New Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin has the microphone, and the spotlight, again. Mostly shielded by Nick Saban's "one program, one voice" approach at Alabama, the ever-quotable and occasionally controversial Kiffin is back on the record and in the open.
Kiffin spent some time house-hunting with Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel, discussing the transition, the job ahead for him at FAU and how money -- Kiffin says he is taking a significant pay cut from what he could have made as a coordinator in 2017 -- doesn't mean as much at this point in his career.
"It's almost like when you don't have money, you think it's important," Kiffin told SI. "And once you have it, you're like, 'Was I really happy because I have more money going into the bank? No.' There's a reason why people retire and move here. I get to coach football and live here. Howard Schnellenberger said it perfect. When he got this thing going, he said it was football in paradise."
One eye-raising note from the conversation was the topic of the Briles family and the their involvement at FAU. Kiffin has hired Kendal Briles as the team's offensive coordinator, and he apparently considered pitching the FAU administration on the idea of bringing Briles' father, Art, back into coaching in some way.
"I came to the decision that's not at this time the best thing to do, even in a smaller role," Kiffin said. "Because I thought it through. Risk versus reward. There's too much risk in that. Now you have protesters in your game and at your stadium because you hired Art. That's not worth it."
The risk, of course, is the public scrutiny that is certain to follow Briles in the college football world after being the face of sexual assault scandal and cover-ups at Baylor.
You can check the full discussion over at Sports Illustrated.
