Showing posts with label Lane Kiffin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lane Kiffin. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Lane Kiffin thought he"d be back at Alabama, but Nick Saban had other ideas


Lane Kiffin recalls Nick Saban"s strict style and "ass-chewings"

The confetti had not stopped falling inside Georgia Dome, and Lane Kiffin stood on the turf, at about the 30-yard line, and considered his immediate future. He had straddled the line between Florida Atlantic head coach and Alabama offensive coordinator for a month. One game remained, the biggest game, after Alabama had throttled Washington in a College Football Playoff semifinal on Saturday. Kiffin imagined nothing would change.

"I"ll be back in Alabama," Kiffin said. "We do stay here tonight. We"re going to leave in the morning. I"ll be with the team. It"s a [recruiting] dead period. It"s not like we"ve got a month. We basically just have a little bit longer of a week. It"ll all be dedicated to Alabama. The No. 1 focus will be finishing what we started."

The stunning announcement Alabama made Monday afternoon, then, may have blindsided Kiffin. Nick Saban declared Kiffin will "focus on [his] new head coaching job at Florida Atlantic."

What that means is, Saban could not stand Kiffin being around his program, even for one more week, the seven days before the Crimson Tide faces Clemson in a national title rematch.

Kiffin helped Saban during his three years in Alabama, modernizing an offense that had started to become dated, leading three different quarterbacks to three Southeastern Conference titles and three playoff appearances. But Saban helped Kiffin much more. Kiffin earned $1.4 million in a high-profile job. He landed on his feet after a humiliating exit as southern cal"s head coach, when kiffin admitted there were few schools soliciting his services.

And now their relationship has ended awkwardly, as most relationships with Kiffin tend to do. When he parted ways with the Oakland Raiders, owner Al Davis used a slide show to illustrate his misdeeds. He left Tennessee with a disorganized, late-night news conference and with a crowd of angry students and fans gathered outside the football complex. USC fired him at a private airport in the wee hours. And now Alabama has dismissed him on the eve of the national championship.

Saban"s announcement made it seem like a mutual parting. The strain of trying to set up his recruiting at staff at FAU while leading Alabama"s offense had become too much, not productive for the team or Kiffin. There"s some truth in that. But part left unspoken is both more important and blatantly clear: Saban wanted Kiffin to take a hike.

The final straw may have been the remarkable story published last week in Sports Illustrated. Kiffin said he had not any fun coaching at Alabama, equating three years to 21 -- as in dog years. He complained about the cost of alimony and taxes. He presented scientific evidence his personality shared nothing in common with the personalities of Saban or the other coaches he worked with. He made these comments, and more, with the backdrop of house hunting in South Florida, trying to find something in the $6 million range, with a view of the water.

Saban does not permit assistant coaches to speak with reporters during the season. During bowl preparation, there are many opportunities when all coaches from participating schools must talk. Kiffin"s hiring at FAU also gave him occasion to speak publicly. When given the chance, Kiffin was everything Saban wants kept light years away from his program: brash, distracting, selfish.

Alabama"s performance in Peach Bowl probably didn"t convince Saban of Kiffin"s focus. The Tide wanted to be conservative to thwart Washington"s turnover-happy defense, so an explosion couldn"t be expected. But the Tide passed for only 57 yards, and Kiffin wasn"t able to get Bo Scarbrough-- clearly the best player on the field -- a significant workload until the fourth quarter.

So Alabama will turn to Steve Sarkisian to call plays in the national title game, against a Clemson defense that has future NFL players and a defensive line that might rival even Alabama"s. Sarkasian spent the season ensconced in Alabama"s program, and his knowledge of Kiffin"s offense dates back to their time together at USC. But changing coordinators a week before the biggest game of the season cannot be ideal.

Kiffin, it turns out, will not be where he thought he would be this week. He will be far away from Alabama, which is just where Nick Saban wants him.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-colleges-lane-kiffin-nick-saban-spt-20170102-story.html

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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Houston closing in on Lane Kiffin as next coach


Here is proof that Lane Kiffin is a great coach | THE HERD
Houston closing in on Lane Kiffin as next coach

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Houston closing in on Lane Kiffin as next coach

The Alabama offensive coordinator will be a head coach again, taking over the Cougars.

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Here"s a look at the latest head coach hirings and vacancies in college football. USA TODAY Sports

Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin will be the next coach at Houston.(Photo: Tim Heitman, USA TODAY Sports)

Houston is closing in on a decision to make Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin its next football coach, pending a Thursday meeting at which school President Renu Khator will have to give the final OK, two people with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school had not yet announced the move.

Kiffin would replace Tom Herman, who left for Texas after two seasons.

Houston has not officially offered the job and can"t until the president signs off on it. Major booster Tilman Fertitta told a Houston radio station Thursday morning that no decision has been made.

Though its possible Houston could backtrack, Kiffin has been operating as if he will become the next Houston coach as of Wednesday night.

As of Wednesday, Houston had eliminated Les Miles as a candidate and was deliberating between Kffin and its internal candidates, most prominentlydefensive coordinator Todd Orlando.Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley had been a candidate but pulled out Wednesday.

South Florida"s opening accelerated the process as Kiffin"s representatives were trying to leverage interest in that job as Houston had dragged its feet this week.

kiffin, 41, was USCs coach for three-plus seasons and at Tennessee for one prior to that. His career record is 35-21. He was fired from USC five games into the 2013 season but landed at Alabama in 2014 to begin to rebuild his reputation.

A brilliant offensive mind, Kiffin has been crucial in Alabamas transformation to a more varied up-tempo attack and it was only a matter of time before he got another chance as a head coach despite questions about why it ended so badly with the Trojans.

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/aac/2016/12/08/lane-kiffin-hired-houston-cougars/95128236/

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