Having already fucked over the University Of Tennessee in favor of the far more glittering USC head coaching position, Lane Kiffin (above) caused yet another stir Saturday when Titans head coach Jeff Fisher accused Al Davis’ least favorite collegiate coach of having poached his RB coach, Kennedy Pola, without so much as a courtesy heads-up. From the Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt :
Fisher said Kiffin, the former Tennessee Vols coach who left for the same job at Southern Cal, never contacted him as Kiffin tried to persuade Kennedy Pola to join his coaching staff. On Saturday morning, Pola accepted a position as offensive coordinator at USC, leaving the Titans without a running backs coach a week before training camp.
“I am very disappointed in Lane Kiffin’s approach to this,” Fisher said. “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 voicemail after Kennedy had informed me he had taken the job. It is just a lack of professionalism.”
“As far as Kennedy is concerned, he is a fine coach and was a great addition to our staff. I am disappointed on one hand that he is leaving, but I can’t fault anybody from having an opportunity like he has. This is a chance for him to coordinate, and financially it was an attractive package,” Fisher said. “So I can’t fault Kennedy for that. But I can express my disappointment in his lack of commitment. Kennedy is a fine ball coach. The timing is just a little unusual, a week before training camp.”Fisher said he’d heard on the “coaching grapevine” that Kiffin had been trying to recruit Pola, but thought he would have heard from USC, where Fisher played.
Kiffin has attempted to clarify “the timeline of events” that led to Pola’s hiring, but it’s the sort of press release-rhetoric that neither addresses nor apologizes for Fisher is bitching about. But left unexplored is why becoming the offensive coordinator for a scandal-tarnished program (led by a pariah such as Kiffin) is a more attractive job than working in the professional ranks alongside a respected fella like Fisher. Perhaps Pola wasn’t nearly as confident that Chris Johnson could run for 2500 yards next season?