"That was amazing how that just happened to come out on the morning of National Signing Day..."

"New" information was leaded this past week about potential violations being investigated by the NCAA during Lane Kiffin's time at Tennessee.

Instead of answering the new report, Kiffin wonders about the timing of the leak when he joined the Petros and Money radio show in Los Angeles:

"That was amazing how that just happened to come out on the morning of National Signing Day, huh? Just crazy.

It's something that we have dealt with for a while. We've given all the NCAA information months and months ago, starting when we were there. About everything from there. We have not heard anything from them."

Kiffin and his staff did an effective job of bracing for the coming NCAA scholarship reductions. While the case is being appealed, USC was not restricted from signing a full class which included 22 on signing day and an additional 8 players who enrolled in January that count against the previous year's class.

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Wanna make your head explode? Listen to Washington athletics director Scott Woodward...

If you need a clear example of college athletics administrators with too much time on their hands, listen to one of the proposals being considered for Pac-12 realignment related to KJR radio in Seattle by Washington AD Scott Woodward:

"One plan that was floated out is that you play in three different pods. You're in one pod and you play in two different other pods. The Northwest pod, the 4 California schools pod, and the 4 schools post-Pac 8 pod.

You would play your pod in a round robin every year and then 3 out of 4 on a rotating basis in the other two pods."

The only way this would be under consideration is if it created a scheduling formula that got each team playing football in southern California every year. One would presume that the "pod" structure would only be visible for the purposes of making the schedule and the standings as seen by the public would still appear as some sort of 2 division alignment.

This would also mean that teams appearing in the same "division" wouldn't necessarily be playing each other in any given season.

Sounds ridiculous. Please make this happen.

And, yes, you are seeing the USC Song Girls for no particular reason other than they're better than showing you images of Scott Woodward. No offense, Scott.

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At least that's the message to be inferred from commissioner Larry Scott...

Larry Scott comes across as a forward thinking, bright individual which is pretty remarkable since his first major plan as the Pac-10's commissioner, the Pac-16, ended up DOA.

The conference is expected to have its new divisional plans voted on by the end of the month and, while he doesn't spell it out, it's not hard to guess what Scott would like to see happen.

As told to KJR radio in Seattle:

"From my vantage point, the two most important things thinking about the long term best interest of the conference as a whole is, one, that we have competitive balance between the two divisions. It's not seen that there's a stronger division and a weaker division."

Going into this season that would assume that a simple North-South model wouldn't be favored except that Stanford, Oregon, and the usually dangerous Cal are proving that they could prop up the North quite nicely.

Scott also believes that they'll stick with 9 conference games which in his mind "mitigates" concerns of isolation with Northern teams playing each Southern team 2 out of every 3 years.

His second concern would make it seem as though the North-South model is an even stronger priority over a "Zipper" or some other hybrid arrangement:

"Secondly, that it is fan friendly and that it is easy to understand, simple to follow, and it gives us a chance to build more national profile and following for the conference because people can understand how the divisions are structured and there can be a focus on divisional races leading to the championship football game."

It's not a stretch to consider this a reference to the convoluted mess known as the ACC. The Atlantic Coast Conference tried to get cute with its "Atlantic" and "Coastal" structure by trying to preserve some rivalries within divisions, split up FSU and Miami with the hope they meet again in the title game, and then presented it to a nation that shook its head at the half-baked nonsense that was produced.

View ACC in a larger map

That map is exactly what Scott would like to avoid. No one outside of the southeast follows the ACC races and not just because no one in the ACC makes it out of September without several losses.

I also wouldn't be stunned if the Pac-12 started off by playing its title game at a neutral site. Another lesson learned from the ACC that can't come close to filling a stadium no matter where they put it.

The radio hosts made an assumption that neutral site hosting was automatic by rattling off the cities of Glendale, Seattle, San Diego, and Las Vegas. The assumption was cut off by the commish:

"The first decision we've gotta make is are we going with a neutral site or are we going to go NFL playoff style home field advantage the team earns?"

I'll assume the Pac-12 forgoes short term profit by not having neutral sites bid on the game, but also avoids devaluing the contest long-term by not having half empty venues.

The ACC fanbase is a perfect model for the Pac-12 because of its similar geographic spread and often apathetic fan base. By easing into the new arrangement with one of the team's hosting the title game, the Pac-12 would virtually guarantee itself a sellout and the early buzz it's seeking to generate.

In other words, do everything the ACC didn't do and properly benefit from it.

If I'm wrong, it's because the presidents and chancellors of these universities will screw it up when it comes time to vote, even as they hired this commissioner to help them get out of the dark ages.

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"Everybody can cheat and win BCS bowls and go 14-0 and the coach skips town..."

