That and "this". I was listening to Holly Rowe of ESPN yesterday. She was the sideline reporter on the Bama sideline and was assigned to cover Bama practices. She said, pregame, that the only real difference she saw between Kiffin and Sark was that Sark called the plays in and ran the plays a whole lot faster or in a lot more hurry up fashion than Kiffin.
Kiffin was actually complained about horribly after the Washington game because, even though he runs a no huddle offense, he would milk the clock by waiting til the last second to send in the final play and snap the ball. It actually caused a couple of delay of game penalties.
But in reality, he helped our defense, because by doing so because he kept them off the field more and gave them more rest time.
It'll all come together but this game was honestly kind of a cluster.
I think Coach Saban should take the philosophy that if you take another job you pack your bags and leave asap.
Kiffin leaving like he did hurt us.
I agree 100% with the first bolded sentence. On the second, I technically agree, but for reasons different from what many think.
I do think Saban wishes he could turn the clock back to the day after the SECCG. If he had known then what he knows now, I have no doubt that he'd make a different decision regarding Kiffin.
Kiffin checked out mentally after the SECCG. I don't know exactly why, but could speculate on several plausible scenarios.
In ATL for the semi-final, my sources say he stepped way over the line, though I can't say how. I also won't say who told me, and I wouldn't supply a link, even if one existed...and it does not. You'll just have to believe me or not, as your assessment of my record here on TF dictates.
If even half of what I've been told is accurate, Kiffin essentially fired himself, and left Saban with no other options.
While Lane Kiffin had an incredibly effective run as a QB coach, all indications from a lot of places are that he was an embarrassment waiting to happen. Those behaviors finally started to directly affect the team, and from that point, Saban's decision was easy.
All that to say: If the Lane Kiffin of January 2017 had borne any resemblance to the Lane Kiffin of November 2016, I would agree that his departure hurt. But it didn't. And I firmly believe that the decision,
under the circumstances as they existed on 1/1/2017, was the right one, for both the short term (i.e., the CFPCG) and the long run.