USC “perfect fit” for Kiffin

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lane Kiffin rolled into his dream job at Southern California with a wave of promises and praise Wednesday night, vowing to run a squeaky-clean program even while immediately fending off questions about his staff’s first day on the job.

Kiffin radiated California cool despite arriving late at his first news conference due to freeway traffic after his flight from Tennessee, where he abruptly left the Volunteers on Tuesday night after one 7-6 season.

The longtime USC assistant coach said he couldn’t pass up the chance to take the job he had identified as the nation’s best a decade earlier, when he joined Pete Carroll’s staff for six years as an assistant.

“This is a place that was very special to me for a long time,” the 34-year-old Kiffin said in a packed room at Heritage Hall while his daughter, Pressley, lounged on a chair next to him. “It became obvious to me that this was the best place in America ... and this is the No. 1 job in America. I think it’s a perfect fit.”

Kiffin left a program in which his staff committed several secondary violations to join a program laboring under a yearslong NCAA investigation that’s expected to be resolved in the coming months.

Kiffin said he’s dedicated “to running an extremely clean, disciplined program,” saying his missteps in Tennessee will help his staff stay clean in Los Angeles.

Tags: college sports, sports, football, usc, kiffin, coach