LSU football coach Lane Kiffin will see a familiar face on the opposing sideline when LSU meets Texas this week. Kiffin and Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian share a deep history, dating back to their time at USC.
Kiffin and Sarkisian first worked together at USC in 2001. They were both on the USC staff from 2001 to 2003, and together in LA again from 2005-06.
“We have a really unique relationship. It goes back a long time … I was a first-year tight end coach. He was a GA actually, coaching the quarterbacks with Norm Chow, and then just kind of a really intertwined, strange thing of kind of growing up in those years and having the great offenses together," Kiffin said.
In 2005, the tandem worked together as Kiffin was the offensive coordinator
and Sark was the QB coach. They shared playcalling duties. That unit proved to be one of the best in USC history, averaging 49.1 points and 579 yards per game.
Kiffin would leave USC to accept a job as Raiders' head coach. But a few years later, Kiffin returned to USC as head coach. Kiffin fell short of expectations at USC, and when Kiffin was fired, Sarkisian took over the program.
Kiffin landed on his feet as Alabama's offensive coordinator, where he and Sark would reunite. Alabama hired Sarkisian as an offensive analyst, and when Kiffin left for FAU's head coaching job, Sarkisian took over as Alabama's offensive coordinator.
Kiffin and Sark have met as head coaches three times before, all in the PAC-12 when Sarkisian was at Washington and Kiffin was at USC. Kiffin went 2-1 vs. Sarkisian in that stretch from 2010-12.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Explaining LSU coach Lane Kiffin's history with Steve Sarkisian
