Florida Atlantic football coach Lane Kiffin, the university and the state of Florida are defendants in a fraud lawsuit filed Tuesday by Antonio "A.C." Carter in Shelby County, Ala.
Carter alleges that Kiffin misled him to believe he had a job on FAU's football staff in order to leverage his relationship with a recruit. The lawsuit was first reported by SEC Country.
Carter, a former University of Alabama wide receiver, claims in the suit that Kiffin and FAU strength and conditioning coach Wilson Love offered him a position as an assistant wide receivers coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach, before revoking it after two misdemeanor criminal charges surfaced.
Carter levied six counts against Kiffin, FAU and Florida, including reckless fraud, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
Through an athletic department spokesperson, FAU declined to comment. Calls to athletic director Pat Chun were not immediately returned. Calls to Carter's lawyer were also not returned.
The position was set to pay $40,000 plus bonuses and up to $4,000 for relocation, the suit said. According to the lawsuit, the job offer was made Jan. 25 without contingencies and revoked Feb. 3.
During that time period, Kiffin allegedly tasked Carter with the recruitment of three prospects _ including a four-star junior college prospect from Carter's hometown who once signed with the University of Florida. No recruits were named in the lawsuit, but D'Anfernee McGriff is from Carter's hometown of Tallahassee, signed with Florida out of high school and attended Iowa Western Community College last year.
The recruit was "a close family friend" of Carter, according to the suit, and had just celebrated New Year's Eve together. FAU's coaching staff was aware of Carter's relationship with the recruit when he was hired, the suit alleges. The suit said all three recruits Carter helped woo signed with the Owls.
According to the suit, one of Carter's misdemeanor charges "was deemed a 'No Information' (refusal to prosecute) by the Assistant State Attorney of Florida more than 7 years ago," while the other was resolved with unsupervised probation.
The suit said Carter learned that FAU and Kiffin hired "numerous assistant football coaches ... despite significant publicized criminal and ethic charges and allegations against them." Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles was mentioned in a lawsuit filed against Baylor. Defensive line coach Eric Mathies was charged with driving under the influence in 2014, but the charge was lessened to reckless driving.
The alleged job offer on Jan. 25 set off a back-and-forth between Carter and FAU, Kiffin and Love, the suit said. On Jan. 27, Carter said he had not received any paperwork from FAU Human Resources and Love reassured him "that the paperwork was coming and that he was hired and not to worry," according to the lawsuit.
Kiffin allegedly sent a text message on Jan. 28 to Carter asking why he was not on campus yet, and Carter said he was waiting on paperwork. Kiffin replied by saying "that he was hired and the deal was 'done,'" according to the lawsuit.
The suit said Carter and his wife then resigned from their jobs and began the school-transfer process to get their children enrolled in Boca Raton schools.
On Jan. 30, Love stressed to Carter that Kiffin wanted him in Boca Raton. Carter booked a flight for the next day, the suit said. Also on that day, Carter received an email from FAU Human Resources that said "Welcome to Florida Atlantic University. Athletics has notified us of your acceptance of a position with the Football program," according to the suit. The email also said the offer was contingent on a successful background check.
The suit said Carter arrived on Jan. 31 and met with Kiffin and FAU's coaches one day before Signing Day. On Signing Day, Kiffin allegedly offered a cash bonus to the first coach that got a recruit to fax in a letter of intent.
The next day, FAU's Human Resources asked for clarification on "concerns" with Carter's background check, specifically "previous minor criminal charges/traffic violations, and driver's license history," the suit said. Carter allegedly immediately provided a detailed response.
FAU alerted Carter that he would not be hired because of the prior criminal charges on Feb. 3, the same day he returned to Alabama, according to the suit. Carter sent documents to FAU on Feb. 7 and an email to Chun on Feb. 8, the suit said.
When Carter contacted Kiffin, Kiffin "claimed the decision was out of his hands and that he could not help," the suit said. Carter tried to meet with Chun on Feb. 13, but he claims Chun refused to meet with him.
