Could Lane Kiffin go back to Alabama as Head Coach?

Lane Kiffin may still be the top choice for the University of Alabama once head coach Nick Saban steps down. While Kiffin is a bit of a polarizing coach, he’s a proven winner, great recruiter and known as an “offensive genius.” On top of all of this, Kiffin coached under Saban as his offensive coordinator in Tuscaloosa from 2014-2016 including a national championship in 2015. Surprisingly, Kiffin is one of the longest tenured offensive coordinators under Saban, and it has surely paid dividends since, as expanded upon here.

This stint under Saban propelled Kiffin to a head coaching position at Florida Atlantic where he looked to continue rebuilding his reputation after a tumultuously quick exit after one season as head coach at the University of Tennessee in 2009. From there, Kiffin was fired in the middle of his fourth season as the University of Southern California’s head coach – albeit Kiffin took the job with unforeseen stiff recruiting sanctions that followed from the previous coaching regime.

At Florida Atlantic, a more mature Kiffin was able to finally show his head coaching talent leading the Owls to two 11 win seasons in his three years at the school. Kiffin was then hired in 2020 to lead the Ole Miss Rebels who were coming off of a few subpar years.

Since he took over in Oxford and now in his fourth season, Kiffin has won 66% of his games with a ten win season coming in 2021. After last years team saw a downward spiral losing five of their last six, Kiffin and the Rebels have bounced back so far this year beginning the 2023 campaign at 5-1. After the slide to conclude last season, Kiffin has made it a point of emphasis to finish strong this year. And with the Rebels already at 5-1 heading into the second half, this bodes well for Hotty Toddy nation.

Most impressive that can easily be missed is that despite losing to Alabama in Tuscaloosa three weeks ago, Kiffin has led the Rebels to back-to-back SEC victories since against LSU and Arkansas. A road loss to anyone is always tough to bounce back from, let alone Alabama. So the fact that Kiffin was able to get his team back up and ready to play is quite impressive.

The only teams with winning records remaining on the Rebels schedule are Texas A&M at a disappointing 4-3 and Georgia at 6-0. With that being said the Rebels could easily see themselves with a ten or more win season for the second time in Kiffin’s four years. And although Kiffin has yet to get a victory against his mentor Nick Saban, two ten win seasons in four years in Oxford is quite an impressive feat, and that’d be difficult to pass up if you’re the Tide once Saban steps down.

Lane Kiffin back to Alabama as head coach?

Although Kiffin doesn’t have the same level of recruiting classes so far as his predecessor Hugh Freeze did during his time at Ole Miss, it’s clear that the offensive minded Kiffin knows how to find the right players for his system, develop them and is also known as the “king of the transfer portal” which is a newer trend in college football that didn’t exist when Freeze was at the helm like it does now.

Time will tell, but someone that has proven to be a winner like Lane Kiffin could see it even easier at Alabama to execute his coaching style, recruiting, etc. than Oxford simply given the programs history and prestige. Arguably he’d also feel even more at home and loyal given the fact he spent three years under Saban who he views as one of his mentors and good friends.