re: Alabama Hires Patriots' TE Brian Daboll as Offensive Coordinator

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Thursday night is "date night" for Alabama coaches during the season, the one in-season evening coaches can get home relatively early and spend time with their families.

Last year, Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin often spent those nights at home with Eric Kiesau.

Kiffin's family was in California. Kiesau's was in Washington. So the two spent many of those Thursday nights relaxing and watching football at their home a short walk from the Tide's team headquarters.

Prior to taking over as Fresno State's offensive coordinator in January, Kiesau spent last year as an offensive analyst with Alabama, living with Kiffin while helping the Tide transition to more of a no-huddle, up-tempo offense.

At Fresno, the 43-year old Kiesau said his offense will be a combination of 2015 Alabama and what he ran as the offensive coordinator at Washington in 2013.

"Really excited about the progress he's been able to make, not only with our players, but with our entire offensive staff and bringing them together around a common focus of what we want to be offensively," Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said. "What we're doing is a little bit more mentally taxing on our players, but he's made it simple. We had relatively few busts during the spring, and I was impressed with how quickly our players assimilated to our system."

Before joining Alabama, Kiesau was Colorado's offensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010, California's passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2011, Washington's offensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013 and the wide receivers coach and eventually the interim offensive coordinator at Kansas in 2014.

Within Kiesau's up-tempo spread offense, Washington ranked 13th nationally in total offense in 2013. However, coach Steve Sarkisian left Washington for USC in December 2013 and retained the Trojans' previous offensive coordinator. Kiesau went to Kansas, but he was again out of work after Kansas fired coach Charlie Weis.

Alabama hired Kiesau last March heading into Kiffin's second season as the Tide offensive coordinator.

"In 2014, Bama, they were a huddle team. But near the end of the season, they started to go with a little bit more no-huddle and using tempo," Kiesau said. "So when the season was over, coach Saban wanted to go all-in, all no-huddle, and coach Kiffin as well. But they didn't know the process of how to do it and what it takes to go from a huddle team, where you have long calls and a lot of long play calls, to a no-huddle team, where you have to abbreviate everything down and shorten it down."

Enter Kiesau.

Some plays when you're a huddle team can be as many as eight or nine words, Kiesau said. When you're going no-huddle, you want play calls to be two or three words.

Helping Alabama simplify its play calls and terminology was one of Kiesau's primary contributions last year.

With Kiesau's assistance, Tide coaches also learned how to better use the sideline boards that have become so popular with no-huddle teams.

Kiesau later served as a sounding board and was there to answer no-huddle-related questions like 'How'd you handle this, Kiesau?' or 'How'd you do this?'

Aided by Kiesau, Alabama ranked 45th nationally in total offense last year despite having to replace all but two offensive starters.

"That was my primary role, to transition them from a huddle team to a no-huddle team and help them go through the process of changing, using the boards, using the signs, how you signal it and how you communicate it," said Kiesau, who also assisted the Tide with its scouting of upcoming opponents.

Much of Kiesau's time was spent with his roommate, Kiffin.

Kiffin was the primary person Kiesau was in contact with during the workday. He usually stood with Kiffin and the quarterbacks during practice. The two were then obviously also together after practice.

Kiffin as a roommate?

"It was fun," Kiesau said. "It was easy because of being right across the street from the facility, so we could just walk on over, work all day, get some dinner, then go back to the room and just hang out."

Kiesau said he couldn't think of any great or funny stories from his time living with Kiffin.

"We worked all day, and we wouldn't get back to the place until 11 o'clock sometimes, and we'd just sit and watch TV," Kiesau said.

Kiffin was one of several big-name coaches that endorsed Kiesau as DeRuyter went through the process of finding a new offensive coordinator.

The initial recommendation was from former Boise State and Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, whom Kiesau worked under at Colorado from 2006-10.

There were later endorsements from others like Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, Weis and former California coach Jeff Tedford. And Kiffin.

"Lane couldn't say enough good things about him," DeRuyter said. "He was really impressed with the level of detail, his knowledge of the game, his approach to how he installed things, just everything as a football coach that you would want. Lane's been a head coach, and I think he knows what he's looking for in an assistant. He was very detailed in how he thought Eric hit all those kinds of things, that you don't have to be a micromanager with him, that you give him the big picture and he'll run with it, that he's going to set a direction, that he's going to be positive for the players, that they're going to enjoy playing for him and that he's going to recruit his tail off. All of the things you want to hear as a head coach."

