Report: Robinson Out As Usc Coach

USC fired football coach John Robinson late Tuesday night and hired Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Paul Hackett as its new coach.

Hackett, 50, agreed to become the Trojans’ coach on Tuesday morning. The deal was consummated in a Kansas City hotel room as Hackett met with USC athletic director Mike Garrett, university president Steven Sample and general counsel Robert Lane.

Sample, whose final approval was required to make the coaching change, took a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City just to meet Hackett. He spent less than five hours in Missouri.

Hackett, who remained in Kansas City, where he is still employed by the Chiefs, will be announced as USC’s 20th football coach in a press conference this afternoon.

In his only public comments Tuesday, Hackett denied being a candidate to replace Robinson.

“There’s nothing going on with USC,” Hackett said.

Asked about his meeting with Lane on Monday night, Hackett said, “I have no comment at all.”

His hiring drew mostly quizzical responses from USC players.

“I don’t know who Paul Hackett is,” cornerback Daylon McCutcheon said.

Robinson could not be reached for comment, but he called his coaching staff Tuesday night and informed them he had been fired.

He briefly met with his staff Tuesday morning and instructed them to go home for the day. According to a source, Robinson first heard he was being fired from a member of the university’s board of trustees.

Robinson then went and had breakfast with his wife and went home.

“He’s disappointed, but John’s not down,” said a source who spoke to Robinson. “He really felt he had a shot to make this thing work.”