Bama's AD Didn't Have Positive Reaction to Kiffin Hire

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@YahooDrSaturday: Alabama AD Bill Battle's first reaction to Lane Kiffin's hire 'wasn't very positive.' STORY: LINK LINK

“My first reaction, because I didn’t know Lane, wasn’t very positive. I talked to Coach Saban about it. He asked me if I had ever met him and I said no. He said, ‘Why don’t you meet him?’ He had him in for a visit, I spent about an hour with him and I was very impressed,” Battle said.

After their initial meeting and reaching out to a few people, Battle warmed up to Kiffin.

“I called (athletic director) Pat Haden at Southern California. I talked to David Blackburn, who’s the AD at UT-Chattanooga. David was the compliance officer for football at Tennessee when Lane was there. They both told me that they thought he would be a great fit here, and I got really comfortable with it,” Battle said.

“Now that I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Lane, I’m really impressed. Our players are impressed and I think our coaches are impressed with how he’s gone about things. I think he’ll be very successful here,” Battle said.

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