Alabama's travel party for next Monday night's national championship game in Tampa against Clemson will not include offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.
Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban announced a parting of ways Monday with Kiffin, who can now devote all of his efforts as the new head coach of Florida Atlantic. Steve Sarkisian, who joined Alabama's staff as an offensive analyst at the start of the season and was named last month as Kiffin's successor for the 2017 season, will call the plays one game sooner than expected.
Kiffin's last game with Alabama was Saturday's 24-7 win over Washington in the Peach Bowl national semifinal, when freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts had his worst game of the season and sophomore tailback Bo Scarbrough had 180 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
"We appreciate all that Lane has done for our football program over the last three years," Saban said in a statement that was released by the university shortly after noon. "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 in terms of doing what is best for our team. At the end of the day, both of us wanted to put our players in the best position to be successful. We are in a unique situation here where we have our next offensive coordinator already on staff, and we have full confidence that Sark will step in right away and make this a smooth transition."
The intriguing three-year partnership between Saban and Kiffin produced a 40-3 record with three Southeastern Conference titles and three trips to college football's four-team playoff. That staggering record becomes even more impressive given that the Crimson Tide started three new quarterbacks in each of Kiffin's three years.
This year's offense erupted with eight straight games of at least 450 total yards. The Tide have not been nearly as dominant since, surpassing 375 yards just twice in their last six contests.
Alabama had 326 total yards against Washington, and Kiffin told the SEC Network on Monday afternoon that juggling his Alabama and FAU roles did prove challenging.
"I think I thought it would be easier than it was," Kiffin said. "I rewatched the game a couple times last night, and I was thinking we didn't play great. Those games happen, and we still did some good things. We ran the ball really well and didn't turn the ball over, and I called the game very conservative because our defense was playing so good, so it wasn't about anything in-game. I was just wondering whether was I always there, because you are balancing two jobs, interviewing guys at night and calling recruits at night.
"Sark and I are so similar, and he will give us the best chance to win, because his mind will be 100 percent on the game. It's the best thing for the players for Sark to call this game. I want them to win, and they deserve the best."
Tennessee won the 1998 national championship at the Fiesta Bowl with a similar, albeit far less abrupt, predicament. Volunteers offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe left after the SEC title game that season to become the head coach at Ole Miss, so running backs coach Randy Sanders called the plays in a 23-16 triumph over Florida State.
Kiffin downplayed his missing the bus back to the team hotel last Thursday following the media session inside the Georgia Dome. When he spoke to the media last Wednesday and was asked to recall the happiest experience he's encountered with Saban, he replied, "I don't recall a happy moment. I just recall the (butt) chewings. I won't take that part of the process with me."
There were no hard feelings expressed by Kiffin on the SEC Network. Saban will address the media today on a conference call promoting the title matchup with Clemson.
"When we signed the paper three years ago to come here, that initial contract, I don't know that anybody could have imagined it would go this good with three SEC championships and three SEC offensive players of the year and now one game left to win back-to-back national championships," Kiffin said.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.