Kiffin is a coach many Hawaii fans love to hate

USC football coach Lane Kiffin is such a nice guy, leaving his top two running backs in California. He knows it wouldn’t be fair to let them play here Thursday since Hawaii’s top two backs from last year aren’t available.

OK, you’re not buying. Don’t blame you. But isn’t it funny how everything Kiffin does or doesn’t do, says or doesn’t say, is viewed with suspicion?

He could help an old lady across the street and it would quickly be spun into him throwing her under a bus.

In this case of Silas Redd and D.J. Morgan not making this trip, with most other coaches you just shrug and say, well, they must be actually injured. With Kiffin, the assumption is he’s treating UH as a preseason punching bag for which he doesn’t need all of his best players.

Same with the whole not-choosing-a-starting-quarterback thing. Just try ’em both out, it’s only Hawaii … what’s the worst that could happen? Win by 20 instead of 30?

Well, he’d better factor in some missed 2-point conversions. Kiffin isn’t a fan of kickin’, and sometimes his 2-for-1 deals don’t sit well with opponents, and sometimes they fail.

Two losses plus some other annoying things have made him the coach UH fans love to hate most. They’re not alone.

Some are bothered by the idea that Kiffin’s father, Monte, a successful NFL coach, helped Lane’s career. For others, it’s the fact that Monte was disappeared from Lane’s staff after last year’s disappointing 7-6 season. "Hey, Dad, can you stop by my office? Bring your playbook, the one you helped write."

Remember when Lane Kiffin was with the Raiders? Apparently he was so bad that even Al Davis found him despicable.

Remember when he was with Tennessee? Maybe you don’t because his stay was so brief; like the Raiders, just one season. This time he wasn’t fired, but there were fires. Vols fans loved him so much they took to the streets and tried to block the exits of the athletic department building.

My biggest problem with Kiffin is the visor. Visors are for coaches who can decide on their starting quarterback before the season starts. Unless you’re the original Visor, Steve Spurrier. Then you do whatever you want.

Kiffin? All visor, no titles. Unless best record in the Pac-12 South in 2011 counts.

Yes, he’s had to deal with NCAA sanctions, but USC should still be better than 25-13 in his three years with all that talent and resources. And Kiffin himself knows how good the Trojans are supposed to be. He voted for his own team as No. 1 in the country in the 2012 preseason.

Later he said, "I would not vote USC No. 1." Whoops! USA Today then revealed Kiffin did just that. But Kiffin atoned by becoming the first coach since 1964 to take a team from preseason No. 1 to unranked at its end.

It’s still hard to picture it happening, even without those two running backs. But a lot of folks — not just Hawaii fans — would love to see a monumental upset Thursday. Preferably courtesy of a botched 2-pointer.

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.