ESPN’s Chris Low is reporting that it didn’t take long for Lane Kiffin to kick dirt in the face of his former employer, the University of Tennessee. After being done a huge favor by the Vols after his tumultuous tenure at the Oakland Raiders, Kiffin held a press conference announcing his resignation. Apparently Kiffin had his top assistant and head of recruiting, Ed Orgeron, contact Tennessee recruits to encourage them to come to USC. Orgeron will be joining the USC staff under Kiffin.
Based on the report from ESPN’s Low, Tennessee defensive lineman Marlon Walls overheard Orgeron making calls to incoming freshman recruits, pitching the players on coming to USC and not finalizing enrollment at the university. Specifically, Orgeron has been accused of tell the incoming recruits that if they attend class, your ability to transfer and play for USC becomes more difficult. Tennessee official responded by turning off Orgeron’s university-issued cell phone and provided Kiffin a police-assisted escort off the campus.
Orgeron's Behavior Demand New Rules
The behavior brings forward serious issues with NCAA rules and it calls for changes. The Presidents and Athletic Directors of various universities have spit in the face of the governing body with their aggressive actions to steal coaches from other universities without repercussions. And with this, the lives of teenagers are being tremendously affected by the greed and lack of sportsmanship displayed by these actions.
While a university should be able to go out and seek the best coach possible for their program, such activity needs to be done with professionalism. In December, Notre Dame hired away Brian Kelly from Cincinnati in the middle of an undefeated football season. Cincinnati then responded by hiring Central Michigan’s head coach before their bowl game.
Where do we set the line that shouldn’t be crossed?
Kiffin and Orgeron just showed the NCAA where the line should be set. If Orgeron’s action had been conducted in the business world, he would be getting sued for tortuous interference of contractual duties. When you are a business executive leaving, you legally can’t intentionally hurt your former employer on the way out the door.
In the instance here with Orgeron, they found the loophole in the NCAA rules that needs to be closed. Many football recruits, the blue-chippers, have begun a process of graduating early from high school by taking community college courses and summer classes to graduate in December. This allows the recruit to enroll during the spring semester and be available for Spring practice.
To ensure this never happens again, the NCAA rules change needed is simple. First, require that any student that participates in Spring football practice must be starting their second semester at the school. Second, once a player provides an oral commitment to a university, any departing coach involved in that player’s recruitment is barred from making contact. If the player wants to follow the coach, they must forfeit one year’s eligibility.
The NCAA needs to get this back to a student athlete signing on with the university, not the coach.
