Jul 26, 2013 02:41 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

USC Trojans' head football coach Lane Kiffin will not be on "the hot seat" going into the upcoming football season, ESPN reported.

In an online video Thursday, USC athletic direct Pat Haden went ahead of the media and gave an answer on Kiffin's job security. He clearly stated his head football coach is sticking around.

"I anticipate the media will ask me if our football coach is on the hot seat this year," Haden said. "Here is my answer and will be my answer whenever I'm asked: He is not. I'm behind Lane Kiffin 100 percent. I have great confidence in him. He's a very hard-working, detail-oriented coach. He's a dynamic play-caller, in my estimation, and he's an exceptional recruiter. He knows USC and he knows what it takes to be successful here."

USC was ranked number one the Associated Press preseason ranking last year, but finished the year unranked due to a dismal second half. The Trojans lost five or their last six games, including a 21-7 drubbing against Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.

"We all know the second half of last year was disappointing but I firmly believe we will bounce back strong this season," Haden said. "We have a lot of good players. We have made positive additions to our coaching staff as well. I understand that many people judge a coach by the win-loss record, but as the athletic director, I must look not only at that but at a lot of other things that are important to us at USC. There are many factors, including academics, NCAA compliance, community engagement, the character of his players and off-field issues. Lane Kiffin gets very high marks in all of those areas. All of these things, including winning, are important to us."

Last season was their first season coming off NCAA sanctions that barred them from postseason games for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. They also lost 30 scholarships from 2011 to 2013.

Kiffin served as an assistant coach to Pete Carroll, but left to coach the University of Tennessee. Carroll left amid the NCAA investigation that led to the sanctions and, after one year with Tennessee, Kiffin returned to USC in 2010 and signed a five-year contract worth $20 million.

"After Lane came here, USC was faced with very dark circumstances, and we're still working through very difficult challenges imposed on us by the NCAA and the loss of 30 scholarships," Haden said. "These sanctions may seem interminable to you, as they do to me, but we still have two more years of them. These sanctions were not handed down to help us win games."

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