FOOTBALL

In between NFL playoff weeks, the college football world has been up in arms.  Pure chaos.

First off, the Seattle Seahawks were in search for a new head coach.  Instead of picking from potential offensive and defensive coordinators in the pros, they went headhunting in the college ranks — approaching none other than USC superhero Pete Carroll.  Carroll has coached in the NFL before (the Patriots before the Belichick era), but has refused multiple pro coaching opportunities since turning USC into a powerhouse.  In fact, the 49ers approached him just a few seasons ago, and he said he was staying put.

However, USC just had an awful season, and recovering in college football isn’t easy.  Once you slip up (i.e. go from being undefeated almost every season to losing to multiple teams within your conference), it’s hard to recover.  Some of the star recruits don’t want to be a part of your program any more.  With this being said, Carroll took the opportunity and bolted for the NFL.  Perhaps he saw a slump coming in the USC program and got out while he could.  It’s tough to say if Carroll’s success at USC will transfer to Seattle (after all, success in college sports is very dependent on a solid recruiting team), but it’s definitely a new era in Seattle now.  With Carroll as the head coach, it’s very likely that the Seahawks will move on from the Matt Hasselback era.  After all, Hasselbeck was former head coach Mike Holmgren’s QB.  You might see a bunch of changes in Seattle next season.

Furthermore, upon Carroll’s departure to the Seahawks, it left a coaching vacancy at USC.  A very coveted job.  And guess who took it immediately?  Former USC offensive mastermind Lane Kiffin. Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at USC under Carroll, and he took a head coaching job with the Raiders just 2 seasons ago.  Now here’s where things get controversial.  Kiffin signed a big deal to be the head coach at the illustrious University of Tennessee.  He was brought in to reignite their prestigious program (they have been average this decade).  Well, after just one average season at Tennessee, Kiffin jumped ship and went back to his comfort zone — USC.  Perhaps Kiffin knew the SEC is just too competitive to go undefeated, and that USC would be a better place to shine.  After all, USC has practically dominated the Pac 10 this year, and they easily get the best High School recruits on the west coast.  However, Tennessee is not happy about this, and feel that Kiffin betrayed them.  It’s a very shady move, especially because it’s now possible that some of Kiffin’s most notable blue chip recruits might decide to play elsewhere.  This has financial implications for the University after all.  But… what’s done is done.  Kiffin is the man at USC, and there is a (huge) vacancy at Tennessee.