Lane Kiffin Finalizes USC Coaching Staff

Well, it dragged on until after signing day, but Lane Kiffin has assembled his entire coaching staff at USC. There's a lot to chew on here as USC emerges from the cocoon of the Pete Carroll era. What was once shaping up to be an all-star coaching staff fell a little bit short but appears to have made upgrades at several spots.

Most noticeable is the lack of an offensive coordinator. The post Norm Chow years were a frustrating adventure offensively, as Carroll cycled through youthful, inexperienced coordinators while retaining a major hand in offensive direction. Kiffin appears to be following a somewhat similar course here: he'll call the plays and develop the offense in combination with holdover John Morton and new quarterbacks coach Clay Helton.

USC's legacy of superb offensive line play since 2002 will be handed off to James Cregg, who has been Kiffin's offensive line coach with both the NFL's Oakland Raiders and the Tennessee Volunteers. This hire went a little below the radar but its a huge responsibility and the previous two offensive line coaches -- Tim Davis and Pat Ruel -- are remembered fondly throughout the USC fan base.

The lack of a widely regarded, proven hire on offense can cut two ways for a program whose offense has steadily lost respectability since 2006 -- either the new guys are first-rate unknowns and will set about successfully remedying an offense loaded with as much talent as all but two or three programs in the entire country, or they fall into the same structural trap that fostered the current decline. That is, the too many chefs in the kitchen approach on offense with the head coach arguably interfering too much while running the stubborn pro-style system that has not had as much success at the college level as other approaches in recent years.

We'll see how that shakes out in the coming years.

Also of some intrigue, USC has retained running backs coach Todd McNair, obvious proof the program is satisfied with his testimony before the NCAA in relation to the Reggie Bush scandal.

On defense, Kiffin landed the superstar coaching staff USC fans covet. Legendary defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin comes over from Tennessee to work one last rodeo with his son. Oddly, he will not be the program's defensive coordinator although his input will be significant.

Instead, the defensive coordinator position will be in the hands of Ed Orgeron in his return to Troy. Fans have been begging for Orgeron's return for years, and he'll not only run the defense but get back into the old habit of screaming at the defensive line. Significantly, he'll also return to his post as recruiting coordinator, a gig that made him famous nationwide as he helped Carroll turn USC into a recruiting powerhouse.

Finally, Kiffin has brought on Fresno State's John Baxter to be his special yeams coordinator. Carroll took some heat late in his tenure for not employing a full-time special teams coach. He reluctantly added one in 2009, to mixed results. Kiffin has answered the demand with a huge hire. Baxter spent a long time at Fresno State and he's being hailed as one of the best special teams coaches in the country. The blocked kick numbers are nothing to sneeze at, as his units have topped even Frank Beamer's block units with 49 combined kick and punt blocks since 2002.

Overall this staff looks like a more serious stab at assembling a coaching staff than latter day efforts made by Carroll. The upgrades are significant on defense although Pete Carroll was an unquestioned defensive mastermind who frankly could coach solid defenses with the metaphoric hand tied behind his back. The offensive staff and approach remain a question mark until some games are played but Kiffin's ambition and amazing talent at his disposal should lead to an improvement.