Lane Kiffin Will Not Coach for Alabama Versus Clemson Anymore

Lane Kiffin will not be Alabama’s offensive coordinator for the national championship game against Clemson next Monday, the school announced today.

In a profoundly bizarre way, this news alternately qualifies as both a bombshell, and not that surprising. Last week, Kiffin, who is leaving to become head coach at Florida Atlantic University, basically said he didn’t have any happy memories of working with Nick Saban.

Steve Sarkisian will be taking over Alabama’s offense, effective immediately.

In recent years, former Alabama coordinators Kirby Smart and Jim McElwain stayed on Nick Saban’s staff through the national title game after accepting new jobs. In December, Kiffin said that rumors of friction between himself and Saban were overblown, but it is virtually impossible to read this situation as anything other than a personality conflict between the two.