Ed Orgeron Picked As USC's Interim Head Coach Following Kiffin Firing
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Southern California has fired Lane Kiffin, ending the coach's tumultuous tenure a few hours after the Trojans lost 62-41 at Arizona State.
Ed Orgeron was picked as USC's interim head coach by athletic director Pat Haden later Sunday. The Trojans (3-2, 0-2 Pac-12) have eight games left on their 13-game schedule.
Orgeron was Kiffin's assistant head coach and the former Mississippi head coach.
Haden fired Kiffin at the Trojans' private airport terminal when the team plane returned from Arizona early Sunday morning, but not before a 45-minute meeting in which Kiffin tried to change Haden's mind.
The Trojans matched the most points allowed in school history in their seventh loss in 11 games.
Meanwhile, campus reaction around the firing of Kiffin centered on the feeling that the football program needed a reset or reboot, according to KNX 1070's Vytas Safroncikas.
"How do you say this? I feel grateful and yet saddened by the fact that this guy is going to lose his job," one fan told Safroncikas. "It's time for a change. I think everybody knew it. He's been on the guillotine stand for a while. It was just a matter of, when does the handle get pulled?"
USC Fires Kiffin After 7th Loss In 11 Games
"The Trojans are a winning team. They have a history of winning. And when you start losing, people don't like that too well," Roger Robinson, another fan, told KCAL9's Joy Benedict. "Unfortunately, the coach was dismissed last night but, hey, we have to get back on track."
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