Todd Graham and the Ugliest Divorces in College Coaching

Todd Graham's tenure as head coach of Pitt's football team lasted just one season, and it ended in ugly fashion. 

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune, Graham sent a text message to the Blair Philbrick, the school's assistant athletic director, who then relayed it to the players and coaches. 

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"I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State," Graham said. "Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham."

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To say that is tacky is an understatement, but it also got us to thinking about some of the other recent divorces between head coaches and their teams.

We could go all day encompassing all of the major sports in this country, but for the purpose of this article, we are going to keep it to just college coaches. 

Here are seven ugly and bitter coaching divorces. 

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Todd Graham, Pittsburgh, 2011

We covered Graham in the intro, but he's worth talking about again because the way that he left the school is so ridiculous. 

I understand that not many of the players on the team were Graham's recruits, but they played their hearts out for him for 12 weeks, and he doesn't even have the courtesy to gather them all around and tell them that he is leaving. 

Regardless of how you felt about the university or the people that you worked for, you at least had an obligation to tell the players who followed you for the last six months that you were leaving them to go coach somewhere else. 

But technology has made it so a person like Graham doesn't even have to talk to his bosses and tell them he is leaving—he can just send a text resignation. 

Lane Kiffin, Tennessee, 2010

Kiffin is a lightning rod for controversy no matter what he does, but his exit from Tennessee has to be his most infamous incident to date.

The Volunteers took a chance on Kiffin as head coach in 2009, probably due to the fact that he was head coach of the Oakland Raiders and recruits might think that he could get them to the NFL if they played for Tennessee. 

Kiffin promised to restore the order to the program after it had fallen on hard times in recent years, but after one mediocre season, he apparently had enough and took his talents to USC. 

Tennessee fans still cringe every time they hear Kiffin's name, but considering the success that he has had at USC, I doubt that he cares. 

Jim Tressel, Ohio State, 2011

Some of the sting from Tressel's exit from Ohio State has been alleviated thanks to the school's hiring of Urban Meyer, but before that happened, things were not pretty in Columbus. 

Tressel was an Ohio institution. He led the Buckeyes to a national championship, six Big Ten championships, eight BCS games and a 9-1 record against Michigan. 

But because he decided to look the other way when his players were violating NCAA rules, the school had no choice but to ask him to resign. It was a surprising exit, though not entirely unexpected, given the way that he bent the rules for his players. 

Nick Saban, LSU, 2005

When you leave an SEC school for more money, odds are good that things are going to get ugly because of how insanely passionate those fans are. 

Initially, I don't think that the resentment was that bad for Saban. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there were plenty of people who were mad, but he didn't go to a rival school—he went to the NFL. It's hard to argue with that. 

But things got really intense in 2007, when Saban left the Miami Dolphins to become the next head coach at Alabama. 

If there weren't any hard feelings before, there certainly were at that point. It's added an extra level of heat to the LSU-Alabama rivalry, and LSU fans still aren't happy to see him whenever he comes to town. 

Mike Leach, Texas Tech, 2009

This is the biggest reason that people hate ESPN's Craig James. Well, this and the fact that James is terrible at his job. 

Mike Leach put the Texas Tech football program on the map. He did everything he could for the university in his time there. 

But because Craig James wasn't happy with the playing time that his son was getting, he decided that it would be the best thing for everyone involved to slander Leach and get him fired. 

Leach and Texas Tech have been battling in court for the last two years over the firing. 

Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia, 2007

On the list of ugly divorces, the one between Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia would have to be right near the top. 

Rodriguez turned the Mountaineers into the preeminent program in the Big East and one of the top teams in the country. But after believing that he could do no more in Morgantown, he decided to go to Michigan. 

West Virginia was not happy about that, to say the least, and the two sides went back and forth in the press and courts over the $4 million buyout in his contract. 

Rich Rodriguez might be the most despised person in all of West Virginia to this day. 

Joe Paterno, Penn State, 2011

Joe Paterno's exit from Penn State should have been a celebration the likes of which we have never seen before. He has been with the university since 1950.

He won more games (409) and bowls (24) than any other coach in Division I history. There were awards  named after him. He was the very definition of a living legend.

All of that changed in a hurry in early November when the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke.

Instead of going out on his own terms, Paterno was unceremoniously fired late in the night on November 8, after students and fans gathered around his house to show support for him.