Lane Kiffin on short leash at USC

One year from today Lane Kiffin will not be the head coach at Southern California USC. Just call it a hunch. But with Pat Haden as the new sheriff at Heritage Hall, and with his old receiver J.K. McKay (among others) keeping an “eye” on the football program, you have to wonder how long the Boy Wonder is going to put up with the New World Order. Haden has already sent Reggie Bush’s Heisman back and will eventually have to send back the 2004 BCS championship trophy and the Football Writer’s Grantland Rice national championship trophy. Haden has made it clear there will be zero tolerance for shenanigans. Not sure Lane can do zero tolerance. – CBS Sports

Gruden, Muschamp to replace Les Miles At LSU?

LSU will start 5-0 and there will still be people calling for the head of Les Miles. Now you would think that a coach who has won 51 games and a national championship in five seasons would be in pretty decent shape with his alumni. But down on the Bayou there is still this nagging sense that the program has begun to slip since Nick Saban’s players all finished in 2007, the national championship season. (LSU is 8-8 in SEC play the past two seasons.) If LSU can beat North Carolina in Atlanta on Saturday, the Tigers should be 5-0 when they go to Florida on Oct. 9. They won’t win in the Swamp and then the complaints will start. You will hear the name of Jon Gruden. You will also hear the name of Will Muschamp. – CBS Sports

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Rodriguez Feeling Heat at Michigan

Some Wolverines fans can put up with the losing, if they think it will lead to greater things. But couple that with a pending NCAA investigation and the seemingly regular defection of players, and the U-M faithful appear to be counting the days until the Rodriguez era ends. The record has been bad for Rodriguez since he arrived from West Virginia — 3-9 in 2008 and 5-7 in 2009 — and some wonder whether it can be turned around. He certainly hasn’t been given the strongest vote of confidence from new athletic director Dave Brandon, who hasn’t committed to Rodriguez beyond this season. In defense of Rodriguez, he has tried to revamp the Wolverines’ offense from a traditional style to a spread, requiring different types of players. The question remains, however, will Rodriguez be given the time to get his system to work? Barring at least seven wins and a decent bowl bid, I’d bet on a new coach in Ann Arbor for 2011. – Detroit News

Ralph Friedgen finds himself on a short leash

Jesse Palmer is one of the top college football analysts in the business, and we talked about Friedgen and the ACC. Palmer on Friedgen » There are a handful of major-program coaches on the hot seat as the 2010 season begins, and we know that Ralph is under pressure to win. They really need either Jamarr Robinson or Danny O’Brien to become the team’s leader and take advantage of a weaker Atlantic Division — where the clear favorite is FSU. Of course, it would not hurt to pull a couple great upsets, and beating Navy and West Virginia could be a great step forward to the program and to job security. If Maryland can get to six wins and a bowl, I really think that will be enough for Ralph to keep his job. – Washington Examiner

Mike Gundy on the hot seat at Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy coached the Oklahoma State program to consecutive nine-win seasons. He has a long-term contract and collects nearly $2 million this year. His team has been bolstered by a dynamic new offensive coordinator (Dana Holgorsen) and an apparently excellent group of freshmen, and the 2011 recruiting class has a chance to be the best in school history.  After five years as OSU’s head football coach, Gundy’s report card includes an unprecedented run of four bowl appearances. Because he fielded competitive, compelling teams at a time when the university executed a $283 million renovation and expansion of Boone Pickens Stadium, the business of Cowboy football has never been better. Last season, OSU set school records for attendance, season-ticket sales and student season-ticket sales.  Gundy has never seemed more comfortable in his role as the head man. He has never seemed more relaxed during the countdown to the start of any season, and perhaps it’s because of a belief in the OSU camp that the Cowboys will be better – and perhaps a lot better – than expected. At 40, Gundy was the star of one of the more spectacular news-conference rants in recent sports history. At 43, he seems to manage stress much more effectively, and he doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by a national publication’s prediction of his demise.  “Anyone can express an opinion or write what they want to write,” Gundy said. “Everyone is free to predict whatever they want. That’s what makes the world go around, you know. – Tulsa World

