The newly appointed Ole Miss coach complained about the way the Trojans treated him in a recent episode of “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd.
Kiffin went 28-15 with USC but fell apart late in his tenure, his team going from preseason No. 1 in 2012 to losers of the Sun Bowl. He was famously fired at 3:14 a.m. on the LAX tarmac the next year.
“The thing that bothered me the most is that I wasn’t graded on a fair scale,” Kiffin said. We weren’t 1-10. We had 30 less scholarships and when (sanctions from the last regime) hit, all your juniors and seniors can leave then you have to sign a No. 1 recruiting class in the country with kids knowing they can’t play in a bowl game for two years. Everyone said I couldn’t coach … but everyone forgot about that."
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Kiffin has resurrected his career since being canned by USC. He returned to a head coach role with FIU and went 27-13 with a pair of 11-3 campaigns. His work there convinced Ole Miss to give him a high-profile job and a third chance at power conference success.
He knows what he’s getting into this time with a sanction-impacted roster, though, so there can’t be excuses about that hardship.
