The Tennessee Titans dropped USC coach Lane Kiffin down to one knee with a back-handed bitch-slap when they filed court docs to sue him for “maliciously” luring assistant coach Kennedy Pola just days before NFL training camp opens. But if history repeats itself, Kiffin will spring back up.

The docs were filed by Tennessee Football Inc., the company that owns the Titans. The lawsuit accuses both USC and Kiffin of violating Pola’s contract, a contract that required him to have written permission to discuss a job with anyone.

This details surrounding this latest incident indicate Kiffin may be up to his shit-stirring ways again and he may not be done leaving his trail.

After becoming the youngest NFL head coach to be hired, then fired, by Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders, a bitter legal battle followed that ordeal. Shortly after that head-butting battle, the controversial coach galloped into the University of Tennessee like a knight in shining armor with his dad, Monte riding in the saddle behind him.

While the dust was still settling from his arrival, he called out University of Florida coach Urban Myer accusing him of recruiting violations and followed that charade with a campaign that included placing billboards around the country proclaiming how his UT program was king of the SEC.

The orange faithful were eating it up. That is until their savior decided to wad up his contract, throw it in the garbage and dump his duties in Knoxville to head west to take a job with the USC Trojans, a job created after Pete Carroll bolted.

Feeling deserted, as they should have, the fans had a few mattress-burning parties and defaced several Knoxville “monuments” like the one pictured here. Once the tears dried up, Tennesseans began moving on, until this latest incident with the Titans.

The lawsuit charges that:

“USC and Kiffin maliciously intended to—and did—induce Pola to breach the Pola contract.”

The suit goes on to state, “USC and Kiffin engaged in improper means in their procurement of the breach and were not legally justified in their actions. 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 contracts.”

Titans coach Jeff Fisher, a Southern California alumnus, threw in a couple bitch-slaps of his own showing his displeasure in Kiffin’s actions. Fisher felt slighted and possibly pissed off about never receiving a customary courtesy phone call to let him know they were interested in talking to one of his assistants.

The lawsuit slams Kiffin accusing the coach of intentional actions regarding this case.

In a recent interview with the Tennessean newspaper, Fisher also discussed Kiffin’s lack of professionalism which is not the first time that topic has come up.

The lawsuit requests a jury trial now picture that. A bench full of people decked out in bright orange sitting across from the man who just screwed and set back their college football program. If there’s ever been justification to move a trial to another state . . .

Used with permission of the author.

Jay Donetelli is a Tampa-based freelance sportswriter and contributor to Sports Climax. With an opinion sharper than an Ovechkin skate blade with the sting of an Ali jab, Donetelli has a loyal cult of readers who have found a way to love him.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

When I picture USC execs standing to face the music and have to accept the sentences for their NCAA crimes, a caricature scenario runs through my mind that includes ex-Trojans football coach Pete Carroll driving off in the getaway car leaving his fellow cronies behind to take the beating.

Carroll’s name has come up around the NFL regarding coaching vacancies several times over the years since he returned to an NCAA bench but he never took any offers seriously enough to leave until this off-season.

When it was announced Carroll would be leaving USC to return to the NFL, the NCAA allegations against USC were long out there with investigations dragging out over several years, so the timing of him shedding his Cardinal and Gold comes into question.

Being behind the Trojans bench this year would have been a disaster since the sanctions include a two-year ban from participating in a bowl game, the loss of 20 scholarships and sacrificing wins over the past several years. The L.A. Times has all the sanctions listed here.

Good luck recruiting with your hands tied like that.

The records for top NCAA football programs after being issued harsh sentences have produced grim results in the past. The five-year conference records for Alabama Crimson Tide was (21-14), OU (17-15-2) and Auburn (18-22) after being penalized by the NCAA and after an impressive winning run, the University of Miami took several years to dig out of a hole after they were slammed with sanctions.

It’s all about recruiting in college ball which is basically the minor league of the NFL. Elite high school players get lured to whatever schools can get them the most exposure to the NFL scouts.

So what’s going on in Knoxville then? Where Lane Kiffin left the University of Tennessee hanging just as the team was making its way around the corner from a dark, dingy alley they had been stuck in for several years.

Be assured there will be some heavy partying at that campus when Kiffin learns his recruiting has suddenly become so difficult.

Kiffin is known as one of the kings of recruiting and even went as far as sending hot looking babes in skimpy outfits to high school games and events trying to lure top prospects to UT during his short stay.

While all this is happening in Southern California, the caricature comes back to mind and I picture Carroll glancing back in the rear view mirror of the getaway car, well out of danger, heading toward sunnier skies in Seattle.

MORE: L.A. Times Lists All Sanctions Here

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC