What Does Kiffin's Fast Getaway Mean For The Tide?
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| UA Photo |
It was totally unexpected. Well, at least to those not hanging around the Alabama football complex. Rumor is that problems had surfaced a week ago or more, but the lid had pretty well been kept on the simmering pot.
Now Lane Kiffin is out and Steve Sarkisian is in.
Less than 48 hours prior to the bombshell announcement, then-Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin had said he was planning on "finishing what we started," referring to preparing for the national championship matchup with Clemson on January 9th. Some definitely changed over the last few days.
Now, this isn't normal. Usually a departure will take place at the end of the regular season, which could have been done here, or at the end of the bowl games or playoff games, which is what was originally planned here. Despite the cordial public face by "both parties" involved, namely head coach Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin, something really had to be out of whack to cause such a huge disruption just before the national championship game.
Now, let's be practical. Saban has confidence in Sarkisian. He hired him. Then he promoted him. But Saban also figured that Sark would have the opportunity to ease into an actually play-calling situation as Bama reached this coming spring practice and the annual A-Day game. He wasn't exactly counting on the fired former USC head coach having to call plays for Alabama's biggest game of the season, the national championship, coming up in less than a week. Sure, Sark knows the offense, but he hasn't called plays in awhile. This takes timing, and many decisions made on "the fly" so-to-speak.
Yes, something was starting to stink in Tuscaloosa.
Saban told ESPN yesterday that nothing would change. He said, "We are who we are. We've played 14 games this season."
Yeah, Nick, we all know that. But we all also know that this isn't normal. You preach the process and everyone knows this isn't a part of the process we've come to expect from you.
Saban continued, "I think what you guys sort of miss here is you really plan what you're going to do and what plays you're going to call by the formations and situations in the game, whether it's in the red zone or third down. That stuff all gets planned during the course of the week so the players have an expectation of what you're going to call and what you're going to do in every situation of the game.
"That's what we're practicing and that's what we'll get our players prepared for. I don't think we're going to change our offense or our terminology. We're just going to have a different guy choosing what to dial up in each one of these situations. Those things will be practiced so that our players will be prepared to be able to execute the best that we can."
Something was going on. The Alabama offense sputtered a good bit of the time against Washington. Thank goodness for running back Bo Scarbrough. In fact, the Tide's offense output in that game was the second-lowest yardage total of the season. Not good when it's the last game you played. And in only days this offense must face a defense that handed Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer his first shutout in 15 seasons.
Concerning the change and the upcoming championship game, Saban said on ESPN yesterday, "I think the most important thing is we do a good job of preparing our players for what to expect in the game, what we're going to do in the game, how we're going to execute and get the repetitions. We all have to focus on what we have to do a week from [yesterday] in terms of playing Clemson, which is an outstanding team - probably with how they're playing right now, as good as any team in the country."
Kiffin said, "After going through these last couple of weeks, trying to serve the best interests of two universities as an offensive coordinator and a head coach, it became apparent that both programs would be better served by me giving all my time and efforts to being the head coach at FAU.
"After meeting with Coach Saban during preparations [Sunday night] and [Monday] morning, we mutually decided that it was in everyone's best interests for the players and the program for Coach Sarkisian to take over all responsibilities as offensive coordinator for the championship game.
"This was a very difficult decision, but it's a decision made in the best interests of the program. I look forward to helping Alabama win another championship, and would like to thank Coach Saban, the staff, and all the players and fans for the past three years at UA for an unforgettable time and championship run."
Something other sportswriters and sportscasters have brought up...will Sark coach the offense from the sidelines or will he coach from the press box as other offensive coordinators before him have done? Just an interesting little something to consider. Probably from the sideline for this championship game, as that's what this group is used to this season. But next season? Unless he says beforehand, guess we'll have to wait and see.
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Crimson Tide Baseball To Host Coaching Clinic
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| UA Photo |
The clinic will begin at 9 a.m. CT and last until noon on the 27th, with registration slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. CT. Goff will focus his portion of the clinic on base running skills, while associate head coach Terry Rooney will go over his pitchers' daily routines. Assistant coach Jake Wells will specialize in "hit zone attack", and finally volunteer assistant Derek Simmons will tutor on high-level infield play.
Lunch will be provided to all those in attendance.
Any coaches who are interested in attending the clinic are encouraged to RSVP by contacting Simmons at dsimmons@ia.ua.edu with the following information:
* Total number of coaches in their party
* Coaches name(s)
* School name
Signups are now underway.
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Bama Men's Basketball Opens SEC Play Tonight
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| UA/Kent Gidley Photo |
This will be the 195th meeting between Alabama and Mississippi State on the hardwood. The Crimson Tide leads the series 120-74. Bama has won six of the last seven contests overall, and three consecutive wins and four of the last five games played in Starkville.
Tonight's contest will be the first of two meetings between the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs this season. Alabama will be hosting Mississippi State for the second game of the year on January 28th, with a 5 p.m. CT scheduled start time. The two teams split the two games last season, with each winning on the road. Alabama defeated Mississippi State 82-82 in overtime in Humphrey Coliseum back in February, then fell to State at Coleman 67-61.
Alabama has won six of its last eight Southeastern Conference openers. The Tide stumbled and fell in the opener last season at Ole Miss in its opener, 74-66.
The Crimson Tide bench has been a strong-point for Bama this season, having only been outscored twice by its counterparts in the 12 non-conference games played so far. Alabama has outscored its opponents bench by an average of 12.4 points per game.
