Sports this 'n' that

Less than 48 hours after beating Washington in the College Football Playoff semi-finals, Alabama bade farewell to "Wisteria" Lane Kiffin on Monday, as he begins his new job as head coach at Florida Atlantic. Steve Sarkisian, like Kiffin a former head coach at USC, will replace Kiffin as offensive coordinator when Alabama meets Clemson for the national championship on Monday.

Kiffin has been a lightning rod for controversy at previous stops at USC, Tennessee, and his lone NFL coaching job with Oakland. One wonders, then, if trying to juggle finishing the season with the Crimson Tide and preparing for his new role at Florida Atlantic became too much to handle, and it got him in the crosshairs of Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
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As expected, Gary Kubiak resigned as head coach of the Denver Broncos after a season-closing win over Oakland on New Year's Day for health reasons. I think GM John Elway and ownership are waiting for the rest of the dominoes to fall before making a move. AFC West rival San Diego parted company with Mike McCoy on Monday, and a headline today suggests that former Atlanta coach Mike Smith might be interested. More heads figure to roll, and soon. One commentator on Yahoo! went so far as to suggest the Jets bring back Rex Ryan----as an offensive coordinator----after Chan Gailey retired on Tuesday. I don't think so. If Ramblin' Rex isn't doing television, he'll be in the mix for jobs with either Jacksonville, San Diego, or anyone else, and soon.
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High school beat: Troy High's women's basketball team is no longer alone atop the Blue Division of the Suburban Council (the league flips the division every other year, it seems) after losing to resurgent Albany on Tuesday night. The Lady Falcons have won four in a row in league play to draw even with the Lady Flying Horses, who have lost two of their last three overall.

Part of the problem for Troy, based on reading the box scores online, is the same one that plagued them last season. Senior stars Shallie Frierson and Sabrina Wolfe are the only consistent scorers coach Paul Bearup has, and each tallied 25 points in the loss to Albany. Only two other players cracked the scoring column for Troy. In contrast, Albany, which has now beaten Troy something like seven or eight times in a row, had 10 players collect at least 2 points, led by Imani Harris with 14. The balanced attack is something that Troy is lacking on the women's side, and that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Troy will play at Saratoga on Friday, but I'd not be surprised to find that this was the game that ultimately costs them the division crown. Troy's boys team, after the humiliation of losing both games in their own tournament last week, will host Saratoga's boys on Friday.