Lane Kiffin audio to player on mental health

[NorthCyd]

This could be anything by awful behavior that's a firing offense for Kiffin, to nothing. There is just zero context here which I'm sure won't stop a whole bunch of people from drawing a conclusion on the entire situation.

Seems this was leaked by him and his legal team to put public pressure on Kiffin and the University, so his intent is for there to be some conclusions drawn. My conclusion is nothing from anything they've presented comes close to justifying a $40 million lawsuit.

 

[BCClone]

As someone who has had anxiety/depression related mental health issues. The best setup would be to have someone at the athletic department level a student athlete can go to in a situation like this. That person can help them get access to resources and be a liaison with the coaching staff/program. It’s not reasonable that you’re going to have a meeting with a professor, coach, boss, et al in the middle of a mental health crisis/episode. But you should communicate in some way, particularly if there is a reasonably designed mechanism to do so. However, that doesn’t mean the student athlete automatically gets back on the team, that should be up to the coaching staff (while getting to keep their scholarship for the designated period).

Do they not have a counselor?

 

[KennyPratt42]

Do they not have a counselor?

I think most athletic departments do, but I’m not sure. Certainly almost all universities do.

 

[Drew0311]

As someone who has had anxiety/depression related mental health issues. The best setup would be to have someone at the athletic department level a student athlete can go to in a situation like this. That person can help them get access to resources and be a liaison with the coaching staff/program. It’s not reasonable that you’re going to have a meeting with a professor, coach, boss, et al in the middle of a mental health crisis/episode. But you should communicate in some way, particularly if there is a reasonably designed mechanism to do so. However, that doesn’t mean the student athlete automatically gets back on the team, that should be up to the coaching staff (while getting to keep their scholarship for the designated period).

Im pretty confident every single athletic department has this set up. We found out we have it with Caleb Grill and I have heard a few others have used the service.

 

[rochclone]

My feeling is that the kid knew exactly what was going to happen when he walked into Kiffin’s office which is why he recorded the encounter. The kid had been coached by someone in the effort to bring a lawsuit.

 

[Pope]

His lawyer is going to latch on to the most cliche coaching term ever that’s been said millions of times? Are those lawyers going to come after me for child labor laws because I told my 2nd grade flaggers “let’s get to work” when we started practice?

With all due respect, I believe the short answer to your question is yes. Whether college players should be treated as university employees is a huge topic that's being debated all over the country. A coach who's being paid millions by the university "firing" a player who's not being paid anything by the university is something I'm guessing the player's lawyer will latch onto.

 

[NorthCyd]

You're right, but I don't think "for" or "to" make much difference. The operative word he used was "work" and I'm guessing the player's lawyer will latch onto that.

While I think the coach was probably within his rights to dismiss a player from the team for going AWOL for 2 weeks, if that player was suffering from documented mental health issues at the time, the university will probably end up having to pay a settlement.

I wouldn't be surprised if the university administration ends up telling Kiffin he needs to reinstate the player.

I agree the university will pay a settlement to make it go away, which says nothing about whether any of it is justified or if there is a strong legal argument for a lawsuit.

 

[Pope]

I agree the university will pay a settlement to make it go away, which says nothing about whether any of it is justified or if there is a strong legal argument for a lawsuit.

Yes. I never said it's a valid legal argument. I'm just saying the player's lawyer is probably going to push this angle because of the optics of a coach who's being paid millions "firing" a player who's being paid nothing looks very bad to the public.

 

[Cfinnerty16]

Honestly if you completely ghost your coaches for 2 weeks without saying anything, yeah you should get kicked off the team.
I have generalized anxiety disorder so I'm sympathetic to mental health, but you can't just ghost. If he let Lane know or any of the other coaching staff, I bet they'd be understanding.

 

[Urbandale2013]

I agree the university will pay a settlement to make it go away, which says nothing about whether any of it is justified or if there is a strong legal argument for a lawsuit.

I’m not even sure they pay anything. If he is still on scholarship and technically on the team then I would think they’d get a summary judgement.

