Random Thoughts (January 13, 2010)

Well, so much for the anticipated suspense about who was going to replace Pete Carroll at USC. The Trojans announced Lane Kiffin as their new head coach yesterday, one day after Carroll officially left for the Seattle Seahawks. Kiffin was an assistant coach at USC from 2001-2006 until he left to become head coach of the Oakland Raiders. After going 5-15 in just over a year with the Raiders, Kiffin was fired. He then took the head coaching job at Tennessee and he went 7-6 in his first year in Knoxville. There are many upset people at Tennessee over Kiffin's departure. He made a lot of bold statements and promises about returning the Volunteers to prominence and of challenging Urban Meyer and Florida for supremacy in the SEC. Kiffin leaves Tennessee with possible recruiting violations on the horizon and a record of 0-1 against Meyer's Gators. The situation at USC is better than that of Tennessee without a doubt. The Pac-10 is a hell of a lot easier than the murderous SEC and attracting recruits to Los Angeles is easier than East Tennessee. Even with possible recruiting violations during Carroll's regime - you didn't think he left for the NFL because the weather in Seattle was better than L.A. - Kiffin is in a better situation to succeed than he was at Tennessee... I admit that I was wrong when I predicted the Celtics were capable of challenging the 1996 Bulls record 72-win season. I underestimated the toll that injuries would take on the likes of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rasheed Wallace, and Marquis Daniels. In spite of the losses of the last month, I am still confident that this team will be handed the Larry O'Brien trophy by David Stern in June. Doc Rivers is doing an excellent job of not rushing back his injured stars to grab a few extra wins now in order to have them rested and healthy for when the games matter. I will take a (healthy) rotation of Garnett, Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Wallace, Eddie House, Glen Davis, and Daniels over anything else the NBA has to offer... The silver lining following the embarrassing 33-14 loss to the Ravens on Sunday is that the Patriots will have no restrictions in signing free agents this offseason. The NFL's collective bargaining agreement is set to expire after next season and the 2010 season will be played without a salary cap. The one restriction to signing free agents was that any team who survived until the final eight of the playoffs could only sign free agents if they lost their own players to free agency. Without restrictions, the Patriots can start to reload their roster through free agency. Of course, they have to make decisions on some of their own players, including Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork, Stephen Gostkowski, and Logan Mankins. If owner Bob Kraft allows Bill Belichick to spend his money, the Pats can build a team to contend in 2010 through free agency as well as through the draft because they have four picks in the first two rounds. The "Patriot Dynasty" seems to be on its last legs but if they have a successful offseason, they could be back in contention immediately... The Kansas City Chiefs are hoping that the failures of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel as head coaches does not mean they are incapable of returning to glory as coordinators. Weis will run the offense in KC and Crennel will call the defense. The last time they held those roles, they coached the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles in four years... Enjoy BC's upset of Duke tonight...