Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is poised to become the Atlanta Falcons’ next offensive coordinator, a league source confirmed to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Sarkisian will replace Kyle Shanahan, who was named the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach on Monday.
Sources told ESPN that details of Sarkisian’s hiring are still be finalized.
Sarkisian was recently promoted to offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide. Lane Kiffin, who was Alabama’s offensive coordinator during the regular season, left the school to become Florida Atlantic’s new head coach.
Sarkisian, who is the former coach of USC, called Alabama’s offensive plays in the College Football Playoff championship game loss to Clemson.
The news of Sarkisian joining the Falcons was first reported by The Huffington Post.
Sarkisian was fired by USC in October 2015, after athletic director Pat Haden said he showed up to school in no condition to lead practice following an embarrassing public display earlier at a pep rally where he appeared to be intoxicated while giving a speech.
He later sought treatment for alcoholism and sued USC alleging the school breached his contract and discriminated against him on the basis of a disability.
Sarkisian was Washington’s head coach from 2009-13. He went 12-6 at USC and 34-29 at Washington, which had won just 12 games during the previous five seasons before his arrival. He was also offensive coordinator at USC in 2007-08.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
