Jeff Fisher’s new least favorite person: the coach of his alma mater

It’s damn near the end of July and USC head coach Lane Kiffin has gone and hired Kennedy Pola away from the Tennessee Titans to be his offensive coordinator.  This is after Kiffin stated publicly that he would be the one calling the plays this fall for the Trojans.

The trouble for Kiffin, who’s mastered the art of getting himself into hot water, is that by hiring one USC alum (Pola was USC Class of ‘85), he’s gone and pissed off another, that being Titans head coach Jeff Fisher (USC Class of ‘80).

“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 voice mail after Kennedy had informed me he had taken the job. It is just a lack of professionalism.” (The Tennessean)

This has given Kiffin an opportunity to practice something else he’s gotten good at, that being damage control.  Here’s the statement he released today in an attempt to smooth things over:

“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.”

“Kennedy said he would think about it and get back to us today. Once Kennedy did call back earlier today, out of my great respect for Coach Fisher I immediately reached out to Coach to make him aware of the situation.”

“I have spoken with Coach Fisher and he now has an accurate understanding of the timeline of events.”

“We realize the timing of this isn’t perfect for all parties, but this is a great opportunity and promotion for Kennedy.” (Orange County Register)

I think it’s highly doubtful that Fisher would accept an invitation from Kiffin to give the Trojans a pep talk in the near future.  But whether or not Fisher and Kiffin speak to each other ever again isn’t what interests me in this matter.  No, what’s fascinating to me is what motivated this hire in the first place.

After running backs coach Todd McNair was released nearly a month ago in the fallout of the Reggie Bush scandal, it opened up a spot on the Trojan staff.  So you’d think the position of running backs coach would be the one that would be filled.

That’s exactly the position that Pola’s worked for the last six years in the NFL.  In fact, Pola was the running backs coach who preceded McNair at USC.  He left the school in early 2004 to take the same position with the Cleveland Browns, where he took over for…Todd McNair.

There’s no reason Pola would go back to USC and assume his old duties, not after he’s gotten a great reputation in the NFL for being a great tutor of running backs.  So it makes sense that nothing less than coordinating duties would lure him away from the Titans to work for Kiffin (I’m sure Pola will also tutor USC running backs as well, though).

But why would Kiffin give up those duties so close to the start of the season?  My theory is that it’s got something to do with last week’s hiring of Pat Haden as USC’s athletic director.

Did Haden force this hire as a way of putting his stamp on the program?  That might not ever be made clear, but the timing is mighty curious…and a little strange.  If this is Haden’s handiwork, then it appears he’s already confused about what an AD does.  His role is to keep the football program squeaky clean and on the good side of the NCAA, not to dictate who’s calling the plays in the Coliseum.  Whether you like Kiffin or not, that’s his job to decide.