Crimson Red Sports

Tonight was the night that all the members of the REC had been waiting on, Lane Kiffen was to be the guest speaker for our last meeting of this past season.

Say what you want about Lane Kiffen, but this guy has a great sense of humor. He started us off tonight talking about when he first got to Bama and he asked Coach Saban about how he would address the media when he did an interview. Coach Saban told him that it would be very easy for him, he would not be doing any interviews.

This would set the tone for a very funny and informative meeting. Coach Kiffen first went through his young career, giving us a glimpse of his past years in coaching and explaining to us that the University of Alabama is by far the premier college coaching job in the country. He talked about Coach Saban and explained what the word "process" really means as most of the media describes CNS as the man of the word "process". The term "process" means nothing more than making the right decisions, right choices, and if you are on the football field making a good play on every down. He said it sounds simple but it is very tough for the players as they have never experienced anything like this in their young lives and in the blink of an eye, they have to grow up again to a much higher level.

He gave us a word of caution concerning the offensive side of the football this year. When you loose nine of the starters from last year it naturally puts a big challenge on the team this year. The problem isn't that they are short of good players but that they are short of good experienced players. He is hoping that when the fall practices start, the players have done well in the off season preparations and will bring some pleasant surprises to the coaches this fall. He did mention some names but only in the term of what they are capable of doing and he feels that when they get more reps on the practice field their performances will match their expectations. Coach Kiffen did not elaborate on the quarterbacks only to say that there is no one that really stands out above the others.

The best thing I heard him say tonight was the defense will be lights out this year and they are solid at being two deep this year. There were some good things said about Rashaad Evans and Marlin Humphrey in that they had a very good Spring and should really help the team this Fall.

All in all I thought he did a good job of telling us, in a Coach Saban way, that the team can be a good team this year but it will take some good luck health wise and and the back ups from last year will need to play up their expectations of when they were recruited. He did elaborate on what a healthy Kenyon Drake and Bo Scarbrough would mean to the offense. If Kenyon Drake doesn't get hurt last year he would have been an All-American and Bo Scarbrough brings a ton of talent, running and receiving, with him. He was asked about a return to play time for Scarbrough and responded that it would probably fall into the 3-5 game range of the season but he wasn't sure.

In closing, he asked that when we as fans have game tickets and aren't going to use them to please either sell them to someone or give them to someone. A full stadium does wonders for the players and to all the recruits who are there trying to make a choice of who they would like to play for. Also, he said it makes Coach Saban happy as he** too.

ROLL TIDE!!!!!

 

Thanks for the report.   :clap:

Great report, J. Thanks for sharing!  #+

Thanks for posting that Jamos. Makes me that much more anxious for fall practice to get started...

Awesome!

Sounds like CNS has trained him well. RTR!

As CLK characterized a Nick Saban work day, he was so firm in describing the work traits of a normal work day for the coach. He explained how Nick Saban is much more than just a head coach. On this particular day he said he and CNS had gotten there early that morning and now it was very late afternoon and he thought the coach was going home but instead he was going to meet with the women's basketball coach and one of her recruits and after that he was meeting with the women's tennis coach who also had a recruit that she wanted her to meet CNS. He said that is a common thing for the coach and he never gets tired of it.

As he talked more about CNS I got the feeling that CLK is learning how to be a Nick Saban and I honestly feel that he will be the coach that replaces CNS when that day comes. I also think that CNS may be the next AD at Alabama when he steps down from his coaching job. It's just an opinion of mine but when you hear CLK speak he will be quick to tell you how much he has learned in his short time at Bama and he has become very fond of the University of Alabama and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  :dunno:

Looks like our Little Laney is growing up!  :)

Has anybody ever heard of an AD not allowing the head coach speak to the media?  If this scenario comes to be then it might be the first time ever...  :lol2:

Thanks so much, Jamos!