🏈 LANE CHANGE: Kiffin adjusting to new role as offensive coordinator

[18Champs]

Nick Saban has been in Lane Kiffin’s shoes, making the transition from head coach back to being a coordinator.

Back in 1990, Saban spent one year as the head coach at Toledo before returning to the NFL to be the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick.

So Saban realizes that these past seven months have been a bit of an adjustment for his new offensive coordinator.

“As soon as you get used to being the boss, and then you’re not the boss anymore, it’s a transition, I don’t care who it’s for,” Saban said. “All of a sudden you can’t say when everybody gets to go home. It’s just different. But he’s done a really good job for us, the players respond to him well, he’s a good teacher, he’s smart, he’s a good coach. So far, so good.”

This coming season will be Kiffin’s first as a coordinator since 2006. He was the Oakland Raiders coach from 2007-2008, spent the 2009 season as the head coach at Tennessee before bolting to USC in 2010. He was fired from USC last fall.

Kiffin is one of four coaches on Saban’s staff with head coaching experience.

“I think anytime anybody has knowledge and experience, it certainly contributes a lot of value in your organization,” Saban said. “I think it kind of goes both ways. I think you learn a little from them, I think they learn a little from you. I think you can make subtle changes in what you do to make it more effective because of the input you get from your staff.

“The more experience that your staff has, obviously I think the better they understand the big picture and have the kind of foresight that you need to have that you know when you make changes, what the cause and effect of those changes are going to be. Lane certainly has been helpful in a lot of those areas.”

Wide receivers Christion Jones and Amari Cooper both said Kiffin took time to meet with the offensive players when he arrived at Alabama to get to know the team.

Jones said Kiffin relates “very well” to the players and that his experiences at Tennessee and USC help him “understand what type of standard we set here at Alabama.”

“I think the big thing he’s taught me is to pay attention to the small things on the defense which can get you open and find different ways to get open,” Jones said. “He teaches us what the quarterback is looking at, what his reads are, which makes it better for you to get open and play fast.

“Other than that, his tempo and what he brings to the table, his intensity every practice. He’s mobile, he’s always ready to go. It motivates you and gets you ready to go. He’ll keep you on your toes.”

During spring practice, players praised Kiffin for his offensive creativity. Cooper called Kiffin’s offense “player friendly” and said Kiffin focuses on getting the ball in the hands of his playmakers.

Cooper acknowledged that the offense won’t be too different and that the system hasn’t “changed dramatically” because Alabama is still a Saban-led team. But he did commend Kiffin for the wrinkles he’d added and his personality.

“I think Coach Kiffin takes advantage of match-ups,” Cooper said. “I think he has a good sense of what it’s like to be an offensive coordinator. He’s a very calm person and brings that calmness to the team when things get serious and when you are battling for a national championship every year.”

 

[sean]

i'm not going to lie. i was one of the ones who was laughing at some of the things he did and said while he was at tennessee and usc. back then he was the coach of the opponent. now, he's our offensive coordinator. i trust Coach Saban and his abilities.

and having that many assistants on staff who have head coaching experience can really help us. some people look at it as a "too many chiefs, not enough braves" type of situation. but i look at as a "have you not met our head coach?" type of situation.

Coach Saban runs the program. end of statement.....period! and if others think that all those former head coaches will be nothing but trouble with all those egos, then they need to go watch some videos of Coach Saban during practice and see who is running the show.

trust me, the assistants know who is in charge.....without question.

and i'm excited to see what your offense can do this season. we have some great running backs and some great receivers. the only big question mark is the quarterback position. as far as i know we don't have a definitive leader (not even trying to read who those so-called "sports reporters" say will be the starter). if it's Coker, then good for him. if it's Sims, then good for him. if it's Bateman, Cornwell, McLeod or Morris, then good for either one of them. as long as they can lead this team then that's who will get the job as starter. and i'm pretty sure the coaches have in their mind who the leaders are at this point.

and Kiffin seems a bit like Mike Shula; he's a heckuva coordinator but not so good as a head coach. which is fine. you can make a damn fine living as a coordinator.

as long as he does the job well for which he was hired, i think we'll all be pleased.

RMFT!!!

 

[TerryP]

@sk33tr You aren't alone. I know I posted a half of a dozen threads (if not more) highlighting some of the things he'd done to put his other foot in his mouth when he was head coach. But, in all of the things I've posted about him I don't recall ever criticizing coaching the game itself.

A lot have forgotten he did have a team that was voted as one of the top teams in the nation to start 2012. I'm not referring to the AP poll, but to the coaches poll where there was 15 point differential between the #1 and #3 ranking. Coaches, his peers, showing respect for what he had at USC. I did criticize that ranking. It was my contention they lacked the depth on the defensive line (just as one point) to make it through the season.

I didn't like him at Tennessee. I don't like anything at Tennessee. (There's an argument to be made that I did like Darrington at UT.)

You'll find a lot of people say "it's going to be a train wreck." You won't find a lot of people saying, or bothering to say, why they believe that will be the case.

 

[TerryP]

BTW, just a side note/casual observation.

How often have you heard "no one cares about Bama vs Tennessee" in the discussions about scheduling and permanent opponents? If it were possible, I'd suggest counting those and then counting the number of comments about the game this season.

I suspect there will be a lot of conversations about this game in October.

 

[sean]

BTW, just a side note/casual observation.

How often have you heard "no one cares about Bama vs Tennessee" in the discussions about scheduling and permanent opponents? If it were possible, I'd suggest counting those and then counting the number of comments about the game this season.

I suspect there will be a lot of conversations about this game in October.

totally agree with you. i'm sure there will be a LOT of talk about that game leading up to it.

 

[ElephantStomp]

He didn't do well as a head coach, but the dude can straight up coach and how people can question that is beyond me.

I didn't like Kiffin when he was at Tennessee, but I don't like anything about that school. Just like Terry said.

It won't be reinventing the wheel with our offense obviously, but I think it'll be different under Kiffin and there was obviously something Saban seen and liked.

 

[MissingRing]

Let's face it: no Alabama fan (worthy of the term "fan") would have suggested, prior to January of 2014, that Nick Saban hire Lane Kiffin for any coaching position at Alabama. Now that Kiffin is one of ours, we are simply trusting in Nick Saban's judgment and hoping for the best. The reviews so far are positive. Let's wait until at least mid-season to cast stones or shower accolades.