Can Lane Kiffin Win Back The Locker Room?

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One dilemma from this season heading into next year was Lane Kiffin’s relationship with the players. Kiffin usually spent most of his time with the skill players the past 3 years.

But this year, his relationship with Robert Woods was awful at best. Woods could not wait to leave and who could blame him? And Matt Barkley criticized Kiffin’s focus on Marqise Lee, which illustrated that relationship also frayed.

So if he didn’t get along with a wide receiver and quarterback, who is left? Certainly not the tight ends, because they were upset over their opportunities.

Somewhere during the season Kiffin lost the locker room, which last happened under Paul Hackett. And he needs to regain it, or his USC tenure is hopeless.

109 thoughts on “Can Lane Kiffin Win Back The Locker Room?”

  1. He’s got position coaches who are well-respected (Orgeron, Martin, Pola) so he needs to get 2 new coordinators, a new O-Line coach, get rid of the special teams coord and handle it himself sans the OC responsibilities. In general, it’s hard to win back a locker room when you don’t actually talk to your players during a game, or watch what they’re doing even.

  2. Kiffin didn’t get along with fellow coaches Davis or Chow, why would he have a good relationship with his players? He’s a douche, he needs to go but he’ll be there for the foreseeable future thanks to Haden

    • Why do you always have a massive hardon when it comes to anything related to USC football, weird……this shit might be spiking your blood pressure, just saying

  3. Kiff really messed up when you lost you, wolfman!!!

    instead of keeping you in his corner, he turned on you like King Lear turned on his one faithful daughter!!

    now Kiff is wandering around in a hellish daze of his own creation.

    so Shakespearean…oh! i am slain!!!!

    • Bucket, it looks like you’re still posting with that eye patch on……you make so sense at all, Dr. T Bone is near

  4. Remember when Lane wore sunnies during a bowl game to hide the shot he took in the locker room? Yeah, that was funny.

    Unrelated, waiting for Nard Dog to give us the follow up to his “Mora to Chargers” story. Farts.

  5. Why does it seem that only on Scott’s blog are there reports of “locker room problems” and Kiffin “losing the locker room”? I still haven’t heard anything of the so-called scuffle after the Sun Bowl. I wonder if the whole thing was made up by Scott to try to add something when there was nothing there.

    Even on the more resourceful & paid sites, I don’t remember a mention. (Then again, they have more productive discussions and actually moderate trolls.)

    Personally, I’ve seen Kiffin with his players on numerous occasions off the field and he almost seems to act like one of their peers. I had trouble getting his autograph on campus at a rally because he and Grimble get jawing at each other jokingly.

    If anything, I’ve observed him TOO friendly with them. Many don’t believe that’s a healthy relationship, but it’s walking a fine line.

    I’m not saying the totally LOVE him either. Closing out the season losing all those games better frustrate you as a player or coach. Otherwise, I’d have to question your competitiveness.

    • When you’re shut out of the locker room, and no one around the athletic dept. likes you, you have to start manufacturing stories to still feel relevant among your peers…..How long must this vendetta go on?

  7. He needs to stop being friendly with players and start giving tough love, coaching, and discipline. Get in their face, tell them u expect more, instruct them at all times on and off the field. Learn how to be a head coach lane. Ur not an offensive coordinator. Usc is paying u to be the head honcho not an oc. Fire one of ur assistants on special teams, hire a real oc, hire a dc, and make ur life easier.

  8. lane “the Liar” is a good fit for a program that’s built to Lie & Cheat. He’s a classless, double talking, inept coach who benefited from Da Da’s NFL acclaim.

    If usc wanted better, they could have done better. Both Garrett & Hayden were and are complicit. They allowed him to lie to the public, cheat during games, disrespect UCLA coaches, UCLA players and other Universities in his short tenure at sc. He thinks he’s above the stars. He’s as phony as a $4.00 bill. At least Carroll “aka Sneaky Pete the Cheat” smiled while cheating and knifing you in the back. Sneaky Pete was super “P/C” when he dealt with the public. (GO S/F 49ers!!!!!) The better UCLA and sc are, the better the Pac 12 will become. L.A. has room for 2 Dominant College programs, so long as my BRUINS are on TOP, after all California has megatons of Football talent.

    I found so much joy in a convo yesterday with a recent former sc fan, now Bama fan. I chastised him for being a faint heart-ed sc fan, this guys taunted me for years during sc great runs, now he’s a Bama fan? Really? U new sc fans need to look to the sc fans of the 90’s (the lean years, the Petros years, LoL, shout out to AM 570 PMS) for a shoulder to cry on. Put your “Big Boy Football Fans Pants on please and don’t forget to wipe front to back first. Ok?”

