I guess Saban figured Kiffin wasn’t getting the hint.
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Nick Saban made the announcement, citing the difficulties for Kiffin of balancing both the offensive play calling duties of the Crimson Tide and the demands of his new head coaching job with Florida Atlantic.
When Kiffin was named Florida Atlantic head coach on December 13, all the noise stopped.
“I think it’s going to be a really easy transition”, he said.
Although that was taken by many to mean that Saban had fired Kiffin, it has never ben Saban’s style to fire coaches – and that would seem particularly true for a coach who has already moved on, as had Kiffin.
Kiffin joined the Alabama staff in January of 2014 and was responsible for helping develop former Alabama quarterback Jake Coker and former Heisman victor Derrick Henry ahead of the Crimson Tide’s championship a season ago.
Which is unacceptable to Saban and his team, like losses to Ohio State in the 2014 College Football semifinals and to Ole Miss in 2015 after which the Tide responded with a year ago with 12 straight wins including a 45-40 victory over Clemson in CFP championship game. But they couldn’t even coexist for seven more days in the end. Sarkisian had previously been a quarterbacks coach at Oakland.
“I just feel like that will be the best place for me to strive as a player and a person”, McKinney said of his decision during the ESPN broadcast of the game. “Our coaches are working hard to try to put the best game plan we can together to play against a very good Clemson defense”.
Which swings the conversation back to the situation at offensive coordinator.
From there, Saban shut down questions about Kiffin handling duel job responsibilities leading up to the 24-7 victory against Washington in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on December 31.
Kiffin joined the Alabama staff as offensive coordinator in 2014 and led one of the top offenses in the country for three straight seasons.
It wasn’t the first time Saban had dealt with one of his coordinators taking a head-coaching job before Alabama’s season was over. This wasn’t Kirby Smart, the good soldier who last season juggled the Crimson Tide defensive coordinator job after having been hired by Georgia.
“We do not know legally whether we can do that”, Kiffin said. “I felt like we were going to have more guys functionally ready to go play winning football at a high level”. The passing game struggled, though, as QB Jalen Hurts completed only 7 of 14 passed for 57 yards. “If this gets him going on us sooner that’s a positive thing for FAU”. That he would probably give us the best chance to win because 100 percent of the time all day long his mind is going to be on the game.
Then for good measure, Alabama’s offense vs. Washington was underwhelming. And of course, Kiffin took the door. When you throw in the tension that Saban and Kiffin share with one another, that’s one of the ultimate recipes for disaster.
We thank Coach Kiffin for all he’s done for the University and transitioning the Tide to a more modern offense.
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“I make [about] 9 percent and I’m living in Tuscaloosa”, Kiffin told SI.
