The crown jewel of Lane Kiffin’s 2009 recruiting class at the Univ. of Tennessee, sophomore running back Bryce Brown, has reportedly told Vols Coach Derek Dooley that he is leaving the team.

Knoxville WNML-AM radio host Jimmy Hyams reports that Brown skipped a scheduled meeting today with Dooley that was reportedly to decide his future with the program. Hyams added that Brown later sent Dooley a text saying he won’t return to the Volunteers.

Josh Ward of the KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL reported Tuesday:

Brown’s father was “ballistic” that Bryce wasn’t man enough to tell Dooley to his face that he’s leaving. Brown left town.

John Adams of the KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL also noted Brown’s awkward departure: Read more…

Citing a “a culture of violation and avoidance of respect,” the Tennessee Titans filed a lawsuit today in Nashville against USC and Lane Kiffin for allegedly ignoring the NFL club’s contractual hiring requirements of assistant running backs coach Kennedy Pola.

In the lawsuit filing (pdf) the Titans claim that when Pola took a job with the franchise on Feb. 1, the assistant coach agreed that 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 then hired last Saturday by Kiffin as USC offensive coordinator. The move came just one week before Titans training camp was scheduled to open. That despite the USC coach allegedly failing to obtain contractually required written permission to formally approach Pola about a position on the Trojans staff.

Read more…

On July 2, Jim Wyatt of the NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN reported of then-current Titans assistant coach Kennedy Pola, who coach Jeff Fisher had just hired away from Jacksonville:

Just got off the phone with Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola and he sure doesn’t sound like a guy on the move.

He’s still in the process of moving into his home in Nashville, in fact, and said he doesn’t plan on going anywhere. As mentioned below, Southern Cal is looking for a new running backs coach and Pola has been mentioned as a possibility.

“I really enjoy Nashville and being with (Coach) Jeff Fisher and the leadership here, the management,’’ Pola said. “It’s really been a new sense of energy.’’

Today Wyatt reported that Lane Kiffin had hired Pola as USC offensive coordinator. The news reportedly upset Fisher, apparently because he was one of the last to know: Read more…

$5,600 buried under the service porch and don’t know what in tarnation to do with it? You’re in luck, kind sir! A Knoxville ESPN Radio host’s website is currently soliciting donations for a new billboard to be put up in Los Angeles that mocks former Tennessee escapee football coach Lane Kiffin.

First off, I talked to the billboard guy in LA yesterday. The first company I talked to was owned by an SC fan who said “no way jose” The second company gave me the go ahead. The final quote was for $5,600 for 1 month in August. Here is the design again and I will keep you updated on the total we have collected.

But wait, there’s more! Read more…

Greg Biggins at WeAreSC.com reports Bakersfield high school quarterback Cody Kessler announced today that he is committing to play college football at USC.

Kessler’s verbal commit comes reportedly less than 48 hours before the NCAA is due to release findings from a four-year investigation of the USC football program.

Biggins reports that Kessler turned down scholarship offers from Alabama, Pitt, Arizona State, UCLA, Boise State, Nebraska, Fresno State and Washington and that, “Kessler was a day away from committing to the Huskies when USC offered a scholarship back in mid May.”

Kessler, who will be a high school senior this season, plans to attend USC next spring and sign his letter of intent in February.

In reading through all the press coverage of Kessler’s signing, including from the Bakersfield media, there’s nary a mention of possible sanctions that could soon wrack the Trojan program. (Save Gary Klein at the L.A. TIMES.) Read more…

HBO’s Real Sports profiles Lane Kiffin on Tuesday and in the piece reporter Andrea Kremer claims the 35-year-old’s new contract with the school will pay him $4 million annually. Kiffin’s decorated predecessor Pete Carroll made $4.4M his last year in L.A., qualifying the coach as the highest-paid employee of any private school in the America at the time.

(Credit)

Of course, Carroll won seven consecutive Pac-10 titles and two BCS Championships before he reached that level of compensation. Lane’s claim to fame is having won the friendship of Carroll, who was largely responsible for getting him the NFL Oakland and Tennessee head coaching jobs.

The $4M number pegs Kiffin as the fourth-highest paid coach in the nation, behind Bob Stoops, Mack Brown and Nick Saban. Saban was raised to nearly $5m per season after winning the BCS Title at ‘Bama earlier this year. Brown also was bumped up to $5.1M after 2009. Urban Meyer currently draws $4M per season, equal to Kiffin’s compensation. Read more…

Last week in an interview with ESPN, USC Coach Lane Kiffin said he’d received death threats from Tennessee fans when he departed Knoxville to take over as Trojans Coach. He claimed that many of the threats came after his cell phone number and address was posted on the web.

The pressure was apparently so intense from fans that Kiffin had three police officers stationed outside his family home after he announced he was leaving for USC.

This week the KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL reports that murderous missives have continued, thanks to Vols fans’ ingenious employment of 1980s technology.

Read more…

Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports:

Thursday evening (USC football coach Lane) Kiffin received a verbal commitment from 13-year old wunderkind quarterback David Sills of Bear, Del.

Okay, take a breath. What the hell is going on?

The ‘commitment’, which means absolutely nothing and can be rescinded by either party at any time, is the handiwork of Sills personal quarterback coach Steve Clarkson. Clarkson, who calls himself a “dreammaker“, is a relentless self-promotion machine who often appears on SoCal and national media outlets touting his private, personal quarterback coaching skills.

Clarkson runs a private quarterback academy of sorts, tutoring kids for parents of any age who pay top dollar for his services. In 2002, USA TODAY reported that Clarkson had 60 students at the time and made $100 per hour in his venture.

Clarkson has actually been pushing Sills to major college coaches for over a year now, and Kiffin finally bit on a public commit to the kid. But as an early commitment to the Kentucky basketball program learned recently, that gesture means absolutely nothing in the end.

There’s a distinct possibility, not lost on Kiffin and Clarkson, that Sills’ so-called “commitment” to USC will have a much larger impact on building the business of Clarkson’s quarterback academy than the fortunes of the Trojans on the field.

Read more…

Today USC landed top high school football recruit Markeith Ambles.

For the uninformed, Markeith is referring to the middle name of Ed Orgeron’s new baby son.

Lead story from WBIR-TV in Knoxville on Saturday:

Report: Kiffin commits secondary violation: Lane Kiffin has only been the USC head football coach for 10 days and has already committed his first secondary violation.

If true, that was fast!

Read more…