    Being a Sports fan isn’t about logic nor is it for the faint at heart. I know, I proudly wear my UCLA gear EVERYDAY, PERSONAL UCLA LICENSE PLATES, take sucker beats against sc every year. Why? because, UCLA is my team, they have my heart, I have the heart to stay the course with them. keep your chin up sc fans, you’re the BRUIN FAN of the last 10 years…. (the butt of all college football jokes relative to L.A. sports…..that is.)

    The Reign of the TERROR in L.A. College Football is truly in the Rear View Mirror

    Sincerely,

    Johnathan Franklin’s 15 yardy, un-sportsman-like, Orenthal inspired throat slashing gesture…..

      • That’s Mr. Gilbert to U……… Mr. Gilbert was only guilty of loving his school………. sc doesn’t only suck…… U pose for the camera, then swallow .

          • I already told U, back to the shallow end. Yo brain is to slow to spar with me. Lies and propaganda, put that in your search engine……

          • Way too much koolaid for you, I’m not buying what you’re selling , so move on….your opinion is worthless around her

          • Nice comebacks, ucla has 2 to 3 more years where they should be the better football team. But the problem with UCLA has been can they put enough money back into the program and coaches. Mazzone will more than likely be gone after next year leaving for a head coaching job or simply getting paid more money to O.C.. He’s pretty well known amongst coaches and now the public. Same for mora will they be willing to pay 4 million for him or more because that’s what comes with success. That what made carrolls run so successful he was still losing coaches and still winning.

          • UCLA will step up and up the coaches pay. Remember, there is more money floating around with the Pac 12 Network Deal. Hundley is Mazzone living work of art. His Heisman Trophy Winner in the Making. He won’t leave anytime soon. Furthermore, it will be 8 to 12 years before sc returns to a respectable football program. UCLA will be just fine, come to some of our home games, buy some popcorn, eat a BRUIN DOG, other sc phony phans do…..

          • I been to two games to watch a friend play for san diego state and take a youth team. I loved. It because i would have my sc gear and say I’m going to watch the JV team play.

          • cute…. Did Bear Byant coach at sc? Don’t answer that, I know he didn’t. Just trying to figure out the screen name of an sc phan, I guess Paul Hackett was taken… U were there in truth because U enjoyed the True passionate college FANS in L.A. U took the kids there because UCLA FANS, PLAYERS and COACHES represent an environment that’s conducive to a SAFE and fun family event. Moreover, U R a closet UCLA fan. The only time I saw a sc game at the coli, my cousin was a starting WR for asu about 6 years ago. My fam was mad because I wouldn’t wear asu colors with his number. I wore UCLA gear and cheered for asu. Change Ur screen name to a name we all love on the left coast… Henry Russell (Red) Sander… come into the light and rock that BRUIN gear in Public.

          • If UCLA is the jv team, is sc the flag football team from the local convalescent home? unfinished business…..LoL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          • Took the team the first two years of carroll when usc would still give tickets to youth team but after they cut the amount of tickets, so went to ucla the next year. Usc games were cool cause heritage hall was their and we got to walk in with band to the game. Plus they gave us some passes to take the kids down to the field. Bear bryant is one of my favorite coaches and his book was great. He actually wanted to coach at sc but the timing was never right because when there was an opening he would have just started coaching at a new school. But he did love los angeles every since he played in the rose bowl himself.

          • Paul William (Bear) Bryant was a good ole boy separatists sympathizer at a minimum, at Racist at the worst. He was only compelled to change his bigoted ways after sc of all schools ran ruff shot over the Klans all star team. U can feel what U want about a man who embraced what Bear Bryant did, I’m not impressed by him.

            It’s obvious U and the kids U coach love UCLA. My son is 9. He’s 5ft 1″, 130lbs and is fast as most WR and RB, although he’s a lineman . He has been playing since he was 4. Keep being there for those kids and their families. Most kids playing don’t have a positive male in there lives on a continuous basis.

            U should take them to UCLA SPRING BALL GAMES. THE PLAYERS & COACHES will gladly take time with the kids. My son thinks he’s on the team already. I’ve been taking him to the Spring Games & Home Games since he was 3.

