Lane Kiffin is leaving after one season at Tennessee to become coach at USC, replacing Pete Carroll.
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times and Chris Low of ESPN reported that Kiffin had agreed to become the Trojans' coach.
Kiffin reportedly will bring his father and defensive coordinator Monte, and assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron with him to USC.
The move comes after Jack Del Rio, a target of USC's search, was retained as coach of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kiffin, 34, the youngest head coach in Division I-A, was an assistant at USC under Carroll from 2001-06 before becoming coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders in 2007. He lasted only 20 games in Oakland, going 5-15.
He was introduced as Tennessee's coach on Dec. 1, 2008, and went 7-6 in one season.
He quickly developed a reputation in the Southeastern Conference for playing loose and fast with the rules. Kiffin committed at least six secondary violations and the program is currently being investigated by the NCAA for its use of hostesses to attract players to Knoxville.
In one case, two hostesses traveled over 200 miles to attend a high school game involving three Volunteer recruits, according to the New York Times. Hostesses are considered representatives of the university, which would mean they could not recruit players off campus.
The hiring of Kiffin is an interesting choice considering that USC's athletic department has been under an NCAA investigation since April 2006. The governing body will meet Feb. 19-21 in Tempe to address what investigators uncovered during the probe.
Thanks to Image of Sport.
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