The Lars Tiffany story, already odd, because of the way he was let go as the head coach of the UVA Lacrosse program, after winning two national titles, is trending toward the downright weird.
Inside Lacrosse is reporting that Tiffany, future endeavored last week after going 16-15 over the past two seasons, actually signed a three-year extension that had been offered to him last summer.
IL has it that representatives for Tiffany have reached out to UVA Athletics seeking compensation due to the former coach for the duration of that deal, which, word is, he signed on March 24.
ICYMI: UVA Lacrosse
- UVA Lacrosse: Lars Tiffany is out as head coach, and no one knows why, for sure
- UVA Lacrosse: Williams stays in-house, names Kevin Cassese head coach
I don’t have a copy of the five-year extension that Tiffany signed in 2021 handy, but best I can tell, from scouring the interwebs, he was making in the range of $370,000 a year – don’t take that as bible.
I’ve got a FOIA request in to get my hands on that five-year deal, to get a handle on the details.
Assuming the new deal was in the same range as what I presently expect, we’re talking about $1 million-plus here that would be at stake.
A reader asked me yesterday before the contractual issues came to light if I thought we’d ever find out the real story behind the Tiffany departure, and I said, probably not – because my assumption was, Tiffany, 57, wouldn’t want to hurt his chances of getting another top-level coaching job.
Now we see the flip side of the reality – there just aren’t a lot of top-level lacrosse coaching jobs out there paying the kind of money that UVA can bring to bear.
That being the case, if you’re Lars Tiffany, and it’s true that you signed the extension on March 24, you’re going to want to fight for that money – because it’s likely your last big payday.
I’ve got a separate FOIA request in for a copy of whatever contract extension was offered to Tiffany last summer.
Not holding my breath on that one; the FOIA office is almost certainly going to cite the pending litigation exemption to keep whatever might be there under wraps.
Meanwhile, as all of this is going on, and as I’m writing this, UVA Athletics is set to formally introduce Kevin Cassese, Tiffany’s associate head coach, and now successor, at a 2 p.m. Wednesday presser at JPJ.
We can expect the ink-stained wretches to want to ask questions about the Tiffany situation; I’d also expect the media-relations staff to head them off at the pass before the first question is asked.
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Chris Graham
