Alabama Has Been the Perfect Place for Lane Kiffin to Revitalize His Career

One year ago, Alabama head coach Nick Saban and first-year offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin seemed like college football's version of The Odd Couple. 

Would Kiffin really have control of the offense? Could the two personalities work together in Tuscaloosa?

"My first show after Kiffin was hired was a show where you just offer your opinions and then throw the keys to the callers for them to react to the hiring," said Ryan Fowler, host of The Game on Tide 99.1 in Tuscaloosa. "Most Alabama fans didn't like the hire and was very vocal with expressing their feelings towards Saban. It took at least a month after the hire for fans to settle down, and they did not calm down completely until three or four games into the season."

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One SEC title, a trip to the inaugural College Football Playoff and a program-best 484.5 total yards per game later, and the football marriage between Saban and Kiffin looks more like a match made in Heaven. 

It has also proven to be the perfect place for Kiffin to revitalize his career after being let go by USC midway through the 2013 season.  

The stench of how things ended at USC and the middle-of-the-night departure and wild press conference at Tennessee seem like distant memories as Kiffin enters his second season with the Crimson Tide. At Alabama, he has been allowed to get back to simply coaching football without the distractions which landed him in trouble in the past.

Saban doesn't allow his assistants to speak to the media. The only exceptions are once during fall camp, once during spring, at award ceremonies and mandatory appearances prior to bowl games. Because of that, brief appearances like the one when he was nominated for the Broyles Award—given to the nation's top assistant coach—is the most Kiffin we got all of 2014.

On the field, Kiffin made a great case in 2014 that he still has that offensive magic. 

With quarterback issues abound, Kiffin took Blake Sims—who once moved to running back during his Crimson Tide career—and turned the Alabama offense into a force. What's more, he did it with Sims and junior Jake Coker battling for the starting quarterback job into the week of the season opener versus West Virginia. 

It worked in 2014, but repeating the feat might be more of a challenge.

"What Lane Kiffin did with Blake Sims and Alabama in 2014 was very impressive," Fowler said. "However, it will take another magical type of performance to repeat that type of success with the Crimson Tide losing nine of 11 starters on offense."

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That means nine new starters for Kiffin. But that number is a little bit deceiving.

One of those "new" starters will likely be running back Derrick Henry, who led the team in rushing last year with 990 yards. Another could be running back/all-purpose threat Kenyan Drake, who's played plenty of football during his career in Tuscaloosa. Yet another is likely to be tight end O.J. Howard, who has all the talent in the world but has struggled to make an impact over his first two seasons due to blocking issues.

However, even though some of those players have taken plenty of game reps, that number—nine new starters—is daunting. And it will be one of the top bullet points on Kiffin's resume if he succeeds.

If Kiffin can keep Alabama's offense cooking at the same level this season, it will further solidify "Kiffin 2.0" as a viable head-coaching candidate down the road.

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Where will that opportunity come from, though?

Miami reaffirmed its commitment to Al Golden following the 2014 season, but another season hovering around .500 could change that in a hurry. Other than that, Kiffin's options might be limited.

"His options will be limited in the Power Five conferences and he will have to settle for a lower-tier job if he decides to leave," Fowler said. "He could stay in Tuscaloosa for an additional year and this would increase his chance of landing a higher-tier job. My prediction is that he stays for a third year and gets a 'graduate level degree' in running a college program under Saban."

What seemed like one of the strangest pairings in college coaching history led to an SEC title for the Crimson Tide and has helped Kiffin repair his broken image. 

It has also allowed him to learn from one of the best head coaches in the country, which will help him whenever he gets his next head-coaching gig.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.