Why Alabama Can't Afford to Lose Lane Kiffin

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — We figured this was coming, it just might be coming a little sooner than we thought.

The Lane Kiffin era in Tuscaloosa wasn’t going to be a long one like defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s has been. Kiffin is too talented of a football mind to not get snatched up, especially coaching under the watchful eye of Nick Saban, who has largely kept him out of the public spotlight and let the focus be on his offense.

But not very many expected his departure would be after just one year.

That could be the case, according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter:

Kiffin’s home is on the West Coast. This wouldn’t be an unprecedented move. The last time Kiffin had an SEC job (head coach at Tennessee in 2009), he left after only one year to become the head coach at USC.

ESPN’s Chris Low and The Tuscaloosa News’ Cecil Hurt think Kiffin would make the move, should he get an offer:

Schefter is not the first credible source to broach the possible move, either. The San Jose Mercury News’ Cam Inman wrote on Friday that Kiffin “might consider returning to the NFL” and could be a candidate for the 49ers job, along with former Washington head coach Mike Shanahan.

These are more than just rumblings.

Kiffin seemingly got ahead of potential rumors like this in New Orleans, while Alabama was prepping for the Sugar Bowl, by saying he would return to Tuscaloosa next season.

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"Yes, definitely," Kiffin said of a possible return, according to AL.com’s Michael Casagrande. "I think that we still have a lot of stuff that we can do better. Working with a new quarterback, that will be exciting. To me, the excitement of the unknown when you have the quarterback, to see if we can do this again, if we can perform really well and obviously coach has recruited very well year in and year out.”

There have been no indications that Kiffin has been offered the San Francisco job yet. He is still performing his duties as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, which right now means he is focused on recruiting.

AL.com’s Drew Champlin wrote that Kiffin was in Tuscaloosa this weekend as Alabama hosted official visits from top recruits.

TideSports.com’s Aaron Suttles said that Kiffin was also out on the road last week recruiting new talent to Tuscaloosa:

Losing Kiffin, though, would be a major blow to a Crimson Tide offense that sported a new look than we’re accustomed to seeing at Alabama and set records for most yards in school history.

Recruiting

Kiffin has played a major role in recruiting Alabama in his year since joining the coaching staff.

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247Sports lists Kiffin as the primary recruiter on 2015 5-star commits and early enrollees Blake Barnett and Dallas Warmack.

Barnett, in particular, seems to be a tailor-made Kiffin prospect. He is a quarterback from the West Coast, has a live arm and is a good runner—something that Kiffin had success with this year in Blake Sims.

Kiffin is also listed as the primary recruiter on several other remaining 2015 targets, like Byron Cowart and Iman Marshall.

Wide receiver Lawrence Cager, a 3-star prospect according to 247Sports, told Champlin that Kiffin and Alabama are still pushing hard for him, despite his commitment to Miami.

"They still want me at 'Bama," Cager said. "Coach [Lane] Kiffin and coach [Billy] Napier are recruiting me hard. I thought the visit was great. Another great visit to Alabama. I really enjoyed spending time with coach [Nick] Saban a lot and the fellow recruits."

Losing Kiffin right now would have a few ripple effects for Alabama before 2015’s national signing day.

Quarterback

Kiffin's success at Alabama this year was in large part because of what he was able to do with the quarterback position.

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He took Sims from career backup to Alabama record-holder for passing yards in a season. His track record of quarterback development extends beyond Alabama, where he worked with talent like Matt Leinart at USC and made Jonathan Crompton an SEC-caliber starter at Tennessee.

The Crimson Tide will need him to work some of that magic again this offseason.

The only sure thing about Alabama’s 2015 quarterback battle is that there is no sure thing. The Crimson Tide don’t have a quarterback on the roster with more than a year on campus and a pass attempt in a game.

With Kiffin leading the charge, Alabama fans could be a little less anxious about that process, given his history of developing the position. If he goes, Saban will need to find another quarterback-minded coordinator to make sure there isn’t much of a drop-off under center.

Another Scheme Change

It’s not a stretch to say Kiffin gave Alabama an entirely new identity on offense.

Part of that was personnel-wise. He tailored his system to a roster that had a mobile quarterback with a strong arm, an electric wide receiver in Amari Cooper and a run game that was less power and more finesse than in years past.

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It speaks to Kiffin’s acumen that he was able to squeeze just about all of the potential out of an offense with a first-year quarterback and the weapons around him.

Alabama also needed an offense that could keep up with the high-scoring trends of the SEC and college football. Kiffin provided that, too.

If Kiffin leaves, Alabama will need to find that again, after the dust from the coaching carousel is largely settled. To complicate things further, Alabama will already be nearly starting over on offense, with just two starters returning.

High-profile offensive coordinators like Ohio State’s Tom Herman and Clemson’s Chad Morris have already moved to head-coaching jobs.

Saban would have to dig deep to find his next offensive coordinator, and Alabama will be looking at its third offensive coordinator in as many years.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.