Dan Fitzgerald, a sports law attorney at Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C. in New Haven, Connecticut and publisher of the blog Connecticut Sports Law (http://ctsportslaw.com), recently explored key questions around the lawsuit brought by the Tennessee Titans against University of Southern California, arising from the Trojans’ hiring of Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola.
Why did the Titans sue?
“Timing and respect. If USC had hired Pola away from the Titans at the beginning of the offseason, the Titans wouldn’t have objected. Plenty of coaching talent would have been available and interested in the Titans’ running backs coach position. But USC’s hiring Pola on the eve of training camp left the Titans in a difficult position.
“As for the respect factor, the business of sports includes some unique traditions. For example, coaching contracts are largely ignored in college athletics when coaches jump from school to school. In the NFL, a contract typically will not stand in the way of a coach interviewing for, or accepting, a promotion with another team. Nevertheless, teams commonly ask for permission to speak with another team’s coach. In fact, Pola’s contract required written permission from the Titans to leave while under contract. Lane Kiffin allegedly ignored the courtesy of requesting permission to speak with Pola. The Titans have put other teams on notice to respect their contractual relationships with their coaches. Kiffin, of course, posits a third reason for the suit: location.”
Can the Titans prove damages?
“It will be difficult. The Titans will have to prove actual damages, not merely speculative damages. Placing a price on losing a head coach would be difficult, but not impossible. An assistant coach, and especially a position coach, is another story. Finding objective measures of the value to the contributions of a running backs coach presents a unique and seemingly impossible challenge.”
What influence did Marist v. JMU have upon this suit?
“It’s hard to believe that legal action taken by a mid-major in Poughkeepsie, New York influenced the Tennessee Titans. However, the Marist case may have planted the seed for tortious interference claims in the world of college coaching. The previously accepted norms in college coaching are shifting, as shown by West Virginia v. Rodriguez, the BC-Jagodzinski situation, and Marist v. JMU.
“Upon signing a contract extension at Stanford, Jim Harbaugh wouldn’t so much as commit to being at the school the following season: ‘Nobody has promised that…I’m not going to write anything in blood on a stone tablet.’
“Universities and professional teams may now seek to change this attitude toward coaching contracts.”
