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Tuscaloosa, AL (SportsNetwork.com) - Former USC head football coach Lane Kiffin has been hired as Alabama's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the school announced Friday in a press release.

The job will be Kiffin's first since being fired just five games into the Trojans' 2013 season following a lopsided loss at Arizona State on Sept. 28, which dropped USC's record to 3-2 at the time. The Trojans proceeded to win six of their next seven games under interim replacement Ed Orgeron en route to a 10-4 finish.

While Kiffin's track record as a head coach has come under great scrutiny -- he went a lackluster 35-21 in four-plus seasons between USC and a one-year stop at Tennessee in 2009, and was dismissed after a 5-15 record with the Oakland Raiders prior to taking over the Volunteers' program -- his credentials as an assistant are more impressive. The 38-year-old served as USC's offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll from 2005-06, with the Trojans averaging 49.1 points and 579.8 total yards per game while reaching the BCS Championship Game in the first of those seasons.

"We are excited to have Lane join our staff," said Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban. "He is an outstanding and creative offensive coach who has great experience both at the college and NFL level. He has a very good understanding of the game and I have always been impressed with what I saw in the games he called. He coaches with a great deal of passion and enthusiasm, and also does an excellent job as a teacher. Lane will be an outstanding addition to our coaching staff and we look forward to him and his family joining us at the University of Alabama."

Kiffin, son of longtime NFL defensive assistant Monte Kiffin, replaces Doug Nussmeier after the latter took the offensive coordinator's position at Michigan earlier this week.

"We want to thank the University of Alabama and Coach Saban for this tremendous opportunity, and we feel humbled and honored to be a part of the Crimson Tide family," said Kiffin. "I've always had the utmost respect for what Coach Saban has done with his programs.

"We've seen the passion and support of the Alabama fans firsthand, and when that's combined with the storied history and tradition of the program, this is a very special place to coach."

Kiffin returns to the SEC for the first time since leaving Tennessee after only one season -- a 7-6 campaign in 2009 -- to return to USC following Carroll's departure to the Seattle Seahawks. He guided the 2011 Trojans to a 10-2 record while under NCAA probation in his second year, but went just 10-8 afterward.

USC entered the 2012 season ranked atop the Associated Press preseason poll, but dropped five of its final six games after starting 6-1.