 

[jcyclonee]

Lane Kiffin has been a ginormous preening d*uchebag ever since he became a public figure with his first head coaching job at Tennessee. This episode probably won't cost him his current job, sorry to say, but it does validate why I have always had nothing but contempt for him.

Having met people that he went to high school with, he was a ginormous preening douchebag well before he became a public figure.

 

[TrailCy]

Everyone who agrees with Kiffin, fine. Kid should have communicated better. But Kiffin still yelled at the kid, swore at him, and kicked him off the team in a pretty rude way. The problem with these sorts of things is everyone is quick to make a comment on who is right or wrong without knowing the whole story.

 

[Cfinnerty16]

Everyone who agrees with Kiffin, fine. Kid should have communicated better. But Kiffin still yelled at the kid, swore at him, and kicked him off the team in a pretty rude way. The problem with these sorts of things is everyone is quick to make a comment on who is right or wrong without knowing the whole story.

Have you never been cussed out by a coach before? I think every football coach I've ever had including wrestling coaches have cussed me out or others for doing something wrong.
I'm not really old either, 32, so it wasn't in the 80s or 90s.

 

[isufbcurt]

Everyone who agrees with Kiffin, fine. Kid should have communicated better. But Kiffin still yelled at the kid, swore at him, and kicked him off the team in a pretty rude way. The problem with these sorts of things is everyone is quick to make a comment on who is right or wrong without knowing the whole story.

Oh no he got yelled at by a coach. That's such a rare thing to happen.

 

[CycloneErik]

Well, I'm shocked that Kiffin would come off like an ass. Always seemed like a classy gentleman.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Mental health issues can't be a cop-out for doing whatever you want and expecting no repercussions. You are still responsible for your own actions.

This is 100% correct, providers have a saying that I always try to promote “your mental illness or mental health issues are not your fault but they are your responsibility”

Mental health concerns are a massive and growing issue in the US but too many people use their mental health as a get out of jail free card or excuse for any kind of behavior, this does not help the individual or the stigma around mental health. If he came to the coach or staff with this issue and they reacted this way I would 100% be on his side but you can’t just vanish and then use mental health as an excuse to abandon responsibilities.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

This is 100% correct, providers have a saying that I always try to promote “your mental illness or mental health issues are not your fault but they are your responsibility”

Mental health concerns are a massive and growing issue in the US but too many people use their mental health as a get out of jail free card or excuse for any kind of behavior, this does not help the individual or the stigma around mental health. If he came to the coach or staff with this issue and they reacted this way I would 100% be on his side but you can’t just vanish and then use mental health as an excuse to abandon responsibilities.

Agree . There also has been progress in providing healthy ways to address the mental health issues (counselors, approved leave of absences, medication, etc.) Ghosting your team and responsibilities is not an acceptable or healthy way to address them.

I’m sure there is a lot of nuance in this situation (as with all conflicts like these), but there are definitely red flags here on the kids end. Namely, why did he record that conversation other than to use as evidence against Kiffin? Also did Kiffin know he was being recorded?

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I’m not even sure they pay anything. If he is still on scholarship and technically on the team then I would think they’d get a summary judgement.

They very well may settle. But no way in hell they’re paying $40M

 

[CycloneErik]

Agree . There also has been progress in providing healthy ways to address the mental health issues (counselors, approved leave of absences, medication, etc.) Ghosting your team and responsibilities is not an acceptable or healthy way to address them.

I’m sure there is a lot of nuance in this situation (as with all conflicts like these), but there are definitely red flags here on the kids end. Namely, why did he record that conversation other than to use as evidence against Kiffin? Also did Kiffin know he was being recorded?

I'd record any conversation with a trustworthy guy like Lane Kiffin.

 

[CascadeClone]

Without being on the inside there is no way to really know what the details are here. It could be literally anything from "the kid is lazy and using MH as an excuse to set up a lawsuit" to "this kid needs help and errors in judgement are part of that and Kiffin is terrible" to everything in-between. Hopefully the truth will come out.