Why can’t Lane Kiffin land a head coaching job? He’s Lane Kiffin

With one national championship ring at Alabama already and perhaps another one coming soon, the rehabilitation of Lane Kiffin’s coaching career would seem complete.

But is it really? If so, ask yourself this question:

Why is it that someone with head coaching experience in the NFL and at two big-time college programs – Tennessee and Southern Cal – and who’s now considered one of the top offensive minds in college football still unable to land another head coaching job?

Maybe it’s the buyout issue. Houston reportedly insisted on Kiffin’s contract including a hefty buyout to keep him from jumping to a better job as Art Briles (Baylor), Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) and Tom Herman (Texas) have done. His agent is no novice negotiator. It’s Jimmy Sexton, whose client list includes Nick Saban. But a hefty buyout didn’t stop another one of Sexton’s high profile clients, Jim McElwain, from taking the Colorado State job, and then leaving for Florida three years later.

Kiffin was reportedly first on Florida Atlantic’s list until negotiations stalled.

The fact is Kiffin wants to be a head coach yet nobody has hired him. That’s strange when you consider his resume:

• Two seasons as an NFL head coach, beginning in 2007 when Al Davis, the late Oakland Raiders’ owner, made him the youngest head coach in the history of the league.
• Five seasons as a head coach of a big-time program – one at Tennessee followed by four at Southern Cal. That includes a 10-2 season in 2011 despite the Trojans having limited scholarships due to violations committed under Pete Carroll.
• In three seasons under Kiffin, Alabama’s offense has become one of the most explosive in college football, despite having to replace the starting quarterback all three seasons with two career backups (Blake Sims and Jake Coker) and a true freshman (Jalen Hurts).
• In Kiffin’s three seasons, the Crimson Tide is 39-3, including a current winning streak of 25 games. Alabama has made the College Football Playoff for the third straight time, and quite possibly wouldn’t have made it any of those three times without Kiffin tailoring the offense to fit the quarterbacks.

Kiffin also has the unequivocal endorsement of Saban.

So …

What’s wrong with this picture?

Since the end of the 2014 season, Kiffin’s first at Alabama, there have been 58 head coaching openings at FBS programs. Granted, they haven’t all be plum jobs. He’s not going to leave a great gig at Alabama for Buffalo. But there have been 26 openings at Power Five conference programs, including nine in the Big 10 alone. All it takes is one.

Maybe Kiffin is being selective and waiting for the perfect opportunity. Maybe he thinks he’s still worthy of an elite program.

But there’s another reason athletic directors and university presidents haven’t been beating down Sexton’s door for Kiffin. That reason is Lane Kiffin himself.

Or at least the public perception of Lane Kiffin. Administrators doing their due diligence still haven’t forgotten the highlight reel of embarrassing Lane Kiffin moments. There were those verbal digs at Urban Meyer. Remember this one, shortly after he got the Tennessee job?

“I’m really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee … the Vol Walk, running through the T, and singing Rocky Top all night after we beat Florida next year. It will be a blast.”

Or the one that led to a reprimand by then SEC commissioner Mike Slive because he incorrectly accused Meyer of a recruiting violation – and committed a violation in the process by naming the recruit, Nu’Keese Richardson.

“I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him,” Kiffin said.

Kiffin has acknowledged that he needs to be more careful. He said this before the playoffs last year, when the coordinators are required to meet with the media at least once:

“I just always took the approach – and it haunted me at times, especially when you lose when everything gets magnified – is I was just going to say whatever’s on my mind,” he said. “It wasn’t going to be coach-speak and I wasn’t going to go up there and say what every other coach says, because that’s not what you guys want to hear. So I’d answer questions exactly what I was thinking as if I was having a one-on-one conversation. Sometimes that came back to haunt you.”

It’s not as if a few silly statements are going to scare off a team desperate to win. If Bobby Petrino can get another job, so can Kiffin. But there’s a big difference. Despite being a rather despicable individual, Petrino has proven himself as a college head coach. Kiffin has not. There’s no question he’s a great play-caller and quarterbacks coach. But beyond that, what are you really getting with Kiffin?

How well can he recruit? Can he assemble and manage a staff? When Saban hired Kiffin, he found himself in the unusual position of having to defend an administrative decision.

“All his issues,” Saban said at the time, “come from something we’re not asking him to do.”

That’s just it. Being the face and voice of a program is exactly what Kiffin will be asked to do as a head coach. Maybe too many administrators are not ready to take that risk.

This story was originally published December 10, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Why can’t Lane Kiffin land a head coaching job? He’s Lane Kiffin."