USC AD says football program can be fixed

USC athletic director Pat Haden says coach Lane Kiffin's job is safe for now. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

USC athletic director Pat Haden gave a wide-ranging interview to the Los Angeles Times about the state of his program and gave no indiction that head football coach Lane Kiffin's job is in jeopardy.

USC began the season ranked #1 in the Associated Press preseason poll and ended the season at 7-6 after a blowout loss to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.

Haden said whatever problems the Trojans have "can be fixed and they all can be fixed by Lane Kiffin."

"His reputation," Haden said about Kiffin, "it's going to be really hard to sanitize that over time unless he kind of wins a lot of games and does things right, which we plan to do. He's anti-Teflon."I mean, stuff sticks to him that doesn't even belong on him.

When asked what it would take for Kiffin to keep his job beyond next season, Haden was less than forthcoming.

"I'm not answering that question," Haden said. "Sometimes when you're calling plays . . . you don't sense maybe the whole team. So I think he has to really sense the whole team and feel and have the relationship with the whole team."