Lane Kiffin Tells Media He’s Not Stressing Over Fear of Being Fired by Michael Castillo

In a swift, middle-of-the-night move, USC athletic director Pat Haden has made the decision Lane Kiffin himself has said fans have called for during the last 12 months, by firing the controversial head coach.

The news came out of USC at approximately 4:30 a.m. Pacific time, as announced on the official USC twitter account.

Breaking news: Lane Kiffin has been relieved of his duties as USC’s head football coach per AD Pat Haden. — USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) September 29, 2013

Per USC Athletics, Haden will speak to the media about the firing on Sunday afternoon.

Lane Kiffin finishes his USC career with a 28-15 record, with the most recent defeat coming as a 62-41 loss on Saturday night against Arizona State. It was the second loss of the season and the second in 11 months in which the Trojans gave up a school-worst 62 points.

Kiffin’s tenure at USC began in 2010, replacing Pete Carroll, who left the Trojans for the Seattle Seahawks. He came to USC under much criticism, as Kiffin left Tennessee briskly in an evening press conference, and here he finds himself sacked at USC midway through his fourth season, just past four in the morning.

USC has a bye week, and 12 days to prepare for the Arizona Wildcats, which was seemingly enough time for Pat Haden to pull the trigger.