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New Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian anxious to call plays for the first time since 2014
TAMPA, Florida — Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts said he first heard about the team’s offensive coordinator switch via a phone call from Steve Sarkisian.
“He was the first one to tell me and I was like, ‘OK, well, let’s do it,'” Hurts said. “When he got the job for next year, I told him congratulations and I’m looking forward to working with you. But it just turns out to be that that came a little earlier.”
The former USC coach and Alabama offensive analyst’s new role was the dominant topic during Saturday’s National Championship Game media day Saturday, as Monday’s title game is the first time Sarkisian has been a team’s main offensive playcaller since 2014.
Is the coordinator swap major deal? Not according to Alabama offensive tackle Cam Robinson, who may or may not be downplaying it just a bit.
“We’ve had a chance to get comfortable with [Sarkisian], get used to him,” Robinson said. “So it’s definitely not as big of a deal as the world is making it out to be.”
Sarkisian was set to take over as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017 after Lane Kiffin was hired as the head coach at Florida Atlantic after finishing out the 2016 season as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. But two days after Alabama’s win over Washington in the Peach Bowl, Alabama coach Nick Saban parted ways with Kiffin, putting Sarkisian in his new role a week before the biggest game of the season.
“I wouldn’t go with ‘nervous,'” Sarkisian said when asked if he was nervous. “I’m excited. This is what I love to do. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been fortunate to have coached in some big games in my career. Obviously this is another big one.”
As much of the attention Saturday was focused on Sarkisian, he tried –multiple times to no avail — to shift the spotlight away from himself.
“The focus is on the game and on our players,” Sarkisian said. “It shouldn’t be about me. I’m just here to do this job the best I can do it for this week.”
But Monday’s outcome will be viewed by many through the Sarkisian prism. That’s the reality of making a coordinator switch on such short notice before a championship.
A great offensive performance and an Alabama win makes Saban look like he made a genius decision on the way to tying Bear Bryant for most national titles as a coach. A poor offensive performance and a loss means a bunch of second-guessing and nine months of hand-wringing by a finicky fanbase if Alabama lets a championship slip away.
Sarkisian and Saban know this. So while Alabama’s offense will probably have a few differences Monday night, it’ll also have a lot of similarities too. In addition to calling plays, Sarkisian will also be in charge of personnel groupings and other aspects of coaching he hasn’t done in a while either.
“I think [Sarkisian’s] very well organized in his approach, and I’d tell him what I tell any coach; we’ve prepared to do certain things in certain situations; let’s stick with the plan,” Saban said. “Until we have to adjust the plan, that’s what the players know, that’s what we’ve practiced, that’s what we need to go out and try to do, and that’s going to give us the best chance to be able to execute and be successful. I think he’ll do that.”
USC’s 2014 Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska was the last time Sarkisian called plays in a game. There’s no time for an adjustment period on Monday, and Sarkisian hopes his time spent listening in to Alabama’s games this season will make it an easy transition back to calling plays.
“Even this season I’ve been on the headset. I’ve heard the rhythm of the offense, how the substitution patterns go, those types of things,” Sarkisian said.
“I really feel like there’s going to be some moments. I’m not naïve to think we’re not going to have a couple glitches. But like I said, how we respond to those glitches is going to be key.”
Sarkisian was fired by USC in 2015 and subsequently sought treatment for alcohol abuse issues. When asked about the past 15 months, he said he was “doing great” and that “life is good.”
He was planning to spend the 2016 season out of coaching and accepted a job with Fox Sports to be part of their college football coverage.
He never did any game coverage for Fox, instead taking the job with Alabama as an analyst after the Tide’s season-opening win over USC. As an analyst, Sarkisian couldn’t do any coaching in practice and he quickly found how much he missed being a coach.
“But it is frustrating as an analyst when you go out to practice and you’re not coaching,” Sarkisian said. “I mean, that’s what you love to do. But in my situation, when you’re not allowed to do that, it’s a lot of note-taking. It’s a lot of watching coaching, watching the other guys coach.
“To get this opportunity to be back on the field, I feel like I was almost like a bottled-up ball of energy, where I could get back on the field and do what I love to do.”
Sarkisian said he’s spoken with Kiffin since his former co-offensive coordinator at USC counterpart’s departure. But he won’t be worrying about what Kiffin would or wouldn’t do in a certain situation when he’s calling plays and said that running a no-huddle offense may help with the adjustment back to being a coordinator because of how quickly the next play happens.
“We’ll have a good rhythm, a good flow in the game,” Sarkisian said. “We have to create that on our own through execution, through our game planning, and then through the changes and things that we have to make throughout the ballgame.
“Ultimately, I’ve got to call what I feel. I can’t try to call it the way somebody else would, or it would never come off right.”
As Sarkisian is transitioning to a new but familiar position in the championship, it’ll be an adjustment for Hurts too. Monday will be the first time Hurts has had anyone other than Kiffin talking to him as his offensive coordinator.
“Well, it’s a big difference because like I said earlier, you know, you’re hearing this voice,” Hurts said. “You’re hearing this guy, you’re hearing this guy. And then you got another guy that’s coming in. So it’s kind of weird. But at the same time it’s something that we’re going to have to get used to. I mean it’s something that I would have to have gotten used to next year … We have complete confidence in Coach Sark, and we think he’ll do a great job come Monday.”
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
