The enduring image from Lane Kiffin's tenure at Southern California might be the deflated footballs.

How could we forget? Last November, in the midst of a tailspin from preseason No. 1 in The Associated Press media poll to unranked, the Pac-12 fined USC $25,000 for intentionally taking the air out of the balls on the sideline, apparently as a scheme to make them easier to grip and throw.

Kiffin claimed no knowledge. A student manager was fired. But it was just another in a string of self-inflicted controversies. And considering the violation came in a 62-51 loss to Oregon — just another in a string of deflating performances — it seemed about right.

But for more symbolism, consider:

Before Kiffin's first kickoff, the life had already been sucked from the program by Pete Carroll's departure and devastating NCAA sanctions. The combination of penalties and predecessor might have doomed Kiffin from the start.

Now those factors are fading away. It might not take much for Kiffin's successor, whoever gets hired, to reinflate one of college football's glamour programs.

This is not to absolve Kiffin. Not hardly. So much of what went wrong with USC was clearly his fault, and it wasn't just losing — though that, as always, was the biggest reason. His time was highlighted by a series of head-scratching gaffes and otherwise infuriating behavior that changed the perception of Kiffin from Boy Wonder into wondering whether the boy would ever mature. His entire career as a head coach is amazing -- starting with how he kept getting hired at better jobs.

Without question, his actions helped hasten the downward spiral of the program and his own demise, but the situation was set up for failure – which is also why the next hire is set up for success. At a news conference Sunday afternoon to discuss his decision, USC athletics director Pat Haden narrowed the profile of preferred candidates to "living" coaches — really, he did — but otherwise, he declined to discuss the search, saying it wasn't fair to the players who still have two-thirds of a season left.

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Despite the last few seasons — maybe because of them — there won't be any shortage of attractive options for one of college football's very best jobs. A two-year bowl ban has been served. The severe scholarship reductions (10 a year for three years) have one more year to run, but the Trojans can sign a full class of 25 recruits beginning in February 2015, and carry a full roster of 85 scholarships (up from 75) in the 2015 season.

If the brand has been tarnished a bit — recruiting is pseudoscience, but it had clearly fallen off in Carroll's last few years, and after a brief burst, Kiffin wasn't able to lure top talent, either — there's still plenty of cachet to attract top recruits, many of whom are in the Trojans' backyard.

As important, the next coach won't be following Carroll, or being measured directly against the mantra of "Win Forever." Kiffin was, and even moreso because he had been a part of those teams as an assistant coach. But even before Carroll's departure, Oregon had surpassed USC and the Trojans' recruiting had slid.

Carroll got out just ahead of the NCAA posse, and with his reputation largely intact. That USC's dynasty had already diminished gets glossed over — does anyone remember the strange sight of Carroll's last game, when USC played a very minor bowl game in a San Francisco baseball stadium? Yet he largely escaped blame for the decline, even before the sanctions.

And although Kiffin got some deserved credit for strategic planning in attempting to manage the scholarship limitations, as well as for keeping the program from unraveling after the sanctions were handed down, much of the praise was properly reserved for quarterback Matt Barkley, who could have transferred immediately, but helped hold things together by staying. When the Trojans went 10-2 in 2011, including a victory at Oregon, and Barkley decided to remain, this time for his senior season, USC became everyone's chic preseason No. 1 pick. But after a 6-1 start, USC lost five of its last six game to finish unranked.

Even after Kiffin made staff changes, such as letting his father go as defensive coordinator, things only got worse. After a 62-41 loss Saturday night at Arizona State dropped the Trojans to 0-2 in Pac-12 play, Haden acknowledged on Sunday that Kiffin's fate was sealed before the charter flight touched down in Los Angeles. And that, rather than the success of the Carroll era, is the immediate context for USC's next coach.

The environment has changed. Those Ducks have been dominant, and Stanford has also risen to become a national contender. Across town, UCLA is emerging under second-year coach Jim Mora. Arizona State, as evidenced by Saturday's spanking of USC, might not be far behind. There are signs of life at Arizona. And don't forget Washington, which is finally rising again under Steve Sarkisian (another former Carroll assistant, and a potential candidate for the USC job).

Still, Haden will have his choice of coaches. And although the timing of his decision to let Kiffin go is odd — meaning the month, not the middle of the night — it also gives him a head start. Texas, another plum job, might open soon, too. Haden gets the early lead in searching for candidates.

If he lands the right guy, look out. A perennial power could reinflate in a hurry.