Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin will leave his post with the Crimson Tide before the College Football Playoff championship game in order to start on his duties as the next head coach of Florida Atlantic.
New offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, recently announced as Kiffin's replacement after spending this season as an offensive analyst for head coach Nick Saban, will begin immediately with preparation for Clemson.
"We appreciate all that Lane has done for our football program over the last three years," Saban said in the school's official release. "We sat down following the Washington game and talked about the time demands of managing both jobs, and we recognized that it is best for our players, and for Lane, that we allow him to turn his full attention to his new head coaching role at FAU.
"This wasn't an easy decision and we appreciate the way Lane handled this terms of doing what is best for our team. At the end of the day, both us wanted to put our players in the best position to be successful. Obviously, we are in a unique situation where we have our next offensive coordinator on staff. We have full confidence that Sark will step in right away and make this a smooth transition."
While Kiffin was still with Alabama and planning to remain on staff through the title game, if necessary, he also has been working on putting together his staff at FAU, including the recent hire of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.
"After going through the 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," Kiffin said. "This was a very difficult decision, but it's a decision made in the best interests of the program."
Alabama's offensive stats from the 24-7 CFP semifinal victory against Washington weren't great, as it was the Tide's lowest total offense (and yards per play) output since a 10-0 victory at LSU earlier this season. Luckily for Alabama, the Huskies only moved the ball past the 50-yard line twice (one touchdown, one interception).
