From December 30 in the Music City Bowl where his late-game LSU defense collapsed once more while his bags were packed for Texas A&M, until February 13 when he supposedly officially became the savior of the worst defense in the SEC, exactly who and where was John Chavis?
Chavis claims he was a Nowhere Man sitting in his nowhere land making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
That's the former Tigers' defensive coordinator story and he's sticking to it. He's trying to not tap in to the millions he collected from LSU the last six seasons to pay the school's $400,000 contract buyout so he could become the toast of College Station.
He's trying to twist the calendar every way possible. First, he turned in his LSU resignation on Jan. 5 and his lawsuit against LSU claims his last day on the LSU payroll was Feb. 4.
Those dates give Chavis the required 30-day notice from LSU so he or Texas A&M don't have to pay the buyout. By not being off the LSU payroll until after Jan. 31, it would also prevent him or the Aggies from paying the buyout.
Yet, there are pictures of Chavis wearing Texas A&M gear while recruiting that hit the Internet Jan. 15 and Jan. 23. In the Jan. 23 photo, Chavis, dressed in a Texas A&M coaching pullover, is giving the camera two "thumbs up" while flanking Northeast Oklahoma Jr. College cornerback Justin Martin along with Aggies' defensive back coach Terry Joseph. Martin, ironically, ended up signing with Tennessee where Chavis was D-coordinator from 1995-2008 before coming to LSU.
The caption of the picture, which first appeared on a Facebook site called Juco Football Frenzy (which apparently no longer exists), reads, "Justin Martin was just visited by Texas A&M D Coord John Chavis & DB coach Terry Joseph."
Martin confirmed in another story to 247Sports that Chavis and Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin gave him their best sales pitch in his official visit to College Station.
Also in a Jan. 16 NOLA. com story, Hahnville linebacker Dwaine Thomas, who had committed to Louisiana-Lafayette, confirmed that he had scheduled a visit to Texas A&M after Chavis identified him as a prospect he wanted a closer look at. Thomas committed to A&M on his official visit and signed with the Aggies.
Consider all that, and the fact that NCAA rules state only full-time staff members are allowed to recruit.
So apply the rule to the picture and what Chavis is saying about not being on the A&M payroll until Feb. 13 and it screams RULES VIOLATION.
It seems pretty black and white. Or maroon and white.
And what was Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and staff telling the defensive recruits they were chasing all through January until signing day? You can bet they were all chirping, "We've got John Chavis as our defensive coordinator, we're just waiting to announce it. Read the papers. He's not with LSU anymore. He's with us."
Chavis' lawsuit against LSU looks like it has as many holes as his third-down defense. He even included A&M in the lawsuit, because A&M promised him it would take care of any of his monetary contractual obligations to LSU.
LSU is countering Chavis' suit with a suit, saying he breached his contract, which had a year remaining, by talking with Texas A&M about the job vacancy without receiving permission.
Of course, lawyers will be lawyers. So LSU's legal team is piling on claiming the school is entitled to damages because Chavis' hasty exit hurt LSU's reputation. And if LSU doesn't receive the buyout, the lawyers want compensation on negative impact of ticket sales, potential loss of recruits, moving expenses for new LSU D-coordinator Kevin Steele from Alabama and attorneys' fee LSU paid to negotiate Steele's contract.
Is that all? What about throwing in gas money for new Tigers' defensive line coach Ed Orgeron to drive his Hummer from his Mandeville home to LSU to sign his contract ?
LSU fans might even get inspired to get in on the legal pettiness.
They should sue Chavis for the emotional distress they suffered last season watching Alabama drive 55 yards in 50 seconds for the game-tying field goal that allowed the Crimson Tide to win 20-13 in overtime.
Or maybe they can cite negligence of the Tigers' failure to stop the league's best read-option quarterbacks a year ago, such as Mississippi State's Dak Prescott and Auburn's Nick Marshall. They led the Bulldogs and Tigers to victories over LSU while sparking offenses that gained 570 and 566 yards respectively.
Or maybe they file for mental anguish watching LSU give up 449 yards and a game-winning field goal following a 71-yard drive by Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl.
After that loss, when Chavis met with the media postgame for the first time all season, he refused to talk about the A&M rumors. When asked one last time if he was going to be LSU's defensive coordinator next year, he replied, "You know, I said three or four times I wasn't going to talk about that. I want to be nice, you know, but at some point, I can be an ugly ass. . ."
