Florida Atlantic football coach Lane Kiffin can turn around the Owls quickly, but how long will he stay before leaving for another position?
The journey that first-year Florida Atlantic football coach Lane Kiffin has gone through to get to this point in his career is nothing short of incredible. He starting his coaching career way back in 1997 as an assistant with the Fresno State Bulldogs. He jumped around between the NFL and college level until taking over as the tight end coach at USC in 2001. He worked his way up through the Trojan coaching staff until taking over as offensive coordinator in 2005.
The first head coaching job that Kiffin got was with the Oakland Raiders in 2007. He returned to the college level again in 2009 with a one year stint with the Tennessee Volunteers. Kiffin departed for USC once again in 2010 to become the head coach after Pete Carroll’s departure to the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks.
In 2014, Kiffin took over as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach under Nick Saban at Alabama before leaving last year to join the Florida Atlantic Owls as their head coach.
To understand the next step that Kiffin will take in his career, you have to understand his past and the coaching patterns that have defined him so far. Most notably, he took USC in the wrong direction, left Tennessee after just one year, and surprisingly departed from Alabama before the National Championship. However, he does have the ability to make a significant change at FAU.
The Owls have never really been in the headlines as much as they have during the 2017 offseason. The addition of Kiffin and former East Mississippi Community College (Last Chance U) players in quarterback De’Andre Johnson and defensive end Tim Bonner have lifted the hype around FAU to new levels. Johnson lies in waiting behind redshirt junior quarterback Jason Driskel if he does not lead the offensive efficiently.
If Kiffin can take a program that went 3-9 in 2016 and turn them into a bowl team then he’ll garner national attention very quickly. Some Power Five conference programs in need of a new head coach or offensive coordinator will definitely shoot a look Kiffin’s way.
Past pattern indicates that Kiffin could leave FAU in the snap of a finger if the right opportunity is presented to him. Even a six win season would show that he has the ability to improve a football program in a short period of time by multiple wins. That’s a valuable commodity to have at the Power Five level.
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Yet, Power Five programs should be cautioned to Kiffin’s past. He seems to be the most successful in the role of offensive coordinator. If Alabama cannot retain him in the OC position then it’s hard to imagine him taking another job like that at another school. Only time will tell how Kiffin’s future unravels but no one should be surprised if he leaves FAU after just one year.