If the Glazer Boys really wanted to be hardasses, they could sue both Monte Kiffin and the University of Tennessee, so reports Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

Mike Florio, the creator, curator and overall guru of ProFootballTalk.com, and a lawyer by day (though to Joe’s knowledge he doesn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn), writes that if the Bucs wanted to play hardball with the (alleged) soon-to-depart defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, they could sue both Kiffin and the University of Tennessee.

Kiffin has one more year remaining on his contract, and it appears that the team won’t stand in his way if he chooses to leave early to work with his son. If the Bucs were to opt for hardball, they could sue Kiffin for breach of contract and/or the University of Tennessee for tortious interference with contractual relationships.

Given coach Jon Gruden’s ties to Knoxville and Kiffin’s contributions to the franchise, litigation isn’t a serious possibility.

One reason the Bucs won’t even think of doing that is the flack the team took when former defensive coach Joe Barry wanted to join former Bucs defensive line coach and (sadly) current Lions head coach Rod Marinelli in Detroit. Barry is Marinelli’s son-in-law.

The Bucs caught a lot of bad press for not allowing a family member to work with another. Given Kiffin’s affection within the Tampa Bay community, so reports Florio, that the Bucs wouldn’t think of keeping Kiffin from joining his son Lane at the University of Tennessee.