In all, DeRuyter talked to around 10 candidates. Kiesau was one of three DeRuyter interviewed in person. What DeRuyter said was the "icing on the cake" was Kiesau's year at Alabama with Saban and his now former roommate.

"To have some insight on that system and how coach Saban does things and to see how we could maybe incorporate some of those principles into our program, I thought that was really a unique opportunity for us to hire someone like Eric with that background," DeRuyter said. "And in interviewing the different candidates, I was struck by how organized Eric was, how he was able to incorporate a few of the principles of what coach Saban was bringing to the table within his own personal philosophy. So it just all came together where it felt like he was the right fit here, and he's done a terrific job."

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Seems like it would be an easy choice to get Kiesau back but was Fresno good last year on offense?

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Nick Saban is searching for a new offensive coordinator at Alabama

It wasn’t long after Steve Sarkisian departed Alabama for the Atlanta Falcons that the guessing began as to whom Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban might tap as Bama’s third offensive coordinator in the past month and a half.

And they are guesses, even though the list expands almost daily and there is a chance that someone will actually nail it. The problem with outsiders — and that’s basically everyone except the man who will make the decision — is those who are not Alabama head coach have a severe shortage of information. Nick Saban, who has hired every Alabama coach over the past decade, will make the selection based on his knowledge of the candidates (dozens of them, not just the handful we can think of), his understanding of the Crimson Tide squad, and Saban’s preference for what he wants his new man to accomplish.

Alabama has the advantage of many, many coaches having a desire to add “Coached at Alabama under Nick Saban” at the top of their resume´s.

Because every offensive coordinator under Saban at Alabama has also been the quarterbacks coach, it is a reasonable assumption — but just an assumption — that the new hire will have both duties.

Does Saban want primarily a teacher of quarterbacks? After all, the depth chart at that position shows a sophomore with one year of experience (albeit a very fine year, Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year and leader of a team that won its first 14 games before coming up just short in the national championship game) and two true freshmen arriving in time for spring practice.

The sophomore, Jalen Hurts, is joined by Tua Tagovailoa, who entered The University in January, and Mac Jones, who is expected to enter on Monday.

Teacher is always a primary aspect of being a coach, but the offensive coordinator also will have great responsibility in how the offense is run.

Saban has had a philosophy of new coaches bringing new ideas, but also being able to fit into the Alabama offense, not reinvent it. But Saban also has shown flexibility in moving from a pro-set offense to more of a tempo, dual-threat quarterback style to take advantage of how the college game is being played.

He has also shown that he thinks at a different level than most, as demonstrated by his surprising selection of Lane Kiffin for the job beginning in 2014. That move resulted in three SEC Championships, one national title, and two other appearances in the College Football Playoff.

Just as Sarkisian had been elevated to the job from offensive analyst on the Bama staff, Saban can look to Mike Locksley, like Sarkisian a former college head coach and offensive coordinator. Locksley’s duties were not specified when he was made an offensive assistant coach.

We have heard many other names, of course, including the current head coach at SMU, Chad Morris. It is hard to imagine a head coach giving up his position to be an offensive coordinator, even at Alabama.

Chip Kelly’s name was out there for awhile, but that rumor seems to be running on stumps rather than legs.
Recently fired Oregon Coach Mark Helfrich is said to be interested in a coordinator’s job, and he certainly knows the fast-paced offense.

Many believe that George Godsey, most recently offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, is high on the list.
Oklahoma has had a high-powered offense and Lincoln Riley, offensive coordinator for the Sooners, is considered one of the best in the business.

TCU is considered to have one of the nation’s most improved offenses last season with Sonny Cumbie as offensive coordinator.

Alabama played Washington in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, and one of the top names on the Huskies coaching staff is Jonathan Smith, the offensive coordinator.

In bit of irony, two offensive coaches left the Alabama staff at the conclusion of the season to take offensive coordinator positions.

Mario Cristobal, an outstanding recruiter and coach of Bama’s offensive line before taking over just tackles and tight ends last season, is now the co-offensive coordinator at Oregon.

Billy Napier, who was the Tide’s wide receivers coach, was hired as offensive coordinator at Arizona State.
Those two might seem like long shots, but if they have been slow to sign contracts…

Rest assured that Saban is aware of all these possibilities. And also rest assured that he is aware of many others.

When will it happen? Don't be surprised if the answer doesn't come quickly.

One might also count on Saban having to make this decision again in upcoming seasons. College football teams looking for success are naturally drawn to getting coaches from the nation’s best program, which means coaching turnover in Tuscaloosa.

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