Titans suing Kiffin, USC over 'malicious' hiring

The Tennessee Titans are suing Southern California and coach Lane Kiffin for "maliciously" luring away assistant running backs coach Kennedy Pola a week before training camp opens.

Tennessee Football Inc., the company that owns the Titans, filed the lawsuit yesterday in Davidson County (Tenn.) Chancery Court against both the university and Kiffin.

The lawsuit accuses Southern California and Kiffin of violating Pola's contract that required him to have written permission to discuss a job with anyone other than the Titans.

Tennessee signed Pola on Feb. 1. Kiffin hired Pola on Saturday as his offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Southern California.

The Tennessean first reported the lawsuit on its website.

* A Kentucky woman lied repeatedly in an attempt to extort millions from the University of Louisville's basketball coach, then traded sexual favors and lied again to cover up her crime, federal prosecutors said at the start of her trial yesterday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kuhn told jurors that Karen Cunagin Sypher threatened to ruin Pitino's reputation with false allegations of rape and forced abortion.

"I submit to you that you will not believe a word she has to say about anything," Kuhn said.

Sypher, 50, has pleaded not guilty to extortion, retaliating against a witness and lying to the FBI. She is accused of demanding college tuition for her children, her house to be paid off and $10 million.

A jury of eight men and eight women were selected to hear the case. Four jurors will be excused as alternates before deliberations begin.

Sypher's attorney, James Earhart, told jurors Pitino pulled strings and used his influence to cover up his sexual assault of Sypher, and others had their own motives for manipulating his client.

Six years later, Kuhn said, Sypher approached a longtime friend, Lester Goetzinger, and traded sexual favors for his making phone calls in February 2009 to Pitino threatening to tell the public that the coach raped Sypher in 2003. Kuhn played part of one call for jurors.

"You need to do the right thing, that's all," Goetzinger is heard saying on the tape.

A month later, Sypher traded sexual favors with attorney Dana Kolter, who then signed a joint letter with his client demanding money and threatening to file suit over the 2003 sexual encounter, Kuhn said.

Earhart said Kolter suggested suing Pitino, not Sypher. And Earhart described Goetzinger as being obsessed with Sypher, comparing him to Glenn Close's character in the movie "Fatal Attraction," in which she became obsessed with a man, eventually trying to take over his life and later kill him.

Kolter, who hasn't been charged, and Goetzinger, who reached a deal with prosecutors, will testify later at trial.

* The Miami Hurricanes will play at Toledo in 2015 in what's sure to be the highest-profile home football game in the Ohio school's history.

* Florida State's Nigel Carr is facing suspension while authorities sort out a handful of charges against the junior linebacker from Jacksonville, including two felony charges.

The 20-year-old was arrested by Tallahassee police Sunday on two counts of auto burglary, criminal mischief, credit-card theft and fraud. The report also noted Carr was arrested July 22 for possession of marijuana.

* Virginia Tech is the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hokies earned 50 of a possible 98 votes from media members.