Guess we've reached that point.
Link
Chavis claims he was a Nowhere Man sitting in his nowhere land making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
That's the former Tigers' defensive coordinator story and he's sticking to it. He's trying to not tap in to the millions he collected from LSU the last six seasons to pay the school's $400,000 contract buyout so he could become the toast of College Station.
He's trying to twist the calendar every way possible. First, he turned in his LSU resignation on Jan. 5 and his lawsuit against LSU claims his last day on the LSU payroll was Feb. 4.
Those dates give Chavis the required 30-day notice from LSU so he or Texas A&M don't have to pay the buyout. By not being off the LSU payroll until after Jan. 31, it would also prevent him or the Aggies from paying the buyout.
Yet, there are pictures of Chavis wearing Texas A&M gear while recruiting that hit the Internet Jan. 15 and Jan. 23. In the Jan. 23 photo, Chavis, dressed in a Texas A&M coaching pullover, is giving the camera two "thumbs up" while flanking Northeast Oklahoma Jr. College cornerback Justin Martin along with Aggies' defensive back coach Terry Joseph. Martin, ironically, ended up signing with Tennessee where Chavis was D-coordinator from 1995-2008 before coming to LSU.
The caption of the picture, which first appeared on a Facebook site called Juco Football Frenzy (which apparently no longer exists), reads, "Justin Martin was just visited by Texas A&M D Coord John Chavis & DB coach Terry Joseph."
Martin confirmed in another story to 247Sports that Chavis and Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin gave him their best sales pitch in his official visit to College Station.
Also in a Jan. 16 NOLA. com story, Hahnville linebacker Dwaine Thomas, who had committed to Louisiana-Lafayette, confirmed that he had scheduled a visit to Texas A&M after Chavis identified him as a prospect he wanted a closer look at. Thomas committed to A&M on his official visit and signed with the Aggies.
Consider all that, and the fact that NCAA rules state only full-time staff members are allowed to recruit.
So apply the rule to the picture and what Chavis is saying about not being on the A&M payroll until Feb. 13 and it screams RULES VIOLATION.
It seems pretty black and white. Or maroon and white.
And what was Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and staff telling the defensive recruits they were chasing all through January until signing day? You can bet they were all chirping, "We've got John Chavis as our defensive coordinator, we're just waiting to announce it. Read the papers. He's not with LSU anymore. He's with us."
Chavis' lawsuit against LSU looks like it has as many holes as his third-down defense. He even included A&M in the lawsuit, because A&M promised him it would take care of any of his monetary contractual obligations to LSU.
LSU is countering Chavis' suit with a suit, saying he breached his contract, which had a year remaining, by talking with Texas A&M about the job vacancy without receiving permission.
Of course, lawyers will be lawyers. So LSU's legal team is piling on claiming the school is entitled to damages because Chavis' hasty exit hurt LSU's reputation. And if LSU doesn't receive the buyout, the lawyers want compensation on negative impact of ticket sales, potential loss of recruits, moving expenses for new LSU D-coordinator Kevin Steele from Alabama and attorneys' fee LSU paid to negotiate Steele's contract.
Is that all? What about throwing in gas money for new Tigers' defensive line coach Ed Orgeron to drive his Hummer from his Mandeville home to LSU to sign his contract ?
LSU fans might even get inspired to get in on the legal pettiness.
They should sue Chavis for the emotional distress they suffered last season watching Alabama drive 55 yards in 50 seconds for the game-tying field goal that allowed the Crimson Tide to win 20-13 in overtime.
Or maybe they can cite negligence of the Tigers' failure to stop the league's best read-option quarterbacks a year ago, such as Mississippi State's Dak Prescott and Auburn's Nick Marshall. They led the Bulldogs and Tigers to victories over LSU while sparking offenses that gained 570 and 566 yards respectively.
Or maybe they file for mental anguish watching LSU give up 449 yards and a game-winning field goal following a 71-yard drive by Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl.
After that loss, when Chavis met with the media postgame for the first time all season, he refused to talk about the A&M rumors. When asked one last time if he was going to be LSU's defensive coordinator next year, he replied, "You know, I said three or four times I wasn't going to talk about that. I want to be nice, you know, but at some point, I can be an ugly ass. . ."
Guess we've reached that point.
Link
