Titans' anger at Lane Kiffin's hiring of assistant coach sparks lawsuit
When Southern California head football coach Lane Kiffin lured Tennessee Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola to the Trojans program as offensive coordinator over the weekend, Titans Coach Jeff Fisher did not hide his displeasure.
Fisher, himself a former Southern Cal player, said the manner in which Kiffin made the hire — contacting Pola without first making a courtesy call to the Titans — exhibited ". . . a lack of professionalism."
Late Monday afternoon, the Titans organization expressed their dissatisfaction on the proceedings with more than words. It filed a lawsuit against the university and Kiffin for "maliciously" interfering with the contract of Pola.
The lawsuit was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, and it claims Pola breached his contract with the Titans after being induced by Kiffin. The Titans hired Pola in January.
The lawsuit states "as a result of USC and Kiffin's tortuous conduct, Tennessee (Titans) football has been damaged in an amount proven at trial.''
Titans officials declined comment on Monday while USC officials could not be reached for comment.
Over the weekend, Fisher sounded off against Kiffin, who formerly coached at the University of Tennessee, for recruiting Pola without first asking for permission to speak to him.
"I am very disappointed in Lane Kiffin's approach to this,'' Fisher said on Saturday. "Typically speaking, when coaches are interested in hiring or discussing potential employment from coaches on respective staffs there is a courtesy call made from the head coach or athletic director indicating there is an interest in talking to the assistant.
"So I am very disappointed in the lack of professionalism on behalf of Lane, to call me and leave me a voice mail after Kennedy had informed me he had taken the job. It is just a lack of professionalism.''
'Improper methods'
According to the lawsuit, "USC and Kiffin maliciously intended to — and did — induce Pola to breach his contract with the Titans." The lawsuit alleges that "USC and Kiffin engaged in improper means in their procedure of the breach and were not legally justified in their actions.''
According to the lawsuit, Pola's contract with the Titans was not to have expired until Feb. 14, 2011. His contract, calling for an annual salary of roughly $400,000, went into effect on Feb. 1.
And under the terms of the contract with the Titans, he agreed he would "not under any circumstance solicit discussions or entertain employment with any other person or entity during the term without given written permission to do so.'' Pola was not given written consent by the Titans.
"Kiffin and USC's actions through him were part of a course and pattern of conduct fostered by Kiffin and USC to use improper methods and means to the direct harm and damage of parties to contract, to interfere with an existing contract includes the breach thereof,'' the lawsuit reads.
The controversial Kiffin was hired as USC's football coach in January after serving as the head coach at the University of Tennessee for one season. He abruptly left for USC while still under contract at Tennessee.
To substantiate its claim that USC and Kiffin have engaged in a pattern of conduct to interfere with people who have existing contracts, the lawsuit cites Kiffin's departure for USC in January as well as Kiffin's persuading four University of Tennessee assistant coaches — Monte Kiffin, Ed Orgeron, James Cregg and Willie Mack Garza — to leave Tennessee for assistant coaching positions at USC while still under contract at Tennessee.
The suit also cited Kiffin's alleged attempt to hire Eric Bieniemy away from the Minnesota Vikings to be USC's running backs coach. Bieniemy, the lawsuit alleges, was under contract at the time, and to the detriment of the Vikings, the team had to renegotiate Bieniemy's salary ". . . due to Kiffin and USC's acts of interference."
In January, Fisher hired Pola after firing running backs coach Earnest Byner, a move that raised some eyebrows, especially after Titans running back Chris Johnson led the NFL with 2,006 rushing yards in 2009.
Kiffin released a statement on Saturday giving his chain of events leading to the hiring. Kiffin could not be reached for comment on Monday.
We reached out to Kennedy Pola yesterday to gauge whether he had any possible interest in returning to USC before we moved forward with the process," Kiffin said in a statement released by USC
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100727/SPORTS01/7270335/Titans++anger+at+Kiffin+spurs+lawsuit
