At last spring football has arrived in fair Knoxville, which surely means that rookie coach Lane Kiffin can leave all those little distractions behind and get down to some straight-up coachin', right? Right?

Eh, maybe not.

Yesterday it emerged, via CBSSports.com's Gregg Doyel, that the Raiders of Al Freaking Davis found Kiffin, former Oakland coach and current walking gift to sports blogging, a touch too Machiavellian for their tastes. Doyel had gotten his hands on a letter that the Raiders wrote in January to Kiffin's new employers at Tennessee. The letter accused Kiffin of undermining his old team and referred to his "personal agenda in his apparently on-going efforts to damage the Raiders," ignoring for a moment the Raiders' on-going efforts to damage the Raiders — not to mention the unseemliness of a company slagging its former employee in front of his new bosses. (Aren't there laws against this sort of thing? Why, yes. Yes, there are.)

Here's the letter:

Kiffin, who filed a grievance with the NFL over two months' pay, will be deposed Monday by the Raiders, and that will doubtlessly bring this whole episode to a quiet and sane close.

Raiders Depose Kiffin, Attack Former Coach In Letter To Tennessee [CBSSports]

Send an email to Tommy Craggs, the author of this post, at craggs@deadspin.com.