Lane Kiffin Surrendering Playcalling Duties, Becoming More of a CEO Head Coach
Joining former NFL punter and now football comedian Pat MacAfee on his Youtube show this past week, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin took what would appear from an outside perspective as a shot at Alabama.
"Alabama? You mean rehab university?" Kiffin joked.
But he's right, and honestly it was more of a jab at himself more than anything.
Kiffin is one of a handful of former head coaches to revitalize their careers by joining up for a stint in Tuscaloosa with Nick Saban. Currently on that staff are former Washington and USC head coach Steve Sarkisian and former Texas head coach Charlie Strong. It's become a relatively normal rehabilitation project.
In addition to rebuilding his coaching credibility, Lane Kiffin thinks there's one major thing he learned from Nick Saban during his time at Alabama – the ability and necessity to act was more of a CEO head coach.
“I’ve given up more (play-calling). You really have to if you’re going to do everything. I think when you do that, you connect with your players on the other side more, but you also manage the game better," Kiffin said. "When I was calling, as the head coach, all the plays, I’m over there making adjustments while the defense is out on the field. I don’t even see a penalty that happens or see something I can help them with. I think you do a lot better job this way.”
In past head coaching jobs, see stops with the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers and USC Trojans, Kiffin was essentially the offensive coordinator as a head coach. He was developing the offensive gameplan and calling the plays on gameday.
Of course, when he got to Alabama, he still called plays. But what he really took away was that Saban didn't. Now, back in the SEC with a more well rounded staff, Kiffin can follow what he learned and pass off those duties to offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.
What does that leave Kiffin? A major attribute in being that CEO head coach is giving yourself the ability to see the big picture. It helps in clock management, timeout management and the overall vision of the gameplan from both sides of the ball.
Kiffin believes that the extra time gained by not calling plays, specifically with the game management time, is the literally worth a few wins per year.
“In college, coaches get away with it. In the NFL, you get killed for bad clock management," Kiffin said. "I don’t know why it’s like that in college – the announcers kind of let it go and the media does too. But obviously, it’s valuable. You’re going to win or lose two or three games a year based off of those situations and practicing those things with your team, not just knowing what to do.”
Ole Miss could certainly use some help in those situations. Think back, specifically, to last year's home game against California.
A pass short to Elijah Moore on the goal line was ruled down at the one. Regardless of the ineptitude of the refereeing in that situation, one in which they should have stopped the game to review the call, Ole Miss was left with 10 seconds and no timeouts forcing them to rush a play at the goal line that was stopped short.
Yes, the officiating there was an atrocity, but if the Rebels had managed the game better prior to that set of downs, they may have had either more time left or a timeout. Maybe both.
By surrendering some control of the offense to Jeff Lebby and becoming more of a CEO head coach, those situations should not happen under Kiffin.
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