Pac-12 coach Larry Scott is not an advocate of the USA Today coaches' poll, at least not anymore.
Just days after USC coach Lane Kiffin gave up his vote in the poll, Scott called the poll a "fallacy" in an interview with710-ESPN's "Mason and Ireland Show."
"I think it's an unfair position to put the coaches in, to supposedly vote objectively when they've got a very natural conflict of interest, No. 1, and, No. 2, I think most coaches are focused on their own games let alone breaking down tape afterwards and all that," Scott told the show. "So to expect that coaches could have a good, balanced, well-researched perspective on who the best teams are in any given week is a fallacy."
Kiffin gave up his vote after he came under scrutiny for lying about whom he voted No. 1 in his poll. Kiffin told reporters — in response to hearing that Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez had voted the Trojans No. 1 — that he wouldn't have voted USC No. 1. Unfortunately, he did, in fact, vote the Trojans No. 1 and USA Today called him on it and exposed his vote, which is supposed to be kept secret.
Kiffin maintained that his initial comments were meant to be from Rodriguez's perspective, but that's not the way they were portrayed.
After a couple days of being slapped around in the media, Kiffin decided it was in his best interest to relinquish his first-ever vote in the USA Today coaches' poll and Scott supported the decision.
"I'm not surprised Lane didn't want to be part of it anymore," Scott said. "I don't think any coaches should be in that position, and they won't be, starting in 2014."
College football is scheduled to move to a playoff in 2014 and has not yet decided how the playoff teams will be determined.
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