They May Be Coaching's Odd Couple, but Saban-Kiffin Duo Thrives at Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The head coach felt like he had to do something. After Alabama was stuffed on two 4th-and-short plays in the fourth quarter of last year's Iron Bowl against Auburn—a game that Alabama would lose 34-28—Nick Saban decided he needed to revamp his offense. Without telling his staff, Saban invited recently fired Lane Kiffin to Tuscaloosa for eight days last December to "brainstorm" and analyze the Tide's offense, especially its weaknesses.
"It was my vacation," Kiffin joked.
Kiffin, who had been unceremoniously fired on a tarmac by USC a few months before, had a long history with Saban. He nearly left USC in 2007 to join Saban's staff shortly after Saban was hired in Tuscaloosa—agent Jimmy Sexton represents both coaches—but ultimately he decided to stay in Los Angeles before leaving for the NFL a few weeks later.
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Now Saban wanted his opinion on how he could revitalize his offense, which had been a ground-based, pro-style, conservative attack. It had brought three national titles to The Capstone, but it struggled down the stretch in 2013. The Tide were the only team in the final month of the 2013 regular season that failed to score 30 points against Auburn.
Shortly after arriving in Alabama, Kiffin had a long dinner at Saban's house on Lake Tuscaloosa; the two talked X's and O's deep into the night. Saban and Kiffin may seem different—Saban is a taskmaster and, at age 63, still an obsessive perfectionist; Kiffin is an inveterate jokester and, at age 39, likes to have a good time and is considered a player's coach.
Both, however, are coach's sons who relish the philosophical, chess-match aspects of the game. The quickest way to earn Saban's respect is to flash a high football IQ, and by all accounts, Kiffin has an understanding of the nuances of the sport that is blue-moon rare.
For eight days Kiffin carefully studied everything about the Alabama program. Every evening before he returned to his room at the Hotel Capstone, Kiffin would review his notes from the day with Saban for about 15 minutes. Saban liked what he heard. He never said he lost faith in offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, but an obvious message was conveyed.
After Oklahoma beat Alabama 45-31 in last January's Sugar Bowl, Nussmeier left to become the offensive coordinator at Michigan. Kiffin, hoping to rehabilitate his image and rejuvenate his career, accepted the offer from Saban.
It was a gamble for Saban to bring him in—Saban was lampooned nationally for the hire—but it has paid off. Because love him or loathe him, Kiffin is a huge reason why the Crimson Tide are now four wins away from winning their fourth national title in six years.
The Master and the Student
There they were, college football's odd couple of 2014, walking side-by-side along the west sideline at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was minutes before the kickoff between top-ranked Alabama and Western Carolina last Saturday, and the two coaches strolled in silence through the warm autumn afternoon, arms folded, heads down, looking like a pair of philosophers deep in thought.
The opening whistle blew, the crowd of more than 100,000 sent a roar that rolled like thunder into the southern sky, and the game was on. The Crimson Tide offense jogged onto the field. The two coaches—Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin—stood a few feet from one another.
Kiffin relayed the play calls to senior quarterback Blake Sims. Saban paced nearby, his blazing brown eyes constantly locking onto his first-year offensive coordinator, as if the head coach wanted to intervene. He finally did: When Kiffin called a pass late in the first quarter, Saban exploded, lighting into Kiffin, screaming he wanted to run the ball.
Message received: Alabama kept the ball on the ground on nine of its next 10 offensive plays. Slowly the storm in Saban's eyes disappeared. The Tide won 48-14 as the offense piled up 612 total yards and the machine in Tuscaloosa continued to hum along, ruthless and relentless.
After the final whistle sounded, the Crimson Tide coaches walked into the north end zone portal that led to the locker room. Saban would emerge minutes later to talk to the microphones and cameras and tape recorders, but Kiffin—the mastermind behind the most prolific offense of the Saban era in Tuscaloosa—simply disappeared from view.
Saban doesn't allow his assistant coaches to speak to the media during the season, which has only deepened the intrigue—locally and nationally—surrounding this unlikely duo. How many seasons will Kiffin stay in Tuscaloosa? What has been the key to Kiffin's success in developing Sims? What is this fast-paced offense?
