Houston closing in on Lane Kiffin as next coach
Alabama coach Nick Saban said Thursday night he remains “very supportive” of offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin’s bid to become Houston’s next head coach but that he hasn’t been informed of a final decision.
After several days of negotiations and leverage plays on both sides, Houston athletics officials are meeting Thursday night with school president Renu Khator to finalize plans for naming their head coach. Two people with knowledge of the situation, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the deal is not official, said Kiffin was expected to get the job pending Khator’s OK and any final negotiations.
Houston has not officially offered the job and can't until the president signs off on it. Houston Board of Regents chairman and top athletics booster Tilman Fertitta publicly denied any candidate had been chosen. Though it’s possible Houston could backtrack, Kiffin has been operating as if he will become the next Houston coach as of Wednesday night.
The biggest potential stumbling block with Kiffin would be Houston’s desire to include a significant buyout for any new coach, as Fertitta has been adamant that it does not want the next coach to be able to leave as easily as Tom Herman did for Texas after just two seasons.
"It's not an issue," Fertitta told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday. "Because if it's an issue, they're not going to be the next head football coach. It isn't an issue, it hasn't become an issue and it won't become an issue."
Kiffin would replace Tom Herman, who left for Texas after two seasons.
As of Wednesday, Houston had eliminated Les Miles as a candidate and was deliberating between Kffin and its internal candidates, most prominently defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley had been a candidate but pulled out Wednesday.
South Florida's opening accelerated the process as Kiffin's representatives were trying to leverage interest in that job as Houston had dragged its feet this week.
Kiffin, 41, was USC’s coach for three-plus seasons and at Tennessee for one prior to that. His career record is 35-21. He was fired from USC five games into the 2013 season but landed at Alabama in 2014 to begin to rebuild his reputation.
A brilliant offensive mind, Kiffin has been crucial in Alabama’s transformation to a more varied up-tempo attack and it was only a matter of time before he got another chance as a head coach despite questions about why it ended so badly with the Trojans.
If Kiffin is named Houston’s coach, he can begin recruiting this weekend before the NCAA’s dead period. Whether he would continue as Alabama’s offensive coordinator through the College Football Playoff is unclear, though former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart did both jobs last year while transitioning to Georgia.
“We'll make that decision when we have something to make a decision about, and we'll do what's best interest for Lane, for our program, our players,” Saban said. “But I think he'll want to finish the season with us, but I can't speak to that right now because we haven't discussed something that is a hypothetical situation to this point.
“I'm sure that the University of Houston will make an announcement about who their coach is when they're ready to do that. We are very supportive of Lane in terms of him having an opportunity to be a head coach again after the great job that he did for us. Hopefully that or some other opportunity will work out well for him so that he gets the opportunity to be a head coach again.”
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