Regarding (now officially) Alabama Crimson Tide Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin, I heard a rumor….”I heard a rumor they say you’ve got a broken heart. I heard a rumor, yes I did boy, they say you got a broken heart.” (credit Bananarama)
Twitter has been blowing up all morning with mentions of Lane Kiffin, and it’s all due to the news bombshell that dropped today, on college football’s biggest day on the calendar year.
Although tradition has been significantly ruined, as we have just four bowl games today (Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Outback), instead of every other year when we usually have double that number, this is “the day” for college football. It’s not New Year’s Eve, even though ESPN and company are desperately trying to claim that day as well.
Kudos to Brent Musburger for calling them out for that.
Today’s events in Pasadena and New Orleans are now overshadowed by Lane Kiffin though as Alabama announced that he will not coach in the National Title game a week from tonight. This, despite the earlier announcement that he would stay on until the end of the season, before he then assumed his new role as Head Coach at Florida Atlantic University.
Bama called it a “mutual parting of ways,” but you know that’s a load of crap.
Kiffin was fired from a job that he already quit. Just hours before the program that fired him in a parking lot and wouldn’t even let him come back on the bus is set to play in the Rose Bowl. This comes a week after Lane Kiffin showed up late to Peach Bowl meetings, Media Day and missed the bus.
Not to mention he was also left behind by the team after winning the national championship last year. Make no mistake about it though- Kiffin is no sympathetic figure. It takes two to tango and he did his part to get booted early. He’s burned bridges every single place that he’s been, so why would that change here in Tuscaloosa?
Thus, it’s obvious something else happened, and the relationship between Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin is even more toxic than we all thought. Both men deny any acrimony between the two, and reports that Kiffin would not be allowed to return to Tuscaloosa next year have been disputed.
Again though, no one believes that. No one believes Kiffin and Saban get along, just like no one believes that Kiffin would have been back next season.
Steve Sarkisian, who was already named Kiffin’s successor, will now assume his new duties as offensive coordinator in the national title game. Again this move makes absolutely no sense, and it benefits no one.
The only thing this accomplishes is making all those wild unfounded Lane Kiffin rumors from September 2015 seem much more believable and definitely very entertaining.
You must remember however that no credible news outlet anywhere verified any of these rumors as fact. Not one.
Therefore, I see no need to rehash what those specific rumors were right now. If you care for that stuff, it’s definitely all still out there, just go search Lane Kiffin rumors on Twitter.
Not saying those rumors are true by any means, but Bama has consistently lied to us about Lane Kiffin during his tenure there, so just about anything about that man seems believable today.
No doubt Daniel Tosh’s parody of Layla and Lane Kiffin (which aired in 2014) will get thousands of views today. (You can watch it here).
Watch the sequel, which aired this past season, as well, over at this link.
On Tuesday, Lane Kiffin joined Mike & Mike to discuss his abrupt departure from Alabama, but he pretty much said nothing. You can listen to the audio here, but I’m warning you now that it was painfully boring- nothing but Coachey McCoachington Coachspeak and PR spin, corporate talk. Listening to it was a total waste of time.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.