That same someone – Saban – also tried to get Kiffin before Al Davis eventually called Kiffin a liar, before Kiffin bolted Tennessee after one season and before USC fired Kiffin at 4 a.m. on a private strip at Los Angeles International Airport by pulling him off the team bus headed for campus after a loss to Arizona State.
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“Oh, I definitely would [hire him]”, Kiffin said, per Khan.
USC, in a formal response to former football coach Steve Sarkisian’s wrongful termination lawsuit filed last month, says the suit violates an arbitration agreement the former coach had with the school and has taken aim at the accuracy of his claims.
Coker said Kiffin’s feel for when to operate out of the I-formation, a 1970s playbook staple, as opposed to using spread-offense wrinkles gleaned from offseason discussions with Houston coach Tom Herman, is the key to Kiffin’s success in Tuscaloosa. “We’re going to be in Dallas, and we’re going to whup USC”, he told Lane.
This Lane Kiffin could make it big, even if he has to start somewhere more remote, like his alma mater, Fresno State.
Kiffin said he was surprised he was let go, because all of the discussions with school officials were that USC would suffer through some down times because of the NCAA infractions that led to severe scholarship reductions.
In the locker room Kiffin told Haden, “At least we found our quarterback tonight”. I remember that turn. I was talking about Cody Kessler….
Haden fired Sarkisian the following day while the coach was en route to an out-of-state treatment facility. “Good question, what would have happened if we [had] come back and won the game?”
Chances are, he would have been fired anyway. During his USC days, he failed to keep them separate after leading the Trojans to a 10-2 record in 2011, his second season at the school.
“Oh, yeah. Obviously, people go through things”. Someone hired him to take over the glamour program at USC despite the uneven coaching record. But those sanctions didn’t cause him to become involved in controversies that included a deflated football scandal, switched-jersey-number incidents, and a nightmare Sun Bowl experience on the last day of 2012 that featured Kiffin coaching the game in sunglasses to hide a facial cut that occurred under cloudy circumstances the previous evening. Kiffin didn’t reveal whether any of those plays were actually implemented in the game plan.
Asked if he’s a different person, he said, “It’s only been two years”.
Kiffin still isn’t buying it, and strongly believes he was basically NCAA-sanctioned out of a job.
/URL That does not mean Kiffin agrees with that decision, even though the players rallied around Ed Orgeron, his successor. “When the ball is kicked, all that stuff is forgotten about and you’re supposed to win like you should at USC no matter what”.
Kiffin is Alabama’s offensive coordinator.
“There’s no question about [his offensive acumen]”, Kiffin continued.
On Haden? “I’ve talked to him a few times, which is unusual….”
“Nick has been really great to work with, he really has”, Kiffin said. “We stand behind the facts in our 31-page complaint and look forward to proving them in court”.
“There’s a ton of things, but I think really probably the No. 1 thing is how he is the CEO of the program”, Kiffin said.
Kiffin would like Sarkisian to visit, see it up close. “His play-calling has really made things a lot easier on us”.
A likable, responsible, more mature Kiffin, who has resurrected his career and reshaped his image as Alabama’s offensive coordinator who developed quarterback Jake Coker into a Michigan State killer.
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Kiffin admits before getting to know Saban, he heard “all the Saban stories”. You know, that region where one of the colleges is looking for an offensive coordinator today after the announcement that UCLA’s Noel Mazzone is going to Texas A&M?
