Steve Sarkisian was hired as an offensive analyst at Alabama on Sept 5th, 2016, and was hired as the offensive coordinator on Dec 16th. Lane Kiffin was hired as Florida Atlantic’s head coach on Dec 12th.
Kiffin resigned (or was relieved of his duties) at Alabama on Jan 2, 2017, just 2 days after a college football playoff win over Washington, and only one week away from a national championship game against Clemson.
So why the change so soon? And what’s with the drama? Here are some key points:
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1. Did Nick Saban learn from Kirby Smart last year?
Last year, Kirby Smart’s defense was pretty awful in the national championship game against Clemson. In fact, Alabama’s defense, in that game, gave up the most yardage that they gave up all season (550), the most passing yards (405), the 2nd most rushing yards (145), and the 2nd most points (40) that they gave up all year, and still found a way to win the game. Smart’s gameplan did not work, but since the team won, nobody really looked at the fact that the defense played their worst game after he took the job at Georgia.
Everybody basically just said that Deshaun Watson played other worldly (in fairness, he was great), but, in truth, it was the 2nd most passing yards Watson had all season – behind the 420 yards he threw for against Boston College.
Now, Smart’s defense looked great against Michigan St in the first playoff game, but, to be fair, Michigan State’s offense was not very good last season anyway, averaging only 396ypg and 32ppg before Alabama held them to 239 and 0.
Did Nick Saban learn, after last season, that you cannot prepare to be a head coach at another school and still be fully committed to the team you’re currently with?
Kiffin’s offense against Washington was abysmal. There did not appear to be any real strategy. Alabama’s points came from running the football and breaking a couple of big plays. There were only 17 offensive points scored and 7 defensive (a Ryan Anderson interception return). 3 points came after Alabama recovered a fumble on the Washington 40 and went on a 6 play, 17 yard drive, which probably should have gone better, but was stopped by a false start on 3rd and 1 and a terrible call to hand off to ArDarius Stewart on 3rd and 6.
The 2 touchdowns were on drives of 68 and 98 yards, with the first ending in an 18 yard Scarborough TD run (where 8 of 9 plays were runs), and the 2nd on a 68 yard Scarborough TD run (where 5 of 6 were runs).
There was no balance on offense – there were 50 rushes for 269 yards, and Jalen Hurts was 7 of 14 passing for 57 yards, with 2 of the passes being 16 yard completions to OJ Howard (Hurts averaged 5 yards each on the other 5 completions).
Kiffin’s offense against Washington had the 2nd lowest point total (24), the 2nd lowest total yardage (326), the 2nd lowest yards per play (5.09), and the lowest amount of passing yards (57) by a wide margin. This was the lowest passing yardage total that Washington gave up all year, and, while Washington’s defense had been really good all year, this was not so much the defense’s doing.
Saban saw that Kiffin did not have this team completely prepared, and I believe he saw that Kiffin was not fully invested and needed to make a change.
2. Does changing OCs give Saban an advantage in this game?
Saban understands the advantage of the unknown.
Clemson has no idea what Sarkisian could end up running in this game. Most people believe that Alabama is coming into this game with 14 full games of plays to choose from – but with Sark taking over a week before the championship, there will, no doubt, be some new wrinkles that he wants to throw in, that could work because Clemson will have no way of preparing for them.
Strategy and game planning will be different. Play calling will be different. Sarkisian can see something in the middle of the game that Kiffin was not able to.
This has the possibility of being a breath of fresh air for Alabama’s players.
3. Kiffin’s SI story rubbed coaches at Alabama the wrong way
Pete Thamel, from Sports Illustrated, went house hunting with Kiffin and discussed his past and future. And, like most things Kiffin does publicly, it came across poorly.
Now, it’s possibly Thamel was looking for a juicy Kiffin story because, let’s face it, the guy brings in page views. Anything controversial he does immediately grabs peoples’ attention.
And there were definitely some things in the story that rubbed coaches at Alabama the wrong way.
For example:
Now, there were some good things about his time at Alabama, and the things that he learned from Coach Saban in there, and why it will make him a better coach. But the headline grabbers are always the negative things.
The story was released on Dec 29th, 2 days before the Washington game. I doubt anybody in Tuscaloosa was thrilled with the way that he portrayed his time at Alabama.
4. Did Alabama look into Kiffin staying on as an analyst?
Kiffin made his press appearances on Monday and Tuesday, doing interviews with Paul Finebaum, Mike & Mike, and Dan Patrick. He stated that he and Alabama were looking into whether he could stay with the team in some capacity, either on the field or in the coaches box, for the national championship game, just not as the offensive coordinator and play-caller.
Nick Saban stated during his teleconference yesterday, when asked about that possibility, and stated “No, it’s not really even possible from a legal (NCAA) standpoint for him to do those things. That’s not something we’re interested in pursuing.”
Which sounded like Saban just didn’t want him around anymore.
But it appears somebody at Alabama did contact the NCAA about that possibility, according to Bruce Feldman.
Am told that NCAA compliance informed #Alabama today that Lane Kiffin cannot coach in any capacity in the national title game.— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 3, 2017
If Alabama looked into this, that obviously shows that Saban did not see Kiffin as a distraction, and believed he could help during this game, just not as the play caller.
UPDATED: 5. Was this the plan the whole time?
Everyone accuses Saban of being an evil genius – was he planning on Kiffin being gone as soon as possible anyway?
Think of it this way: Sark was already on staff, Saban knew that they could get by Washington by just running the football, and he wanted prep done for Ohio St and Clemson already. Kiffin didn’t have to worry about Ohio St or Clemson… all he had to was his FAU work, run the ball against Washington (no gameplan needed, obviously), and then they could use the “distraction” to work in their favor against Clemson.
Was the SI piece just another scheme devised to get Clemson to “HEY! LOOK AT THIS SHINY TOY!” while Alabama hits them with a haymaker?
Just another interesting question and plot twist to an unconventional story heading into a national championship game. When you’re heading into your 5th one, you’ve gotta find a way to keep things fresh. This definitely did that.
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