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And Now, Titans Coach Jeff Fisher Also Hates Lane Kiffin

Hating USC football coach Lane Kiffin is a popular thing to do these days, and it just got even more so: Kiffin hired Tennessee Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola away to USC, and Titans coach Jeff Fisher feels wronged by his alma mater.

Fisher didn’t think Kiffin handled the process fairly, and aired his grievances to The Tennesseean:

“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.’’

Strong words, to which Kiffin responded a short time ago:

“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,” Kiffin said in a statement released by USC.

“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.

Call us crazy, but we don’t see anything there suggesting that Fisher ever had an inaccurate understanding. The important thing isn’t that Kiffin’s response was “immediate” after Pola made up his mind…it’s that he didn’t contact Fisher before speaking with Pola.

It’s no surprise that many media outlets are having their fun with Kiffin pissing off even more people, but that’s warranted. Kiffin’s ability to get people to despise him is truly amazing, and he seems to work at it like it’s an art form.

Feuding with Al Davis, criticizing Urban Meyer under false pretenses, leaving Tennessee after one year, and now shady hiring practices – if anything, Kiffin thrives on getting under people’s skin. He is coaching’s answer to internet trolls, and those he offends might want to adopt a common strategy used on such trolls and just ignore him. He can’t feed off of attention that isn’t there.

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