"We're having more fun this year and coach Kiffin is a big reason why," said Brian Vogler, a senior tight end. "He's opened up the offense. He really understands what players do well and he puts them in positions to succeed. And having him on the field has been key because he listens to us during games and takes our suggestions. It makes all of us feel like we're really part of the offense and part of something special.
"Coach Kiffin and coach Saban are really clicking. It's like they've discovered, as the season has gone on, how much they have in common," Vogler said. "They communicate and understand each other in a very deep way. They're having fun together. It's a great thing to see, especially with how things ended last year."
Reconciling the Past
Bill Battle, Alabama's athletic director, cringed when he first heard the news. (Kiffin eventually won Battle over when they had their first lengthy conversation.) Kiffin's last foray into the SEC did not end well.
On the field at Tennessee in 2009, Kiffin had been a success. He assembled a top-five recruiting class even though he was on the job for only a few weeks before national signing day. The Vols offense increased its scoring average by 12 points and the total offense swelled from 268.3 yards a game to 383.5. Perhaps most impressive: Kiffin and Tennessee were a last-second blocked field goal away from beating Alabama, the eventual national champion, in Tuscaloosa. The Vols outgained the Tide by nearly 100 yards.
But then in January 2010, Kiffin was offered his dream job at USC and left Knoxville. Tennessee administrators were furious—Kiffin had spent months talking about building something special, brick by brick, year by year, at UT—and the fanbase felt betrayed.
When word leaked that Kiffin was about to announce his resignation, an angry mob of students gathered outside the coaches' offices, vowing to block his exit. A mattress was set on fire. Kiffin eventually made it out, but the threat of violence underscored how irate the entire fanbase was with Kiffin.
"As you make mistakes, the number one thing you've got to do is learn from them," Kiffin said this past August in his only meeting with reporters this season. "And not just make excuses for them. I've made more than anybody, probably. To go through what I've gone through and still be fortunate to be here, a coordinator with Saban at Alabama, you take some time to reflect on that."
At the press conference on the second floor of the Mal Moore Athletic Facility, Kiffin sounded like a contrite, team-first coach. This was the plan; Saban had met with him that morning to make sure his new coach didn't say anything "that would end up on the ticker."
The time out of the spotlight clearly has been good for Kiffin, because his loose lips have gotten him in plenty of trouble in the past. This is a coach who was once described as a "flat-out liar" by former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, who hired Kiffin in 2007 and fired him midway through the '08 season.
A year later at Tennessee, Kiffin called Urban Meyer, then the coach at Florida, a cheater and proclaimed that wide receiver Alshon Jeffery would end up pumping gas if he didn't come to Tennessee. (Jeffery, for the record, went to South Carolina and is currently a Chicago Bear.) For much of his head-coaching career, Kiffin has been a walking PR disaster, his own worst enemy, a coach who seemingly never really grew up.
In other words, he's been the exact opposite of Saban.
Saban told reporters earlier this season, per Tennessee's official site:
"Lane's done a really good job for us all year. The players like him, they respond really well to him. He's really a good coach and I think why all the people in Tennessee are pissed off at him is because they knew he's a good coach and they were upset when he left. I get that, I understand that...I'm sure there's a lot of our fans and Tennessee fans that realize that Lane Kiffin is a very good coach.
"
Bringing the Fun to T-Town
On his first day on the job in Tuscaloosa, Kiffin began installing his version of the West Coast offense, which features elements of the hurry-up. He also began working with quarterback Blake Sims, who was recruited as a running back. Kiffin schooled Sims in all of his favorite routes: fades, short crosses and quick screens. He put quarterback rollouts into the offensive repertoire. And he preached playing with tempo.
When Kiffin was at Tennessee, he had recruited Sims out of Gainesville (Georgia) High. If Kiffin had stayed in Knoxville, Sims would have ended up a Volunteer. "This is a crazy guy," Sims said of Kiffin. "He's funny and he was a good guy. The way his attitude was, you could tell he was a guy who wanted to win. That's why it doesn't surprise me that coach Saban went and got him for this program because he fits it all the way around."