Les Miles on LSU Hot Seat

If the Wolverines get rid of RichRod and have any brains, they’ll go get the Michigan Man at Stanford, Jim Harbaugh. But hey, if they want Miles, we’ll trade him to Ann Arbor for a blocking sled, three pairs of cleats and a graduate assistant to be named later. No big loss. And then we’ll go get Saban back. He’s got to be burning out on that Clan of the Bear craziness in Alabama… Sanity and the SEC don’t go together, friend. Here is reality: If Les Miles loses four or five games and once again manages the clock like a narcoleptic, he’ll be as popular down here as BP. But it’ll take LSU a lot less time to make it right. – ESPN.com

Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen on hot seat

Never before has Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen opened training camp amid a mood so ominous. When Friedgen meets reporters Tuesday – nine months removed from the first 10-loss season in school history – the implications will be clear: This season, his 10th as head coach at his alma mater, will be pivotal for the Friedgen era, and everyone in and around the program knows it. “I think our coaching staff feels it,” Friedgen said of the scrutiny. “I don’t think it is something we talk about daily, but they know the score. I kind of like it like that myself. I kind of enjoy that type of motivation. It is what it is.” Other division I-A head coaches – including those at Colorado, Michigan and Illinois – will face varying degrees of pressure this season, but few will encounter more than Friedgen, whose 31 victories in his first three seasons have been followed by just 35 in the past six years. Friedgen knows that last season, which included a disastrous 2-10 record, could have been his finale in College Park. – Washington Post

Rodriguez, Zook, Lynch on Big Ten hot seat

It’s a tough call when discussing the job security of football coaches Rich Rodriguez of Michigan, Ron Zook of Illinois and Indiana’s Bill Lynch. All have losing records, and they are a combined 20-60 in Big Ten Conference play. Reservations for three, please, on the hot seat… At stake is Rodriguez’ job, though he won’t admit it. But a two-year record of 8-17 and 3-13 against the league makes it tough to ask for a raise. The former West Virginia coach made his Michigan debut Aug. 30, 2008, a shocking 25-23 upset loss to Utah. The Wolverines finished 3-9 that season, their worst record in school history. They also failed to earn a bowl bid for the first time in 33 years. And following the 2009 season came NCAA violations regarding unofficial scrimmages and longer team workouts than what are allowed — all leading to two years of probation… Zook enters his sixth season with the Illini at 21-39 and may have put added pressure on himself by adding six new assistants. “That’s the thing about this profession. Everyone understands it. That’s why no one gets too uptight about it because everyone here has to win,” he  said, “whether it’s Jim Tressel or Ron Zook. Even Joe Paterno has to win. “Obviously, some of us have more (pressure) than others.” Zook said “tweaking” his staff doesn’t mean he’s coaching scared or desperate for a quick fix. “I don’t think there’s any question I have something to prove,” Zook added. “That’s why you’re in this profession. It’s about winning.”… Indiana dropped eight of its 12 games last season, losing four by 11 points or less. Third-down conversions were a killer, said Lynch, who hopes eight returning starters on offense will correct that. – nwi.com

JoePa meets retirement talk with a shrug

Though looking “tired and a bit thinner” than he did in May, Joe Paterno has no timetable set for his retirement. Paterno said the intestinal problems that slowed him for nearly two months were “nothing very serious.” “I’m feeling really good,” he said Monday at the Big Ten Conference’s annual media days. “And as long as I enjoy it, I’ll continue to coach, unless I don’t think I can do a good job or anybody else doesn’t think I can do the job. We’ll talk about that later. But right now I have no plans whatsoever as far as whether I’m going to go another year, two years, five years or what have you.” … Guard Stefen Wisniewski from Central Catholic High School believes Paterno “looks pretty much the same. He might have lost a little weight, but I think you can expect that. He was sick there for a little while. But he still has the same energy level, the same passion.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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