When Lane Kiffin rose the coaching ranks the first time, it all seemed to happen so fast.

There was the quick ascension to offensive coordinator with the Oakland Raiders then the head coaching job at Tennessee, then USC. It all seemed to happen so fast — and all before Kiffin turned 40 years old.

It felt like Kiffin had burned out as a head coach even at that young age with such a quick rise to high-profile jobs and such a poor job with them — he went 5-15 in two years with the Raiders, 7-6 in his lone year at Tennessee and 28-15 in four years at USC.

Nick Saban gave him another chance as offensive coordinator at Alabama. There remains a lot of national interest in Kiffin, if not just for schadenfreude, but it feels like the head coaching ship has passed. At least for now.

Working with Nick Saban and Alabama has given him a better preparation for being a head coach, he said Sunday as Alabama’s offense met the media ahead of Thursday’s Cotton Bowl Classic.

Kiffin said he anticipates he will remain in Tuscaloosa next year. With the coaching carousel more or less done spinning, that seems almost completely certain (a NFL job could come calling still).

Kiffin has had to mature working under Saban and has helped guide Alabama to back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances. His running back, Derrick Henry, won the Heisman this year and Alabama again had a top-30 defense in the nation according to Football Outsiders’ S&P+ metric.