Lane Kiffin Is Still An Asshole

The Tennessee Titans have filed a lawsuit against USC’s head football coach Lane Kiffin and the Universtiy for “maliciously” luring Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola to USC. The Titans maintain that Kiffin and USC met with Pola and lured him away with a lucrative contract with full knowledge that Pola’s contract stipulated he must have written permission from the team before discussing other potential jobs. The Titans were left with a coaching vacancy less than a week before their training camp was set to begin. Pola had only been hired in February and was under contract until 2011. The lawsuit cites this recent action as evidence of a pattern of misconduct and improper methods used by Kiffin and USC since Kiffin abruptly left the University of Tennessee for Southern California after only one season.

Lane Kiffin has drawn constant criticism from his employers since Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis made him the youngest head coach in NFL history (at the time) several years ago. Kiffin was dismissed during his second season in Oakland (although I believe much fault belonged with Davis who insisted on starting QB Jamarcus Russell. How well did that work out?) Kiffin was then hired to be the head coach at Tennessee where he drew scorn for his brash attitude and his aggressive accusations against other SEC coaches, most notably Urban Meyer of Florida, for recruiting violations. Kiffin left UT after one season for his dream job at USC where he earned fame as an offensive coordinator. Kiffin will have a tough time re-establishing his reputation after USC was sanctioned for a series of recruiting violations that took place under former coach Pete Carroll and likely involved Kiffin as well.

I used to like Lane Kiffin and his attitude toward coaching but now he comes off as selfish and childish and will have to do a lot of work to redeem himself in my opinion. Of course if he is able to guide USC threw the serious sanctions that will be imposed by the NCAA next season then I’ll tip my cap.