Before he has even coached at game at Florida Atlantic, Lane Kiffin is being sued for failing to hire someone he promised a job to for delivering a recruit.
That’s a lot to unpack, but it’s also a very Lane Kiffin thing to happen.
According to SEC Country, former Alabama wide receiver Antonio Carter claims in the lawsuit that he was promised a job as assistant strength and conditioning coach for his help in delivering a prospect, who the outlet has deduced is 4-star running back D’Anfernee McGriff, but did not get the job.
In the complaint, submitted Tuesday in Shelby County, Ala., where Carter resided, he claims Kiffin deliberately misled him regarding a job on the FAU football staff in order to benefit from his family relationship with a prospect.
However, after believing he had been hired and the prospect accepted a scholarship with the Owls, Carter was notified by school officials that he didn’t pass the required background check and would not be employed “due to two prior minor misdemeanor criminal charges.”
Carter claims in the lawsuit that he sent documentation showing the resolution of the charges, one of which the prosecutor refused to pursue more than seven years ago, but FAU didn’t respond and numerous other inquires went unanswered. That included waiting for hours outside of Patrick Chun’s office only to have the FAU athletic director refuse to meet with him.
Remember, anyone can sue anyone for anything, but these strange issues tend to follow Kiffin, who brings a lot of it on himself. He had “hostesses” recruit athletes and baselessly said that Urban Meyer cheated to get a prospect (but still didn’t get him) while at Tennessee, so he’s not new to recruiting issues.
He’s also been a controversial figure since arriving at Florida Atlantic. He hired former Baylor assistant Kendal Briles, even though Briles is still standing up for his dad, Art, who enabled the sexual assault scandal at Baylor, and a lawsuit alleges that Briles used sex to recruit while at Baylor.
We’ll see what happens with this lawsuit and the allegations, but if there’s any coach who could be sued for this, it’s Lane Kiffin.
