Lane Kiffin hurls joke at Steve Sarkisian about Alabama offense

It's all about the Jimmies and the Joes, an elementary concept that most football coaches can agree upon. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin watched as much Alabama football as he could last season while leading FAU to its second conference title in three years and was impressed with the Crimson Tide's talent level.

During an appearance this week on Colin Cowherd's show The Herd, Kiffin said he joked with Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian that anyone could've had success with that group of expansive talent.

“The SEC’s the strongest it has ever been. Look at the draft. You have to go play Alabama," Kiffin said. "They had 4 offensive players (taken) in the first 15 picks of the draft. I called Sark and I said ‘Your son could have called plays last year with that roster.’"

Tua Tagovailoa, Jedrick Wills, Henry Ruggs and Jerry Jeudy were are taken early in the first round last week as members of one of college football's most powerful offenses. And more to Kiffin's point, Sarkisian will be blessed once again this fall offensively with projected 2021 first round selections Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, Alex Leatherwood and Najee Harris returning as veteran starters.

Sarkisian returned to Saban’s staff at Alabama as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in January of 2019 after two years coordinating the Atlanta Falcons offense in the NFL. He served as the Tide’s offensive coordinator for the 2017 national championship game after spending the 2016 season in Tuscaloosa as an analyst prior to being promoted.

Last season under Sarkisian, Alabama’s offense ranked second nationally in scoring offense with 47.2 points per game, third in passing offense (342.2 yards per game) and sixth in total offense (510.8 ypg). The Tide returns seven of 11 starters on offense in 2020.

Ironically, Kiffin and Sarkisian's coaching careers have taken extremely similar paths. had pretty parallel coaching careers. They were both USC staffers for Pete Carroll in the early 2000s prior to becoming head coaches in the Pac-12 later in their careers then coming to Alabama later to rehabilitate in a way. Kiffin would move on as the Crimson Tide's play-caller to coach at FAU before his current position at Ole Miss while Sarkisian has reportedly turned down multiple opportunities to remain on Saban's staff in Tuscaloosa.

Under Kiffin's tutelage as Alabama's OC from 2014 to 2016, the Crimson Tide transitioned from a pro-style offense to more spread-like tendencies, in turn resulting in program-changing production. Alabama won the national championship during Kiffin's second season, finishing 14-1 following Derrick Henry's Heisman campaign.

During his interview with Cowherd, Kiffin was later asked for his thoughts on the NCAA loosening restrictions on players profiting off their likeness. At marquee programs like USC and Alabama, Kiffin said it would've certainly been beneficial for high-profile athletes.

“I think it’s great for them. It’s well-deserved,” Kiffin said. “Go back through the great players all those years; three Heismans at USC and those guys are getting nothing out of it. Here’s Derrick Henry and they’re scraping by just to get money to eat.”

Earlier this year, ESPN college football maven Paul Finebaum opined on Sarkisian turning down the opening at Colorado to stay with the Crimson Tide.

“Whether you like Steve Sarkisian or not, this is the first sign of stability that we’ve seen on that staff in awhile and I think that’s critical," Finebaum said on radio. "We’ve gone from a new narrative, excuse me, an old narrative of Saban winning a couple more national championships to get him one more before he moves on, and I think the key to that is Sarkisian being there.

"Defensively, you can debate (the defensive coordinator Pete) Goulding but I think fans do feel better about Charlie Strong looking over his shoulder, but Sark is the best bet right now. Forget all his problems, which I think he’s overcome, give him credit for that. He’s been there, he understands the system, clearly Saban took a chance a couple of years ago bringing somebody back in that had literally walked out on him after one game, as the offensive coordinator, but it looks like it turned out to be a good move.”

SOURCE: Crawford, Brad."Lane Kiffin hurls joke at Steve Sarkisian about Alabama offense." 247Sports.com, 2 May 2020, https://247sports.com/Article/Lane-Kiffin-hurls-joke-at-Steve-Sarkisian-about-Alabama-offense-146727379/