Citing “several reports,” Jim Wyatt of the Nashville Tennessean passes along word that Southern Cal Trojans coach Lane Kiffin is attempting to lure Titans running backs coach Kennedy Pola to USC.
Kiffin recently opted to not renew the contract of incumbent running backs coach Todd McNair. Pola just joined the Titans this winter after spending five seasons in a similar position on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching staff.
“In fairness, I’ve already made a commitment to the Titans and Coach [Jeff] Fisher,” Pola told the Los Angeles Times Thursday night. “Obviously, if it was an opportunity, it would have to be more than a position job.”
Wyatt contacted Pola on Friday, and the former Southern Cal fullback again expressed his commitment to the Titans.
“I really enjoy Nashville and being with Jeff Fisher and the leadership here, the management,” he said. “It’s really been a new sense of energy.”
Why Kiffin would ever dream Pola might take the enormous step down from NFL position coach to position coach at a college that is ineligible for the next two NCAA postseasons is beyond us, though Kiffin did spend two years working for an NFL owner who’s seemingly lost his own sense of reality. So perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised.