Lane Kiffin to Coach FAU, Leave Alabama after Playoff

Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin will coach his final game with the Crimson Tide once their college football playoff run has completed. Kiffin was a serious candidate for the Houston Cougars Head Coaching job, but will instead become the new head man at Florida Atlantic University, Bama Head Coach Nick Saban confirmed.

“FAU has selected someone that’s going to do a great job for them,” Saban said on campus on Monday at a news conference to promote the upcoming Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

Should Alabama lose to Washington in that one, it would be Kiffin’s final game. If they win, the national title contest on January 8th would see the end of the Lane Kiffin era in Tuscaloosa.

FAU had no immediate comment because the deal has not been finalized, but it is for five-years, and must first be approved by FAU’s board of trustees, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because neither Kiffin nor the school had confirmed the hiring.

“Lane’s done a phenomenal job for us for the last three years,” Saban continued on Monday. “We appreciate the impact that he’s made on this program. We think this is a wonderful opportunity for him to be a head coach again.”

Saban did say in recent days that he wanted to help Kiffin get another opportunity to be a head coach. It wasn’t clear if Kiffin would have been back at Alabama next season otherwise. I’m sure the sideline incidents, on full public display, between the two men and described as “ass chewings” by Saban didn’t help feed any desire by Kiffin to stay.

I guess comedian Daniel Tosh was right all along about Nick Saban and how he treats/his relationship with Lane Kiffin.

If you enjoyed that link, then you should also watch Tosh’s first edition of that sketch, entitled Kiffin’s Krimson Korner, over at this link. The second edition of the segment is linked above. Lane Kiffin lasted 20 games as coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2007 and 2008, going 5-15.

He returned to college football and was 7-6 in 2009, his lone season at Tennessee, before USC came calling. He went 28-15 in parts of four seasons at USC, his tenure ending in the infamous “fired in the LAX parking lot” incident. Really makes you wonder what he did and said to get fired in that kind of manner! Not even allowed to get a bus ride home? Ouch!

The perception about Kiffin, whether real or imagined, is that he rose too high too fast, partially due to having a famous, accomplished, well-connected and very beloved father in the industry- Monte Kiffin.

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The proverbial failing upwards idea seemed to apply to him in previous years, but since his days at Bama that’s totally changed. Both USC and Nick Saban humbled him. The fact that he’s taking a mid-major job instead of a power five is humbling as well. These are all great developments as now this Lane Kiffin is the “paying his dues” and “cutting his teeth” Kiffin, which will serve him immensely well moving forward.

Once he’s ready to move on from FAU, he might make a great power five hire.

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.