Lane Kiffin Admits He Wasn't Completely Focused On Alabama

Alabama announced earlier on Monday that offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin will not coach in the College Football Playoff title game, and will be replaced by Steve Sarkisian. In interview with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on Monday, Kiffin admitted he wasn't fully focused on the Crimson Tide because he was trying to balance his new duties as the head coach at Florida Atlantic...

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“I was wondering, ‘was I always there?’ because you are balancing two jobs. You are interviewing guys at night, calling recruits at night,” Kiffin told Finebaum. “I was just talking with Coach (Saban) and Coach and I were bouncing around, and I don’t know for the players that you can do 100 percent. You try. But then your mind’s thinking, ‘I gotta interview this guy later. Or here’s a list of recruits you gotta watch at night, versus watching extra film for the opponent.

“I just want to win this game. I want to win it for the players, for the fans. We gotta do one more. And as we discussed it, we felt (Steve Sarkisian) and I are so similar — we speak the same language, call games the same way — that he would probably give us the best chance to win because 100 percent of his mind all day long is on the game.”

“I’m still going to help in any way that I can win the game. Watched some film last night and this morning. Help these guys. It’s a very good team obviously. Talked some ideas with Sark. But it’s the best thing for the players at this time for Sark to call the game and to lead all the meetings all week long because I want these guys to win, and they deserve to have the best.”

Kiffin was asked about the speculation that Saban lost confidence in him especially after the way the CFP semifinal game against Washington went.

“There’s no way on that,” Kiffin said in response.

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