Saban hand picking his successor in Lane Kiffin???

Here's my take on the Lane Kiffin hiring at Bama. I honestly think that Saban is in the process of choosing his successor on his terms, not Alabama's. Think about it, if Saban would retire/resign after this year, and before the Kiffin hire, you'd think that the odds on favorite to succeed him would be Kirby Smart.

Now, he is bringing in Kiffin, and no offense to Smart, Kiffen has way more national star power, for many reasons - many dubious. There are not a lot of guys who have that outside of a handful of coaches, including Saban. Lets say Kiffen's offense has any kind of success, the Bama fan base would most likely be clamoring for him the succeed Saban once that day comes.

My guess is that Saban may give the NFL one more shot, most likely when the Falcons job opens up. And with him will go Kirby Smart, leaving Kiffen as the obvious heir apparent. Of course, this would all have to happen after this season or the next, because Kiffen won't stay an assistant coach for longer than that. It's a theory but not totally unreasonable.

The thinking is that Saban knows that he has a legacy at Bama and that with Kiffins track record, he won't have to worry about Kiffin upstaging him, as opposed to several other high profile coaches like one Urban Meyer. Kiffins tenure would probably eventually be a train wreck.

Saban could coach the NFL team for a few years and hand that job off to Smart, or Smart could go his own way and get a HC gig, without having to live up to Saban's legacy at Bama.

The hiring doesn't really make sense, and as an LSU fan, I'm pretty certain that Kiffin coaching at Bama will be a very good thing, or a very bad thing for their program, there will be no middle ground. Bama really cannot recruit any better than they are now, so Kiffins recruiting abilities don't make any sense. So it must have come down to coaching, and I'll take my chances with Kiffin. Does Bama want Saban or Kiffin to be the face of the progran?

Bama fans behind the scenes are probably asking similar questions, they have to be just a little nervous with Kiffin's track record. Anyway just some fun speculation, some things to think about....