USC fans should root for Kiffin

I miss Lane Kiffin.

There, I said it.

Following a disastrous 2012 campaign which saw the preseason No. 1-ranked Trojans slide to a 7-6 record, losing five of their last six games, Kiffin was on thin ice with USC administration and fans, but I always had a soft spot for the Nebraska-born bruiser.

My freshman year, Kiff led the Trojans to a 10-2 record, highlighted by an upset of then-No. 4 Oregon at Autzen Stadium and a 50-0 walloping of UCLA at home to close out the season. The sanctions imposed on USC’s team that year let the Bruins walk away with the Pac-12 South crown, but there was an arrogance among students and alumni alike that made it fun to be a Trojan.

Though Kiffin produced results on the field, he was always stiff and not very media-friendly. He couldn’t follow up the pizazz of Pete Carroll, so fans didn’t appreciate him.

Outside of that 7-6 mark, Kiffin’s unbelievably uncomfortable and hilarious 30-second press conference might have been the beginning of the end for him. For those of you too young to remember (says the newly-turned 21-year-old), Kiffin decided to stop discussing player injuries with the media during the 2012 season, so when a reporter asked him about someone’s status one September day, he brusquely responded, “I don’t know,” sighed lamentingly, and cut another reporter off by saying, “I gotta go” and ditching the media scrum entirely.

Entering 2013, Kiffin’s inability to pick a starting quarterback and his loss to Washington State in the Trojans’ home opener had people calling for his head.

Then, as we all remember, Kiffin went down in flames and was fired in unceremonious fashion at LAX after USC’s 62-41 loss to ASU.

After all this, Trojan fans love to hate Lane Kiffin.

But there might be a place that hates Kiffin even more than people do here: Knoxville, Tennessee.

Before coming to USC, Kiffin was the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers (after, of course, being fired four games into his second season as Oakland Raiders head coach). He coached the Vols for the 2009 season, before bolting on Jan. 12, 2010, in what I like to picture as a midnight getaway, clutching his wife and kids tightly as they ran through the forest, hoping to be unseen.

Fans were outraged, and apparently still hold a grudge.

This weekend, Kiffin, who took his talents to Tuscaloosa after being fired from USC, returns to Knoxville as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. No. 4 Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC) is taking on unranked Tennessee (3-4, 0-3 SEC) in a 4:30 PT kickoff, which will be broadcast on ESPN2.

The storyline was big enough on its own. Then comedian Daniel Tosh weighed in, taking advantage of his striking resemblance to Kiffin to parody him doing a call-in radio show called “Kiffin’s Krimson Korner,” which doesn’t quite turn out well for the character.

Kiffin’s own mother added fuel to the fire next, because Kiffin just can’t quite ever get enough bad press.

“I’m scared to death for his safety,” said Kiffin’s mother, Robin. “I want him to be in the press box.”

The idea of Lane Kiffin hiding up in the press box is one of the funniest things I’ve ever pictured, and it made me wonder how he would be received if he came back to USC for a game.

Kiffin did have one successful year at USC. Students and alumni were boastful of the 10-2 record, and even bought weird knockoff “Pac-12 South Champion” T-shirts as a shot at UCLA and the NCAA.

In his book, The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, former USC president Steven B. Sample asserts that leadership is often situational and that a leader who succeeds at one point in time might not be the right leader at a different time.

This is how I see Kiffin’s situation at USC. In his own odd way, his “me against the world” reputation was perfect for the Trojans in 2011. They were facing scholarship sanctions, they weren’t bowl eligible and the whole nation was rooting against them. Kiffin harnessed all of that negative energy and produced results.

The next year, the situation was different (as USC was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll) and it appeared that Kiffin was not the right leader at that time. Though some of his ignominious play calls annoyed Trojan fans everywhere, I’m honestly thankful that I’ve had such an entertaining couple of football seasons in my time here at USC.

So I don’t know about you, but I’m rooting for Lane Kiffin and Alabama this weekend.

Roll Tide?

Aubrey Kragen is a senior majoring in communication. She is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Her column, “Release the Kragen,” runs Fridays.”