Introducing the Smarter, Funnier Lane Kiffin

The man who was once famously and publicly fired while the world was sleeping sounded completely at ease on Sunday. Heck, he almost sounded happy. At minimum, he sounded… different. Refined. Confident.

Oh, and funny. That, too. Once the punch line of a regurgitated pile of football jokes, Lane Kiffin now has a few of his own to tell.

On Sunday, less than a week before Kiffin will guide Alabama’s offense against Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl, he met with the media for the first time all season. Fielding a question regarding Michigan State’s defense—and specifically, the way it shut down Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott—Kiffin wove together both game plan and humor.

“Obviously, [Ezekiel] Elliott, Ohio State, they did a great job against him. Hopefully we give the ball to Derrick more than they did,” Kiffin said, touching on a subject that was mighty touchy in Columbus after the Buckeyes fell to the Spartans. “Just kidding. That was a joke. It's okay to laugh. It's early in the morning.”

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It wasn’t a clean delivery. Perhaps it was the early-morning start time. Or perhaps, and this feels far more likely, the media hovering around the Omni Dallas Hotel ballroom just hasn’t seen the 40-year-old let his guard down.

But that was the old Lane Kiffin. This is someone else—someone suddenly on the cusp of being a major commodity once more. Maybe that time is already here. 

In his second year of his most successful stop, many are wondering why Kiffin is still there. Many are wondering why he hasn't been named a head coach just yet. Maybe, after searching long and hard, he has found his calling.

“I think he's gotten laid back,” quarterback Jake Coker said of Kiffin. “But I also think that all the other coaches have a better understanding of what he wants. And they've all just gotten more comfortable with the style, the play-calling style and technique.”

“Laid back” is not a term that has been used to describe Kiffin in the past. That does not accurately describe the coach we knew.

We knew a coach who was fired by the Oakland Raiders only four games into his second season. We knew a coach who abruptly departed the Tennessee Volunteers after one season and seven wins. We knew a coach who was known more for his general awkwardness at USC than anything else.

Despite all of it, Alabama head coach Nick Saban saw something others didn’t. He knew Kiffin could recruit—something that has never been questioned. Saban also recognized his own football deficiency, offense, and brought in the person who could reshape the philosophy on that side of the ball.

Fully aware of the weight that would come with bringing Kiffin on board—the reaction that would stem from creating this polarizing duo—Saban didn’t hesitate. Neither did Kiffin.

“I'd like to thank Coach Saban for the opportunity of coming back for a second year,” Kiffin said, offering up multiple thanks to his boss. “And you really—I really had no idea how much I would learn really in the second year. Now you really understand why there is no doubt he's the best coach in college football and the process he puts together in understanding how everything goes.”

Under Kiffin’s offensive supervision, Alabama has crashed the College Football Playoff in back-to-back seasons. He’s powered one Heisman finalist and one Heisman winner—doing so in vastly different ways.

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Wideout Amari Cooper finished third in voting after terrorizing defensive backs in 2014; running back Derrick Henry recently won the award after bludgeoning his way to SEC history this season.

While Alabama’s offense is deliberate, it is not predictable. There is a difference—a balance that Kiffin has somehow mastered with a running back who carries it as much as Henry does. Making this feat even more impressive is the fact that he’s done this while grooming two quarterbacks with vastly different styles.

Last season it was Blake Sims taking quantum leaps forward; this year it was Coker taking charge after many seemingly gave up on the graduate transfer. That part of Kiffin’s skill set really has not been questioned. He did not simply stumble into these jobs. It was about piecing together the other aspects that eluded him in his previous stops.

Perhaps more plainly, it was about learning from the most successful football CEO of our lifetime. It was about, in many ways, letting go of everything and starting over.

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“There was a transition,” Kiffin said. “And I think that just becomes from—I don't think that was anything about Coach Saban or myself. I think just being an assistant coach again, there's a transition. So just getting back into that and understanding that role.”

Go back two Decembers. The idea that Kiffin could be given the keys to another flashy sports car with an enormous engine would have been preposterous. Now, strangely, it feels like it's inevitable.

There is a market for offensive coaches at any level—even for the ones who have failed before. It’s also easy to forget that Kiffin is just 40 years old. He’s in the infancy of his coaching career.

Although it doesn’t feel that way given just how long he’s been in the spotlight, Alabama is not the end for Kiffin. It’s more likely a new beginning.

The question, of course, is now a matter of when and where. After fielding offers last season from the NFL, the rumbling at the collegiate level kicked up in earnest. But according to Kiffin, regardless of what happens against Michigan State and beyond, he is happy where he is.

"I'd love to be back," Kiffin said per ESPN.com's Chris Low. "We'll have a new set of challenges with a third year of a new quarterback and replacing a Heisman Trophy winner, just as we did with a Biletnikoff winner the year before, and some great returning players to work with. I'd be real excited about that."

There will be offers—perhaps as soon as very soon. Some of these offers will be good. If they don’t come shortly after Alabama plays Michigan State, they will not be far away.

It doesn't mean he'll leave. For that coordinator inspiration, he doesn't have to search far and wide. His father, Monte Kiffin, lived a wonderful assistant coach life for more than 30 years after an unsuccessful stint as a collegiate head coach. His son will have to figure out what suits him best.  

In the meantime, Kiffin has found peace in a place where each and every dropback is dissected. He has found comfort while operating under the incredible pressure that comes at Alabama. He has found success in guiding an offense, something that never truly left him. 

And somewhere along the way, he found a sense of humor, too. Sure, this part is a work in progress. But it’s certainly a start.

Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand.