...I won't laugh. On its face it seems to be sort of similar to what Kelly did, finding guys who were with him in one way or another throughout his career and who share the focus the head coach wants to bring to the program. Laney has as much chance of success as Kelly.

The new guy, Baxter, has been at Fresno State since 1997, which means he overlapped with Kiffin when he was finishing as a player and just getting into coaching. McNair has been at USC since 2004, which means that he and Kiffin coached together. Orgeron, obviously, has been with Lane at USC and Tennessee. Monte used to change Lane's diapers, which is a pretty strong connection. Barry was a protege of Monte's with the Bucs before a disastrous stint as the Lions' DC. Cregg and Garza were at Tennessee with Lane last season, and Cregg was also with him on the Raiders' staff. Morton is a holdover with no apparent connection otherwise, and I'm not aware of any connection between Helton and any other staff member.

I think an argument could be made for either scenario: that Kiffin intentionally eschewed "all-star" assistants to find coaches that he had chemistry with, or that he intended to hire a bunch of big-time names but simply couldn't convince them to come. I do find it funny, though, to hear USC fans who bitched and moaned about a coach like Jeremy Bates (whom Carroll thought enough of to hire as his OC in Seattle) try to spin an assistant from Arkansas State as an impressive hire.

Because that is interesting. Do the members of this staff have any relationships similar to those among Kelly's staff? Let's face it, the reason some of us can be hopeful about Kelly's staff is the manner in which so many members already know each other and what we think is a good working environment that they will share/create. If Laney has put together a similar staff, then I won't laugh at it. But if these are just the guys whom he could convince to join him in the shadow of the big investigation, then I may laugh.

Bruce Feldman is reporting that USC hired Fresno State special teams coach John Baxter. So again, unless Kiffin promotes a guy like Morton or Helton, he's his own offensive coordinator.

Good lord, it's March. Imagine the shitfit that would have ensued if Kelly hadn't filled out his staff by this point.

That clown has his head planted squarely up his own ass. I cannot wait to play them this year.

Football Scoop (which I've determined is slightly more reputable than our old buddies at Football Coach Scoop) is reporting that Kiffin has interviewed 49ers assistant special teams coach Dave Fipp for his special teams job. If he gets it, that would give USC nine coaches and complete their staff.

After all the blather about the "all-star" staff, it's interesting to note that, aside from his dad and the Ogre (who were all but obligated to join him), Kiffin has been able to attract only one other assistant whom I would consider worthy of the sobriquet. That would be linebackers coach Joe Barry, not that it required any special cachet on Lane's part for Barry to return to his alma mater and reunite with Monte, whom he worked under on those great Bucs defenses.

The other six assistants:
- Todd McNair, the ethically challenged running backs coach who was roundly excoriated by USC fans as being part of the staff that led to the fall of Troy last fall.
- John Morton, WRs coach (See the McNair description, but remove "ethically challenged.")
- James Cregg, OL coach (One year at Tennessee in which his positive impact on the OL was difficult to distinguish from that of wildly overqualified GA Mitch Browning and OC Jim Chaney, who boasts experience as an OL coach with the Rams and at Purdue. Before that, Cregg was an assistant OL coach with the Raiders and a DL coach at Idaho.)
- Clay Helton, QBs coach (Kiffin managed to pry him away from Arkansas State, where he had gone after three seasons as the OC at Memphis.)
- Willie Mack Garza, DBs coach (One season at Tennessee, before which he was at North Dakota State for four years and Tarleton State [not a misprint] for one.)
- possibly Fipp as special teams coach

I'd say the trio of Monte, Orgeron and Barry is about as good as it gets on the college level, but the rest of the staff is pretty blah, especially given USC fans' dreams about Chow and Tim Davis and Kennedy Pola (Jaguars RB coach) and Mark Carrier (former Ravens secondary coach). It also appears that Kiffin could be his own OC in both title and action, which should scare Trojans fans given that he's obstensibly replacing Chaney with Helton.

I wonder whether the questionable caliber of coaches Kiffin was able to draw offers any insight into the looming threat of NCAA sanctions.