USC coaching search prankster, Kenneth Tarr, arrested

This is what Ken Tarr does. He's a 32-year-old college dropout who creates hoaxes that ripple out into the world beyond his Los Angeles home. His method is simple: He calls the offices of major companies and leaves the right voicemail message for the right person and waits for that person to call him back. He gained a measure of fame a few months back when the Village Voice chronicled his ability to fabricate storylines that would get him onto a variety of daytime television shows, which he would then sabotage. In recent weeks, Tarr has turned his attention toward sports.

He claims to be the prankster who caused a minor shitstorm in recent days by phoning Tony Dungy and Jack Del Rio to offer them the head coaching position at USC. Tarr pulled off the stunt so well that Dungy went on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday and admitted that USC had contacted him. Which, in turn, led USC to issue a statement acknowledging that an impostor had called Dungy, and that whoever it was had also reached out to the Denver Broncos to gauge interest.

USC also said in the statement it knew who had made the calls. Tarr told me that was because he later played the prank off itself. Posing as an NBC executive, he called USC to ask why the school was trying to poach Dungy.

"They made a bunch of empty, base-level threats saying they were going to sue me," Tarr said. "Everybody does. But no one ever has the balls to go through with it."