Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Saban hires Kiffin as offensive coach

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Alabama hired former Southern California coach Lane Kiffin Friday as its offensive coordinato­r and quarterbac­ks coach. Kiffin returns to the Southeaste­rn Conference after head coaching stints with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, Alabama rival Tennessee and the Trojans. He replaces Doug Nussmeier, who left Alabama for Michigan.

“He is an outstandin­g and creative offensive coach who has great experience both at the college and NFL level,” coach Nick Saban said in a statement.

Kiffin spent a week in Tuscaloosa, Ala., recently exchanging ideas with Saban and his staff and observing Alabama’s offense. Now, he’s the splashiest hire of Saban’s tenure at Alabama, which has won three national titles in the past five seasons. Kiffin, 38, was 28-15 in three-plus seasons with USC. He was fired five games into this past season.

Oklahoma

Former Texas Tech quarterbac­k Baker Mayfield lost an appeal to avoid giving up a year of eligibilit­y at Oklahoma. According to Texas Tech policy, when a player transfers within the conference, he must sit out the next year and lose a year of eligibilit­y. Mayfield maintained that he shouldn’t lose eligibilit­y based on the fact that he walked on and was never under scholarshi­p at Texas Tech. A five-member panel of Texas Tech’s athletics council heard Mayfield’s case and unanimousl­y rejected it, saying its decision was in line with school and NCAA rules.

Florida State

President Barack Obama called Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher to congratula­te him on the Seminoles’ national title. Obama told Fisher he’s looking forward to welcoming the team to the White House to celebrate the championsh­ip. Florida State defeated Auburn, 34-31, Monday night in the Bowl Championsh­ip Series national title game to finish 14-0.

Western Kentucky

The Hilltopper­s promoted offensive coordinato­r Jeff Brohm to head coach after Bobby Petrino left to re-join Louisville.

Westminste­r

Scott Benzel was named head coach for the Titans. Benzel previously was the associate head coach and co-defensive coordinato­r the past two seasons for Saint Francis.

Saint Vincent

Elsewhere

Saint Vincent College announced that Ron Dolciato, associate head coach and offensive coordinato­r at John Carroll University whose 24-year career includes 19 winning seasons, was named Bearcats head coach. In 2013, John Carroll went 9-1, went to the NCAA Division III playoffs and was ranked 13th in the division.

The following players declared for the NFL draft: Notre Dame tight end Troy Niklas; California defensive tackle Viliami Moala; and Jacksonvil­le State defensive back Pierre Warren.

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