Assistant coaches’ salaries spiking in football

Trickle down economics are alive and well in college football. With many contracts being negotiated or finalized, nearly a dozen schools in the NCAA’s 120-school Football Bowl Subdivision have made deals under which they will be spending at least 38% more on their offensive or defensive coordinator in 2010 than they did in 2009. These increases come a year after four assistants — Tennessee’s Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron, Texas’ Will Muschamp and Washington’s Nick Holt — joined Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher in having deals worth at least $600,000 a year. (Kiffin and Orgeron have moved to Southern California, and Fisher has become Florida State’s head coach.) They also come amid continuing financial distress within higher education. – USA Today

USC adds special teams coach from Fresno State

USC announced Thursday that Fresno State assistant coach John Baxter was hired as the Trojans’ special teams and associate head coach. Baxter, 46, spent the past 13 seasons at Fresno State and was one of Bulldogs coach Pat Hill’s original assistants. Fresno State kicker Kevin Goessling made 15 of 16 field goals last season, including a school- record 15 in a row. “Hiring John Baxter is something that I thought could probably never happen,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said. “Having him here will be huge for our team on and off the field. “He put together a 13-year run of special teams at Fresno State that were better than any in the country.” Fresno State blocked 83 kicks during Baxter’s tenure and leads the nation with 48 blocked kicks since 2002. – LA Daily News

Lane Kiffin confused by Vols’ AD’s comments

Former Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin is confused by Vols athletic director Mike Hamilton’s parting comments about him not being a “cultural fit” during his 14-month stay on campus. “I don’t think at the end of day that has anything to do with whether you score points or whether you win games. Where you’re from? I don’t know. That’s just my opinion. Is Nick Saban from Alabama? Is Urban Meyer from Florida? Those are two of the best coaches in the country. So I don’t think that really means anything.” – Knoxville News-Sentinel

Reggie Bush: I’ve done everything I can for USC

While USC officials sat with NCAA investigators Thursday, former Trojan star Reggie bush was taking in the Olympics in Vancouver. “There are attorneys, there are lawsuits, there are all those things that keep you from being able to talk,” Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, said during a promotional stop at a sponsor’s office in Vancouver, adding, “I’ve tried to do everything I can, on my part, to help USC out.” When asked for details about how he helped USC, Bush said, “I can’t really speak on that because of pending things, but I’ve done everything I can and I will defend ‘SC until the day I die. . . . That’s just because I felt USC was so good to me. . . . I am USC and I represent USC.” USC representatives spent more than eight hours in a hotel ballroom fielding questions from the 10-member infractions committee. The hearing, scheduled to continue through Saturday, is the culmination of a nearly four-year investigation that included allegations that Bush and former Trojans basketball player O.J. Mayo received extra benefits while competing for the Trojans. – Los Angeles Times

USC to face the heat from NCAA committee

Forget the Arizona heat outside. USC representatives will face plenty of pressure inside the room with NCAA rules infractions committee members soon. USC’s hearing begins Thursday, and experts say what will take place behind the closed doors in a hotel conference room in Tempe, Ariz., will be similar to a court hearing — with the NCAA enforcement staff acting as prosecutor, USC officials as defendants and the 10-member infractions committee as judge and jury. A court reporter will be present and the proceedings are recorded. “It’s an intimidating room,” said Brian Battle, Florida State’s compliance director, who participated in a 2008 infractions committee hearing. “Someone said it’s like visiting a funeral home. It’s not that bad, but you feel like you’re going to court.” – Los Angeles Times

USC AD Mike Garrett “embarrassed” by investigation stigma

USC AD Mike Garrett is opening up, but just a little bit. The university’s multimillion-dollar sports enterprise has suffered a black eye over allegations that star athletes in football and basketball received gifts from agents. Later this week, administrators will face an NCAA committee that wants to know if Garrett let his department veer out of control. USC has already announced self-imposed sanctions in basketball, including forfeits, a postseason ban and recruiting restrictions. Its cherished football team, which slipped last season and lost coach Pete Carroll to the NFL, could face similar penalties. Garrett acknowledges feeling “terribly embarrassed” by the stigma of an NCAA investigation. – Los Angeles Times

USC DC Rocky Seto not retained by Lane Kiffin

Rocky Seto, who was USC’s defensive coordinator last season and a member of the coaching staff since 1999, was informed Tuesday by new Coach Lane Kiffin that he would not be part of the staff. Seto, a former walk-on linebacker for the Trojans, played under John Robinson and coached with Paul Hackett and Pete Carroll. Seto said he was not angry and wished Kiffin and the Trojans well. – Los Angeles Times

How Lane Kiffin wound up at USC

How exactly did Lane Kiffin end up at USC anyway? Agent Gary Uberstine played a big role in the series of events that occurred at the university after Pete Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks. Uberstine represents not only Carroll but also Kiffin, Ed Orgeron and Steve Sarkisian. When it became clear on Monday that Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio was staying in Jacksonville and not taking the USC job, Uberstine’s coaching clientele became the Trojans’ main targets. While Sarkisian, Washington’s head coach and a former Trojans offensive coordinator, would have been a credible hire, Kiffin’s ability to assemble an all-star staff of assistants and his workaholic nature in regard to recruiting made him the perfect replacement for Carroll. – National Football Post

Rick Neuheisel: Norm Chow says he “wants to be at UCLA”

Bruins coach, however, would not stop offensive coordinator from taking `blockbuster’ offer if it comes from USC. UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel addressed the rumors of offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s interest in the same position with USC on Wednesday night, saying that Chow “assured me he wants to be at UCLA.” Neuheisel said reports of Chow’s imminent departure to USC to become a part of new coach Lane Kiffin’s staff were premature, but added if the Trojans and athletic director Mike Garrett were to offer a “blockbuster” deal to Chow, he would not be angry if Chow took it. “The profession is one where you certainly want a commitment,” Neuheisel said on a conference call with reporters. “You want people who want to be there. I think coach Chow feels that about UCLA. I don’t think it, it’s exhibited. “That being said, no one would ever be angry at somebody if they got a blockbuster deal and felt like they couldn’t turn it down. All I know is what Norm Chow told me, that he is committed to UCLA.” – LA Daily News

Lane Kiffin, Norm Chow didn’t speak for two years

Sources said USC coach Lane Kiffin agreed to hire Norm Chow when he interviewed with Mike Garrett. But Kiffin and Chow endured a rocky relationship when they coached at USC together, however, and did not speak to each other for the last two years (2003-04). But relations improved following Kiffin’s departure from USC in 2006. “I’ve seen Norm a couple of times,” Kiffin said. “I think the world of Norm. And I don’t have any issues with Norm.” That’s a far cry from in February 2005, when Carroll was asked about Kiffin and Chow no longer speaking to each other despite being offensive assistants. “Their relationship has been the same for years,” Pete Carroll said at the time. – LA Daily News

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