Lane Kiffin excited to coach Houston: “This program has proven it’s a springboard to much better jobs” SportsPickle Follow Dec 8, 2016 · 3 min read

HOUSTON — Lane Kiffin will reportedly be the new head football coach at Houston and the current Alabama offensive coordinator said today that he would be thrilled to takeover the program, stressing it is just the kind of job he has been interested in for several years. Kiffin will stay with the Tide through the college football playoff, but stressed he is excited to get going with the Cougars.

“You look around college football and Houston is the place to go,” he said. “It’s the place that coaches have had great success in going to and then being able to land much better jobs in just a few short years. Look at Art Briles. He was there just four years and then got the Baylor job. Kevin Sumlin was there four and went to [Texas] A&M. Tom Herman did it in just two, which is awesome. I mean, what an accomplishment to aspire to. Anyway … there’s something special about this place that makes winning coaches want to leave as quickly as possible, and I hope to continue that tradition.”

Kiffin said he had other opportunities to get into head coaching — he previously led Tennessee, USC and the Oakland Raiders — but had Houston at the top of his list.

“Well, not the top of my real list,” he said. “There are obviously a ton of other jobs in legit conferences I’d want first. But I can’t get those right now because of how poorly I did at Tennessee and USC. I need to reset and start at a second-rate program like this, win a little bit and then get one of those good jobs. And Houston was definitely at the top of my list of second-rate jobs to springboard off of. No doubt.”

Kiffin said he consulted with Alabama head coach Nick Saban on the decision to pursue the Houston job.

“Obviously, if you want advice on how to jump from job to job and look out only for yourself, Coach Saban is your first call,” he said. “And Coach said this was exactly the kind of job he’d look to take for two years before moving on if he was in my situation. So that sealed it for me. I’m excited to get to Houston, rent a house, chase some tail and win enough games to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.”