USC football: Lane Kiffin relinquishes coaches’ poll vote

USC Coach Lane Kiffin will no longer vote in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

Kiffin sent a letter to the newspaper and to Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Assn., informing them of his decision to relinquish his vote, USA Today reported.

The news outlet last week revealed Kiffin’s confidential vote in the preseason poll because it said he volunteered false or misleading information about his vote in public.

When a reporter informed Kiffin that that Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez had voted the Trojans No. 1, Kiffin said, “I would not vote USC No. 1, I can tell you that.”

Kiffin, though, had voted USC No. 1. The Trojans were No. 3 in the poll.

Kiffin has said that because USC has only 75 scholarship players — 10 below the allowable limit — his comment was directed toward other coaches or media members who vote in polls.

This was the first year that Kiffin was to participate in the poll.

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