Lane Kiffin Votes For USC in USA Today Coaches Poll
By Josh Hill
It’s the fourth grade and it’s time to elect a student council member from your class. You have the candidates and all that’s left is the democratic voting process of the fourth grade classroom. You tear the sheet of paper and prepare to write a name — we’ve all been there, it’s our first venture into voter fraud. No one will ever know it’s your vote so why not, let’s vote for ourselves.
Fast forward to you as a college coach and you’re in the same predicament. Your team is up for a top spot in the country and momma always said getting a head start never hurt. Besides, no one will ever know it’s your vote so why not, let’s vote for ourselves — again.
Well Lane Kiffin surely thought no one would ever know it was his vote but he was outed by USA Today, who revealed Kiffin voted for USC in the annual USA Today Coaches Poll. The paper revealed Kiffin’s vote after he went on record as saying he “would not vote” for USC to be No. 1 in the Coaches Poll.
Needless to say, the oft two-faced and slimey Kiffin was less than pleased with USA Today’s decision to call him out on his word.
“Nothing stays private,” he said. “This didn’t stay private. They say it does, but it doesn’t.”
Apparently voting for yourself isn’t something you should do.
Kiffin did bring up a good point, but most of the intelligent things he says are doused with the fact that he’s just not that likable of a guy when it comes to being truthful and honest. Kiffin claimed he voted USC No. 1 because he didn’t want to lose his lockerroom and have them think he didn’t believe in them.
“I don’t know how you go in to see these guys and say, ‘Hey, thanks for coming back for your senior year, but, by the way, my opinion is I have these other teams ahead of you,’ ” Kiffin said. “It is what it is.”
Cue the violins, please.
College football is a joke when it comes to how it’s governed anyways and if there’s one thing likable about Kiffin, it’s that he doesn’t pretend it’s a perfect and traditional system like other coaches do. The NCAA is so stuck up itself that Grant Teaff, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association which co-directs the poll with the newspaper, said he sent Kiffin a letter about his issue.
Kiffin basically scoffed at this and said he really doesn’t care if he’s not allowed to vote anymore.
“I don’t really care,” he said. “Really, it doesn’t make sense to me. The coaches vote, and the coaches I know, the good ones, they don’t watch other games. They’re trying to worry about their own team, watching film. We vote on who’s best.”
This was the first ballot that Kiffin has filled out in his coaching career, a career that has seen none of his stints, whether they be in the NFL or NCAA, end well.