A Scorned NFL Coach Sues

It seems as though most people agree that the world of sports is not an essential matter of society. And with that the life or death pontifications in regard to sports goings on by some sports opinion columnists at best appear sophomoric. While it is easy to point out the shortcomings of these columnists, what cannot be missed is the material they have to work with. A perfect story for ridicule dropped yesterday:

Southern California coach Lane Kiffin says he was surprised by the lawsuit filed against him and USC by the Tennessee Titans after he hired away one of the NFL team's assistant coaches.

Kiffin hired Kennedy Pola on Saturday to be offensive coordinator and running backs coach for the Trojans.

Titans coach Jeff Fisher said he was upset by the fact that Kiffin didn't contact him before reaching out to Pola.

On Monday, Tennessee Football Inc., the company that owns the Titans, filed a suit accusing Kiffin and USC of violating Pola's contract.

It is difficult to get one’s mind around this; a professional football team is suing a college football team of violating the contract of an individual by hiring him. If there is any dignity left in our court system this bogus suit will be dismissed with prejudice as soon as it is reviewed by a judge. How could any contract state that another entity could not reach out to an individual for another position and if they did, that the other entity would be in breach of that individual’s contract?

It appears that Titan’s coach Jeff Fisher has had his feelings hurt and has filed a lawsuit in order to be made whole emotionally, which is ridiculous. Fisher, as the longest tenured coach in the NFL, is supposedly highly respected and above reproach but in this instance comes off as small and mostly whiny. In pursuing a lawsuit in this matter, he seems to be doing the equivalent of a person suing the current boyfriend of an ex-girlfriend for taking her out. Yes, it is that silly.

So, in this case sports begets silly and opinion writers have it served on a platter. USC coach Lane Kiffin is a convenient whipping boy so it will no doubt feed the narrative that he has no regard for the “rules” or “etiquette”. Kiffin has ascended to this position by taking a different, likely preferable to him, job and being accused of violating minor NCAA rules. Let’s be clear the NCAA rulebook is at least as lengthy and inane as the federal income tax code. The only thing Kiffin is guilty of is taking advantage of favorable circumstances and not sucking up to sportswriters.

Kiffin offered a job to someone who already had a job. That person determined that they preferred the job offered by Kiffin over the one that they already had so they changed jobs. The previous employer may have been caught by surprise but how do we know that this person had not been looking? How do we know that the person had not voiced a desire for more responsibility or pay or concerns in their current position? We don’t and it doesn’t matter anyway. And while the previous employer may be upset over the way this transpired it is nothing more than juvenile for them to sue the new employer.