Sadly, the Jaguars and Seahawks do not have a date on the NFL schedule during the regular season. Perhaps, Maurice Jones-Drew had that in mind when the former UCLA Bruin characterized the Pete Carroll USC era in this manner on the Mason and Ireland radio show in Los Angeles:

"I believe in what (UCLA head) coach (Rick) Neuheisel is doing and his staff. I believe in those players having gone and talked to them and I'm excited. We've gotta get everything clicking at the same time. That's what the best teams do.

Put it this way. At least we haven't done anything to ban ourselves from getting any type of exposure in bowl games or scholarships taken away. At least we're doing the right thing.

Everybody can cheat and win BCS bowls and go 14-0 and the coach skips town.

Anybody can do that.

It's doing it the right way that counts."

At 0-2, including an embarrassing home shutout loss to Stanford which led Neuheisel to grab the microphone and offer an on-field apology to the fans following the game, perhaps Bruins supporters are ready for a little coloring outside the lines here and there.

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"He must have really pissed Fisher off something nasty..."

Jeff Fisher lost an assistant coach last weekend to USC and was more than happy to restate his case against Lane Kiffin on the Jim Rome radio show earlier today:

"Before I heard anything from Lane, my assistant coach told me he was leaving. That's the timeline and that's the way it went down and it is unprofessional. We were deserving of a phone call well before this process started and we didn't get that phone call."

As for the idea that the lawsuit is being filed because of Kiffin's messy divorce from the University of Tennessee, Fisher has this to say:

"I think it's ridiculous. I think it's absurd. They're two separate entities."

"The lawsuit and our reaction was a direct result of recent events that took place last weekend."

That would be a breach of contract lawsuit against USC.

Former UCLA and Tennessee Titans receiver Drew Bennett said earlier this week that this reaction from Fisher is quite out of character, as told to the 2 Live Stews on Sporting News radio:

"He must have really pissed Fisher off something nasty because this is very unlike Fisher. Fisher's the kind of guy that, throughout my six years there, he never wanted anybody to know that they pissed him off. Even Saturday night meetings before games, he'd be very hesitant to tell the team if another coach said something that made him upset. So the fact this is coming out as public as it has and the fact that he's going after him like this, not just letting it kind of go with a stern warning, means Fisher is pissed."

Not sure how a "stern warning" would work in Lane Kiffin's world. Wait, yes I do. This would be the reaction:

And while Fisher claims this has nothing to do with Kiffin's exit from Knoxville, the lawsuit cites four former University of Tennessee assistant coaches that were under contract when hired away by Kiffin as evidence of prior knowledge and disregard of contract law within the state.

A great local public relations move by the Titans... or maybe Jeff Fisher is just "pissed."

It's likely a combination of both.

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"Obviously, he's still got issues he's dealing with and I'm not surprised"...

Lane Kiffin's troubles with the state of Tennessee started with the Vols football team and recently extended to the Titans. This may shock you but you can count the winningest coach in women's basketball history in the "not necessarily a fan" category. Speaking to AM 790 in Atlanta, Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt expressed her satisfaction with a Kiffin-less campus:

"Obviously, he's still getting in trouble. I think when Lane was here it was very short-lived. I did get to know him because he was our coach but I think we're in a much better situation right now. Obviously, he's still got issues he's dealing with and I'm not surprised."

How do you know you're not well liked? When the team you left behind is picked to finish next to last in the SEC East and a former colleague considers it to be a "better situation" without you.

Let me repeat that: 5th in the SEC East. Behind Kentucky. Worst preseason placement since divisional alignment in 1992.

Better situation indeed.

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"I wanted some things too..."

Charles Barkley is defending college athletes accused of taking money from agents because he did it himself. On the Dan Patrick radio show, Barkley goes into specific examples of items he bought courtesy of agents while at Auburn:

"Players, going back to my day in 1984, got money from agents. This ain't something that just happened last week or last month. It happens a lot. It's always happened a lot and I think it's so hypocritical of these college coaches to come out and act like the world is crumbling."

"I borrowed a couple dollars from a few agents. I think maybe two or three total (agents) I borrowed some money from but I paid them back."

"They're not allowed to do it but we all did it. We wanted some money. Colleges weren't giving you any money. I wanted some things too. I wanted a nice pair of slacks. I might've wanted a coat during the winter. I might've wanted to help my mom pay some bills. These colleges, they're not giving you any money. They're making tons of money. They're making tons more now, I might add."

"These colleges are out there raiding other people's conferences, not caring about tradition or rivalries, just trying to get bigger TV markets. And they want to get out there to some kid who's poor and is trying to help his family? Gimme a break."

If an easy answer existed to the age old problem of "amateur" athletes making millions for institutions and television networks, it would have been solved by now. There are several issues that haven't been properly resolved.