Besides watching the game on the SEC Network, fans can listen to the game on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
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Avery Johnson Previews Mississippi State Game
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| Click HERE to watch game preview on Tide TV |
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Things Lane Kiffin Said To Paul Finebaum
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| Photo via Bing |
Concerning what happened to bring about this sudden change, Kiffin said, "Coach (Nick Saban) and I spent some time together last night as we were at the office game-planning after we got back from Atlanta and then again this morning, and just kind of bouncing some things around and just reflecting on the preparation for the game and trying to do both jobs. I think I thought it would be easier than it was.
"I re-watched the game a couple times last night, and I was kind of thinking, 'I don't feel like we played great.' Now, those games happen. We still did some good things and ran the ball really well. Didn't turn the ball over. So it wasn't even anything about the (result). It was just, I was wondering was I always there because you are bouncing between the two jobs. You're interviewing guys at night, calling recruits at night. I was just talking with Coach. That game, we had a month to prepare for doing both things. Now we have a little over a week for this game. Coach and I were kind of just bouncing it around, and just felt that really, I don't know that for the players, that you can do 100 percent (juggling both jobs). You try. But then your mind's thinking 'OK, well I've got to interview this guy later' or 'Here's a list of recruits you've got to watch at night' vs. watching extra film for the opponent and stuff.
"I just want to win this game. I want to win this game for the players, for the fans. It's been an unbelievable run -- whatever we were on, 25 or 26 straight we've been able to win. We've got to do one more. So, as we discussed it, just felt like Sark and I are so similar, we kind of speak the same language, call games the same way, that he would probably give us the best chance to win because 100 percent of his mind all day long is on the game. I'm still going to help in any way that I can. Watched some film last night and this morning of these guys. That's a very good team obviously, and talked some ideas (with) Sark. Want to go win this game. But it's best for the players at this time for Sark to call the game and to lead all the meetings all week long because I want these guys to win, and they deserve to have the best."
When asked about being fired, Kiffin responded, "There's no way on that. We've had an unbelievable run. He would be the first one to tell you: We've got a true freshman quarterback. And I don't think anybody would have signed up at the beginning of the year and said we'd get to the national championship game and be 14-0, one of the only teams in the history of football to be 14-0, and the quarterback to be the SEC Offensive Player of the year, so it's been an awesome year. We've had a great time, and this simply came down to that Sark may give us the best chance to win this game and prepare the entire week in a short bowl week compared to a normal bowl game. I'll do everything I can to assist that."
Concerning the early departure and the overall situation and talk surrounding his leaving being a bad look for him, Kiffin commented, "I can't worry about that. This is something that 10 years ago I don't think I would have come up with. I would have been like, 'Just win the game. Win another championship.' But I had to think about the best thing for the players. The stuff out there too was last year was the last year, there was no way there was going to be a third year and it was over and coach Saban and I don't get along, there's no way it was going to work. Obviously that wasn't true. Came back for the third year and we've had a great year. We've got one more to finish it."
When confronted with the ESPN report saying that Kiffin was not performing up to par, that he was late to meetings, missing the bus, making comments about Saban's "ass chewings" contributed to him being forced from the job early, Kiffin responded, "That's not true. The missing the bus thing was we're sitting there at Media Day, and I was doing every interview that I was supposed to do, and walked straight from there out and the bus had already left. They had other cars there for us too, so it wasn't really a big deal. They had other cars for bowl event people there, shuttling people back and forth, so that got kind of blown up. There was no distractions or anything like that.
"If you look at the game, I think people forget, and I said it all week leading up, that's a really good defense. And I know especially down here sometimes there's not a lot of respect for that part of the country playing football. But those guys have given people problems all year long and don't give up a lot of explosive plays, and the game plan was -- with a true freshman quarterback, especially with our defense playing the way they were -- was to hand the ball off and not throw the ball a lot. That's why we did that. We were extremely heavy running the ball. The plan going in was that Bo (Scarbrough) would carry the ball and touch the ball more than anybody else on our team because we felt like he had a great month of preparation and would do a really good job and don't turn the ball over. (Turning the ball over) was the only way we were going to lose that game, so that's why we were very conservative. We're not about what the score is or how many yards we have. It was to win the game and to get to the next game and, even later in the game, was not even to not run the quarterback because the game was going our direction and not wanting him to get hurt."
Talking about his time at Alabama, Kiffin said, "Awesome. It's really been an awesome run. Three SEC championships hasn't been done in so long. To be part of that with three different quarterbacks and the great coaches and to learn from coach Saban and to see how he manages the game and the preparation, it's been great. When we signed the paper three years ago to come here, that initial contract, I don't know that anybody could have imagined it would go this good with three SEC championships and three SEC Offensive Players of the Year and now got one game left to win back-to-back national championships."
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Scout 2017 College Football Recruiting Rankings
(Top 25)
The Alabama Crimson Tide football team is currently having perhaps its best recruiting class ever under head football coach Nick Saban. Scout ranks the Tide at No. 1 in the nation thus far.
The Southeastern Conference has 10 teams listed in the Scout.com Top 25 Football Rankings. They are ALABAMA (1), Georgia (2), Texas A&M (6), Auburn (7), Tennessee (8), LSU (9), Mississippi State (18), South Carolina (19), Florida (21) and Arkansas (24).
1 ALABAMA
2 Georgia
3 Michigan
4 Oklahoma
5 Ohio State
6 Texas A&M
7 Auburn
8 Tennessee
9 LSU
10 Notre Dame
11 Florida State
12 Maryland
13 Penn State
14 Miami (FL)
15 Clemson
16 USC
17 Washington
18 Mississippi State
19 South Carolina
20 Colorado
21 Florida
22 Michigan State
23 Louisville
24 Arkansas
25 Arizona