        • I admire you defending Papa Sam. He did after all buy FUcla finest team on the market; gave saint John the best time money can by

          • so…….let me get this straight……..U have a problem with donors with deep pockets, lots of influence and may have had an interest in casinos and the stickie ickie grass? The same Marry Jane that’s detailed in the Holly Bible? Snoop Dawg / Snoop Lion better not read your comments…..LoL! That was ancient history my friend. That predated U and most of us who use computers….. UCLA did not wrong. He was being hated on by cocaine smuggling sc donors because he had mo money, mo money, than them….

    • This is a USC site…go put your head back in the hole….People are laughing at your pathetic ass

      50-0
      49-26
      0 for 3
      Finished unranked Again
      Mora to the Chargers

      PS…go troll a Baylor site, I’m sure you have plenty of excuses for the ass whipping

      • who just got B-I- Itched slapped in the Border Bowl? UCLA runs this football town. U are a Pete era fan anyway, U clown. Why even respond to U is the real question. This site is my new landfill site. I’ll be dumping on U clowns anytime I’m inclined and for any reason. sc will fail the “BARR” test again, Nov 30 2013……

        • What a Lame ass response

          You own the town, but never play at home in January

          Do you belong to the tree house club(cadre), it sure sounds like it?

          • Let’s talk about right now. Did UCLA punk the UNIVERSITY of SEXUAL CONVICTS, UNIVERSITY of SNEAKY CHEATS? DEFLATE GATE? How many more Recruits will defect? I pray that Hayden extends LAME for 20 years, that 20 more years of comedy…….

          • tell the truth, I really got up in you with my initial post? U took the bait. I meant for that happen. Like so many other bitter myopic sc fans. U will never be classy enough to acknowledge the opponents victory with a kind word. That’s a weak trogan fan. When U learn to acknowledge Ur weakness, then U will began to strengthen them

          • tell the truth, I really got up in you with my initial post? U took the bait. I meant for that happen. Like so many other bitter myopic sc fans. U will never be classy enough to acknowledge the opponents victory with a kind word. That’s a weak trogan fan. When U learn to acknowledge Ur weakness, then U will began to strengthen them

          • Oh Yeah? Ur Ole Lady posed for the camera, then swallowed all of the evidence of her working at the sperm bank. She did get fired for drinking on the job, right?

          • OK, UCLA beat USC by 10 points at Pasadena. That is consider a beat down for you? hahahahha, the real beat down was last year 50-0.

          • Did U see the game? Did U see UCLA DOMINATE “Tomm-isha the skirt” wearing Trogan? The score was a Misrepresentation of the utter PUNKING of Lame on the boys….. Don’t U have Florida schools to be misinformed about????? Get out of the way, sc tools & fools can’t be saved by outsiders, they will take their medicine if they want it or not……

          • i’M A MAN. WHY DO U CARE, WHAT I “LOOK LIKE?” My wife takes me around her friends and my kids don’t run at the sight of me, that’s good enough for me.

          • FreemanDeComptonBruin rides around on his daughter’s Barbie Princess bike with a baby blue sweater on with white stains all over the front, thanks to bruinrod, has a eye patch over the left eye, once again thanks to bruinrod(he told him not to look back). He has a collection of jockstraps hanging out his back pocket that he loves to sniff on, and considers them to be of a fresh aroma. Last but not least the very noticeable limp, that Dr, T Bone can’t seem to correct

            He has a strong resemblance to another ruin that trolls this blog

          • Look at all of the Big Bad Blue & Gold Wrecking Crew puppets……. just dancing a jig as I finger them….. stay down U racist inbreed. typical of this blog…. how funny U assume U know anything about me based on my screen name.

          • What FreemanDeComptonBruin is rally saying: He likes to finger ruin trolls in the asshole

          • I see Ur Bryman education was well worth Ur time…….. U learned nothing……..but wasted everything……

          • Where is Dr.Phil when U need him? Not only are U an absolute cornball with Ur less than humorous wanna be jokes. U sound like a sodomizing child molester. Grow up just a lil, U might be able to finally reach the curb…..

      • I’m confused by your repeated inclusion of games that had nothing to do with SC? None of those losses make SC any better. In fact, they make SC that much worse. 38-28 is the score you need to focus on. And no, Mora’s not going anywhere. Funny that SC fans are left to root for UCLA to lose its coach – guess that’s the only hope in the ghetto these days! LOL

        • I’m confused by your repeated inclusion of games that had nothing to do with UCLA? None of those losses make UCLA any better. In fact, they make UCLA that much worse

          Do you get the point?
          You sound like an idiot and the ruin trolls are even laughing at you now

          • Ur confused “broken condom” aka Trogan Phan because U can’t read. Ur waiting on Ur CELLMATE Inmate #4353229955 to return so he can read and respond half as intelligently for U

        • Now, Now, Now the world is a ghetto, its just not a suc ghetto. LoL!!!!! Don’t get sucked into their stupidty, its more contagious than the FLU. UCLA will continue to put boot to the back sides of the cross town skirts……for many years to come. Mora, unlike lame, is a MAN of his WORD

  9. This blog has really gone to shytte. FreemanDeComptonBruin? Really? C’mon Wolf, you have to moderate once in a while. Sometimes you do have to take out the garbage.

