I first heard Lane Kiffin was a candidate Monday afternoon but was clearly behind Jack Del Rio. When Del Rio fell through Tuesday morning, a call was made to Boise State coach Chris Petersen but Kiffin was already in full negotiations.
People started acting strange in Heritage Hall in the early afternoon and the football offices were ordered vacated at one point (with Ed Orgeron apparently en route). It was clear an announcement was imminent. There were indications that Steve Sarkisian was in play, as he was communicating with parties at USC about the job. But in the end, Kiffin got the job.
Sources said the overriding factors were his ability to deliver assistant coaches like Monte Kiffen and Ed Orgeron while continuing the Pete Carroll style of running a program (with perhaps many more controversial comments).
The interesting part was USC called Norm Chow on Tuesday morning and suggested he become offensive coordinator (without saying who the coach would be).
Chow was interested and we will see what happens. If Chow comes aboard, I consider this to be a pretty good overall hire under the circumstances. But that is with Chow. Without him, I’m less certain of this.