Kiffin has a well-earned reputation for developing quarterbacks. He helped USC's Matt Barkley set Pac-12 records for career passing yards and touchdowns. He helped the Trojans' Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez become first-round NFL draft picks. And at Tennessee he transformed Jonathan Crompton from a player who completed only 51.5 percent of this passes in 2008 into a quarterback who connected on 58.3 percent of his throws in '09 and tossed 27 touchdown passes and only 13 interceptions.
His mission with Sims: improve his throwing mechanics and help him grow comfortable in the West Coast offense.
It worked immediately. Alabama totaled 538 yards of offense in its season-opening 33-23 win over West Virginia. Afterward, Saban confessed that the Tide may have lost the game if Kiffin hadn't been on the sideline to guide and calm Sims, who set a school record for completions (24) and attempts (33) for a first-time starter. After 11 games, Sims has completed 187 of 301 passes (62.1 percent) and thrown 20 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His passer rating of 156.1 ranks 12th in the nation.
"Y'all need to fess up," Saban said after the game to reporters, his voice rising. "Most places that don't like [Lane], it's because he left and they were mad because of that. They weren't mad about anything he did while he was there. Just do a little research."
Three weeks later, on Sept. 20, the Alabama offense ran out onto the field for the first play of the Florida game. At the line of scrimmage, Sims looked at Kiffin, who quickly assessed the Gators defensive alignment. As the play clock ticked down, Kiffin changed the play and called a slant-and-go route to running back Kenyan Drake.
Lined up out wide right, Drake was covered by a linebacker. At the snap of the ball, Drake easily blew past the linebacker and then caught a perfectly lobbed strike from Sims. As Drake sprinted into the end zone for an 87-yard touchdown, Kiffin pumped his fist in the air and shouted in excitement. The happiness on his face could have lit up a dark film room.
Kiffin had another eruption of emotion on Oct. 25 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. On Alabama's first offensive play of the game, he signaled for Sims to throw a quick pass to Amari Cooper. The play worked just like Kiffin had drawn it up on a Dry Erase whiteboard, as Cooper juked a defender and sprinted 80 yards for a touchdown.
The only person running as fast as Cooper in the stadium may have been Kiffin, who sprinted down the sideline like his shoelaces were on fire. This kind of spontaneous, child-like joy had been glaringly absent at Alabama last year—even when the team was ranked No. 1.
"That was a huge moment for coach Kiffin going back to Tennessee," Vogler said. "We feed off that energy when coach Kiffin gets pumped up. It gets all of us ready to go. It's so important. "
The Nick Saban Internship
"I want to be learning and growing. Coach Saban teaches his coaches every day."
— Lane Kiffin
So far, Alabama has been the perfect place for Kiffin to rebuild his career. No coach on the offensive staff spends more time at Saban's side than Kiffin.
At Alabama under Saban, virtually every minute of every day is scripted. The expectations for the assistants are robustly clear.
"The thing about Nick is that he clearly spells out for you what he expects and what your duties are," said Jim McElwain, an offensive coordinator for Saban at Alabama from 2008 to '11 who is now the head coach at Colorado State. "He can be tough, but he's all about one thing: winning. That's it. He has a clear plan and a clear organizational calendar.
"In all my time with Nick, I think we only had one conversation that wasn't about football. He's the most focused, driven person I've ever met."
Kiffin is constantly taking notes in this no-nonsense environment—from how Saban runs meetings to how he deals with various disciplinary issues to how he interacts with his players. For now Kiffin appears content to stay in Tuscaloosa for at least another season. And then he'll likely get one more shot at being a head coach.
There has never been a doubt in Kiffin's ability to call a hell of a game or develop a quarterback. Most of his past failures can be traced to his inexperience; now he's earning the football equivalent of a post-doctorate degree in Tuscaloosa.
He's learning Saban's template for running a program and literally reading Saban's book on winning, a nearly 200-page, bound document in which Saban details every aspect of running a program, from proper sleeping habits for players to nutrition and motivation.
When Kiffin gets his next shot as a head coach, he will have been Sabinized, and he will be ready.
Lars Anderson is a 20-year veteran of Sports Illustrated and the author of six books, including The Storm and the Tide, which was published in August. He's currently an instructor of journalism at the University of Alabama. Follow him on Twitter @LarsAnderson71.
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