  11. I think one item to read into is how much Al Davis hated Lane Kiffin. Al hated everyone, he was wired like that. Leave the Raiders or cross him and you are under a bus (ref. Marcus Allen, et al). With Kiffin it was different. The vitriol was so personal, so acute and so…well, so far beyond even the usual Al Davis mercurial side.
    I will always believe there is a reason for that. Kiffin is unique. Kiffin GOT THE BETTER of Al and was the only one who did. I think Al just HATED Kiffin the most because he knew Kiffin was a high school coach who kept marrying up and got his name in lights as a part of the Pete Carroll SoCal “I love you, man” bullshit machine. Al could not live with the fact that Kiffin, in his own mind, defrauded himself to be an NFL coach, cashed those checks and then moved on down that highway to keep marrying up to be a high profile coach somewhere else.

  12. Player respect starts with one thing: Scoreboard. Kiffin cannot expect full confidence from his returners until he leads the team into winning again. He has already shown his offense & playcalling will not outscore the opponent with great talent. And he will have lessor offensive talent this year. So unless he hires a “very good DC”, I do not see this team winning consistently. The 2013 team will have to win on defense. We could be in trouble here…

  13. It goes without saying that TrojanFail and the Dog (the two
    farting, scatological fools on this blog) are idiots, but I hate when people
    talk so much sh!t predicting what will happen to other teams then end up making
    themselves looks stupid when their predictions
    fail. Worry about SC, idiots!

    Mora just signed a five year contract extension. He’s not going
    anywhere for a long time. Now if only Guy Smiley (AKA Haden AKA Puss in Boots) had the balls to get his
    crap straight and to right this ship, we’d all be able to look forward to competitiveness next season. What a lout!

    • Hey betomas, AKA Captain Know it all, it’s called SATIRE, I don’t give a fuck what More does. Some of this shit flies right over your head, that’s a YOU problem. Let your hair down, you’re staring to sound like a bitch!

      PS….Lout = betomas

    • Betomas wrote:

      “Mora just signed a five year contract extension”.

      Fuck dude!, …can you ever get the story straight

  14. This blog entry makes a lot of assumptions. I’m not sure that Kiffin had an “awful” relationship with Woods or a “frayed” relationship with Barkley. Not that he didn’t. I’m not sure.

    Scott has written that Kiffin discourages candid discussion and criticism by his staff, or any real input from Helton during games. Those are assertions of fact, and I assume Scott implied that he had been told that by people inside the program. .

    It’s not clear whether the assertions about Woods and Barkley are Scott’s opinions, or whether he has been told that by persons in the know.

  16. I’ve said the same thing to several friends that the attitude and feeling SC Football has had under Kiffin reminds me far too much of L. Smith, Tollner & Hacket- more of a playing not to lose rather than going out and having fun while playing to win as they seemed to do under Uncle Pete – kinda the way he has the Seahawks playing now. Haden & McKay missed the chance to cut Lane loose after a similar Bowl game effort to teams of the Smith, TollNer, Hacket dark years of USC Football. Boise state’s Chris Peterson could be lured to USC. UCLA tickled him last year but USC has the financial resources to allow him to put together the staff he needs in the PAC-12

  17. Kiffin fights to win the locker room while Mora owns the town–and isn’t going anywhere. LOL.

  18. Get over it, usc cheated because they didn’t have enough complaince officers and pretty much carroll and school looked the other way. Listen I love rooting for usc but its true. You start winning and you get to point of looking the other way and hope you don’t get caught. Same with ucla, read woodens book and respected the man he was. But at the end of his run he probably knew what was going on with sam gilbert or simply just avoided it because it went against all of his values. Doesn’t mean ucla admin didn’t know and probably again they didn’t want to ruin the legacy hence hope you don’t get caught. Point is you start winning and scumbags will flock to your program no matter what. Doesn’t matter where usc, ucla, alabama, miami, etc.

  20. UCLA basketball is on the rise while the Trojans continue to struggle. Buy hey, at least USC’s football team…
    wait, never mind.

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