Lane Kiffin Out As Alabama Offensive Coordinator Before The National Championship

SB Nation ^ | 1-2-12017 | Richard Johnson

[blam]

Richard Johnson
January 2, 2017

Steve Sarkisian will assume the duties immediately.

In a deviation from the original plan, Lane Kiffin will not call plays for Alabama in the National Championship. Instead, he’ll head to FAU early and assume his head coaching duties.

The timing of this is fairly interesting. Kiffin was originally slated to stick around. Former Bama assistants Jim Mcelwain and Kirby Smart stuck around for the Tide balancing their new head coaching duties and coordinator responsibilities in Tuscaloosa.

Now the responsibility will fall to former Washington and USC coach Steve Sarkisian. Sark has been an offensive analyst with the Crimson Tide. He didn’t exactly impress folks with his playcalling at previous head coaching stops.

(snip)

[blam]

Sarkisian was fired at USC for an alcohol problem, Saban says he's over the problem. Sarkisian was a buddy of Kiffin and followed Kiffin as head coach at USC after he (Kiffin) was fired.

Sarkisian has been on the Alabama staff for most of the year. Kiffin and Sarkisian have run similar offenses.

Many (including me) Did not like the play calling during the Washington game.

[clintonh8r]

Seems like an odd time to change horses, but Saban knows what he’s doing, I suppose.

[discostu]

Yeah Saban knows what he’s doing: making sure Kiffin doesn’t get any credit. The guy is an abusive dick. Hell of a football coach, but complete slime as a human being.

[onedoug]

I hope Clemson beats the crap out of them.

The other USC and Ped State in the Rose Bowl. I hope they decimate each other, but I won’t be watching.

[clintonh8r]

I don’t know that much about him but I doubt he would make such a move if it jeopardized winning the championship.

[logitech]

Good news. RTR

[HangnJudge]

Those of us at Tennessee remember well what an “honorable” person he is

[relictele]

An obsessive planner and routine guy like Saban would not make such a drastic change without provocation.

I think the media hype about Kiffin’s naughty schoolboy act in terms of defying Saban is overdone but Kiffin did make some thinly veiled critical remarks about the salt-mine conditions that the coaches must endure and Kiffin has been the very visible victim of some sideline abuse by Saban.

The Peach Bowl was a walkover even for a distracted coach but perhaps Saban believed then and now that Kiffin could not and would not devote his full attention so out he goes.

[discostu]

It’s not going to jeopardize the win. The game plan is in place, Sarkisian will call almost all the same plays Kiffin, they just plain have a better team than Clemson, and now no one can question Saban’s brilliance. Also he won’t be getting to scream at Kiffin, but I’m sure he’ll find somebody.

[Pelham]

“Sarkisian was a buddy of Kiffin and followed Kiffin as head coach at USC after he (Kiffin) was fired. “

and both of them got their USC gigs because they were buddies of Pat Haden. Haden’s habit of hiring his bros is why he’s no longer in charge at USC.

[blam]

I'm listening to sports folks on ESPN and they're thinking that Kiffin was fired by Saban. Freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts had only 57 yards passing during the Washington game.
That will need to change if he is to be the #1 quarterback at Alabama.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

"I don't know that I would describe there was a happy moment,” joked Kiffin, who will resume his duties as the head coach at Florida Atlantic after the Crimson Tide’s postseason run. "I don't recall a happy moment. I just recall the ass chewings. I won't take that part of the process with me (to FAU), though."

I'm sure this (above) was a final nail.

[morphing libertarian]

I thought it took a quarter for Alabama to warm up, but after that, I thought their offense and defense were dominant. I don’t like Kiffin, but if he’s running the Alabama offense then he deserves credit.

[blam]

Saban pulled Kiffin out of the scrap heap. He failed everywhere he coached.

Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Florida Atlantic University. Kiffin formerly served as the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the National Football League's Oakland Raiders from 2007 to 2008, head coach of the University of Tennessee Volunteers college football team in 2009, and head coach of the Trojans from 2010 to 2013. He was the youngest head coach in NFL history when he joined the Raiders, and, for a time, was the youngest head coach of a BCS Conference team in college football.[1][2] Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama from 2014 until 2016, when he was hired at Florida Atlantic.[3]

Kiffin is the son of longtime NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.[4]

[SoCal Pubbie]

Don’t you mean the original USC? And don’t go there. South Carolina College didn’t change it’s name to become the phony USC till way after the Trojans.

[Democrats hate too much]

he is afraid of that Clemson defense?

[IrishBrigade]

The guy is an abusive dick.

you know the guy personally, do you...?

[Himyar]

It almost always takes the Tide a quarter to get it’s act together. However they usually dominate the fourth quarter. I’ve decided that it is superior conditioning. I’ve noticed that the Tide’s big guys aren’t as fleshy as other teams. Some players on other teams are just plain fat.

[lodi90]

The play calling wasn’t the problem. Washington had a good defense. Don’t sell them short. Several of those guys will play on Sunday and they have a bunch of very good college players.

[morphing libertarian]

Thanx this was the first game I saw this ear. I’m a UCLA USC guy and don’t necessarily like the Tide, but they are on their way to re-writing the record books. It’s also nice to know USC coaches who mess up will have job security in Birmingham.