With Alabama reaching the National Championship, defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has one more week left as a member of the Crimson Tide before heading off to Georgia. Smart got the Bulldogs job — arguably the best opening of the offseason — after leading the Alabama defense to the No. 1 spot in the country.
Lane Kiffin’s past might help Alabama keep an excellent OC for longer than usual
Kiffin’s done a great job helping the Crimson Tide make the national title.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Smart was one of eight coordinators to get a power conference job this offseason, from a list that includes former failed Florida coach Will Muschamp and Minnesota offensive coordinator Tracy Claeys. But what about the guy on the other side of the ball, whose offense just clobbered Michigan State in the College Football Playoff semifinal?
That would be Lane Kiffin, who somewhat unexpectedly landed as the Crimson Tide’s coordinator two years ago, and is infamous for his previous two head coaching stops. He was fired from USC in 2013 after one-and-a-half unimpressive years, and before that, he left Tennessee after a tumultuous one year with the Vols.
But if his name wasn’t Lane Kiffin, he would likely be a top head coaching candidate.
Kiffin’s offense hasn’t been world-beating this year. It ranks 25th in S&P+ and 51st in yards per play. However, considering where the Crimson Tide started, with a three-way quarterback competition that wasn’t fully decided until October, Kiffin has this offense rolling into the National Championship.
Development at quarterback is one of Kiffin’s areas of expertise, and he has excelled there this year. After recovering from the mistake of starting Cooper Bateman over Florida State transfer Jake Coker in a September loss to Ole Miss, Kiffin’s development of Coker is coming to fruition at exactly the right time.
| Jake Coker by month | Attempts per game | Yards per attempt | Completion percentage | TD/INT |
| September | 30.8 | 6.4 | 55% | 8/4 |
| October | 25.2 | 7.7 | 69% | 3/3 |
| November | 22 | 7.5 | 69% | 4/1 |
| December (2 games) | 28 | 8.8 | 77% | 4/0 |
Coker has not turned into a top quarterback in just one year as Alabama’s starter, but given his limitations, he fits this team perfectly.
Coker started to improve during a rough September, and by the end of October, his efficiency drastically improved.
By the end of November, he had cut down on mistakes, throwing just one interception all month after seven in the previous two months combined.
Kiffin learned that he couldn’t rely on his quarterback to be throwing the ball nearly 31 times per game — at least not yet. So in the last two months of the regular season, he had Coker throw the ball far less often.
Only now, as Coker became more comfortable, has Kiffin opened up the playbook. In the past two games — both against good defenses in Florida and Michigan State — Coker has gone from a game manager to a terrifying combination of efficient and explosive. His completion percentage would pace the country by six percent if extrapolated over the course of the season, while his yards per attempt would rank in the top 15.
Kiffin is used to having success with quarterbacks.
He coached Matt Leinart, John David Booty and Matt Barkley at USC and last season helped Blake Sims break Alabama’s single season passing yards record and its single game total yards record. Kiffin has worked with a lot of inexperienced quarterbacks, and all of them were more than adequate — some even elite.
| Year | Player | Year as starter | Completion percentage | Yards per attempt | TD/INT | Passer Rating |
| 2005 | Matt Leinart | 3 | 65.7% | 8.9 | 28/8 | 157.7 |
| 2006 | John David Booty | 1 | 61.7% | 7.7 | 29/9 | 144.0 |
| 2009 | Jonathan Crompton | 1 | 58.3% | 7.3 | 27/13 | 136.0 |
| 2010 | Matt Barkley | 2 | 62.6% | 7.4 | 26/12 | 141.2 |
| 2011 | Matt Barkley | 3 | 69.1% | 7.9 | 39/7 | 161.2 |
| 2012 | Matt Barkley | 4 | 63.6% | 8.5 | 36/15 | 156.7 |
| 2014 | Blake Sims | 1 | 64.5% | 8.9 | 28/10 | 157.9 |
| 2015 | Jake Coker | 1 | 67.1% | 7.5 | 19/8 | 143.2 |
Last year, the biggest indictment on Kiffin was that he refused to run the ball in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss against Ohio State. But this year, he’s shown adaptability, while also making fun of last year’s mistakes.
When Coker needed to sit back and just work on being more efficient, Kiffin leaned on running back Derrick Henry, who won the Heisman after breaking the SEC’s single season rushing record. Now that Coker is improving, Kiffin’s letting his quarterback shred opposing defenses that go all-out to defend Henry, who only had 75 yards on 3.8 yards per carry in the 38-0 win over Michigan State.
Kiffin obviously has built-in advantages at Alabama, which has had the country’s top-ranked recruiting class each of the past five years. However, he’s shown he can develop quarterbacks and adapt his gameplan to fit his personnel, which was absolutely necessary if the Tide were to get back on the right track after the Ole Miss debacle.
Kiffin’s name will hurt him when other power conference jobs come up, but considering the job he’s done this season, he should be a top candidate.
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