week.

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