First, is the concept that a net profit is gained by schools playing Division 1 college football. If NCAA studies are to be believed, only a fraction of the 120 institutions playing football are a part of athletic departments that make money. What isn't factored into those studies is the value of the publicity gained for the rest of the university when it comes to increased admissions, charitable giving, etc. From that standpoint, football (and athletics) would have to be viewed as an effective "loss leader" or it wouldn't exist.

Do you pay athletes in just revenue generating sports (football, men's basketball) or every athlete on campus? How much should they receive?

Since most athletic departments report a net loss, could a percentage of money from television contracts be directly earmarked for the athletes?

Since they want to share in revenue generated, would it be fair that a stipend for a football player at UNLV be for less money than one at LSU?

Of course, the biggest hurdle toward any change is that those pocketing the money won't be sharing it anytime soon unless they have to and, despite efforts in recent years, college athletes don't have a union or any sort of effective representation in this matter.

Which means players will keep taking money from those who offer it to them. Others around them may have been caught but, like Charles Barkley, nobody takes cash from an agent and plans on getting busted. And, just like Barkley, enough of them consider it worth the gamble.

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Prior to USC's big announcements yesterday, the former Trojan football coach didn't exactly back his former player...

Pete Carroll has been on a non-stop publicity tour the last couple of weeks promoting a book about, what else, his coaching principles. One principle that may not have its own chapter is "Having Reggie Bush's Back." Throughout the radio tour he's been asked some variation of the question, "How could you not know what was going on with Reggie Bush?" to which he has responded "the people doing the dirty deeds in San Diego didn't want us to know."

The folks on the Kevin Calabro radio show in Seattle managed to come up with an original question within that subject matter by asking Carroll directly if he thought Bush should keep his Heisman Trophy and his non-response response is telling:

"I don't know. I don't know how that goes. I don't know what dictates that and I'm not part of that committee or how they mandate that."

A coach interested in defending his former player would say something along the lines of, "If the Heisman Trophy is given out to the most outstanding football player based on what he does on the field that season, I don't see why Reggie should have to give up the trophy."

But he didn't say that.

While everyone who has or had some sort of authority at USC attempts to distance themselves from Reggie Bush, it will be fascinating to see if the new regime in Los Angeles will look to do the same thing with the entire Pete Carroll era.

USC president Max Nikias and new athletics director Pat Hayden will likely treat Carroll like he's radioactive until at least the completion of the NCAA appeals process. After that, the Trojans would be wise to eventually embrace their past. Rarely do programs succeed when they attempt to ignore and alienate former regimes.

Two fairly recent examples are Oklahoma and Florida. Bob Stoops made Barry Switzer a comfortable name in Norman again as part of the process that rejuvenated the Sooners program. Urban Meyer did the same thing with Steve Spurrier in Gainesville.

Granted, Spurrier never had the NCAA breathing down his neck at UF. But if Switzer can walk around the Oklahoma campus with his head held high, I like Carroll's chances long term in LA.

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Tennessee's new coach hasn't reached out to its old one and... doesn't plan to.

After just a few months on the job in Knoxville, the new leader of the Volunteers doesn't seem to be in need of picking the brain of the guy who blew through town the previous year.

Derek Dooley tells the Paul Finebaum Show:

"I haven't spoken with Lane and I don't know Lane. I wasn't interested in really looking back and I said that at our press conference. I know there's certainly some ill will that still exists and I can't change that and I'm really not concerned about it. I'm more concerned about where we're headed and I think all that sentiment will go away in time."

Where he may be "headed" is into a feud with his own mother. Barbara Dooley is a media darling, especially when it comes to sports talk radio, which has led the son to look to his father for assistance.

As much sway as he had for a generation in Athens, there's a limit to Vince Dooley's powers of persuasion in his own household as described by his son:

"I can tell you right off that I'm not responsible for anything that comes out of her mouth. She's never let the truth get in the way of a good story or a funny story so you gotta take everything she says and knock it down about 80 percent to find the truth.

And I've tried to issue a gag order in the state of Tennessee because when I got the job, any time I would turn on the radio or walk anywhere, everybody would tell me, 'Well, I just heard your mother on the radio.'

And there was a point where I was wondering if she got the head football coaching job, not me. But I had to kind of get her off the airwaves so I reached out to my father for a little help. It slowed her down a little but she can't stay quiet for long.

She's out there and she's relentless and she won't let up but that's who she is and I can't change it."

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This is what we call "burying the lead." More than halfway down the page of a recruiting story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution comes this little nugget about high school football recruit Nickell Robey as told by Frostproof High School (Florida) athletics director Charles Loveless.

“He’s not answering phone calls or returning messages right now,” Loveless said. “He had a visit from West Virginia this morning to follow up on his visit up there. Skip Holtz [the new South Florida coach] was here last week and is trying to get him to come down there. He’s planning to visit Southern Cal next week. Monte Kiffin has been very persistent. He’s probably been in here more than is legal. Of course they don’t pay attention to the rules."

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