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Lane Kiffin hires offensive coordinator barely older than his players

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Football coaching staffs are always looking for ways to relate to their players.

This is especially true in college football, where some coaches are two, three or — in the case of Kansas State’s 78-year-old Bill Snyder — four times as old as the players they are coaching.

One way for coaches to better relate to college players is by hiring coaches who are essentially the same age as the players, and that’s what FAU’s Lane Kiffin has done.

Kiffin has hired 24-year-old Charlie Weis Jr. to be the team’s new offensive coordinator. Weis is the only son of the former Patriots, Notre Dame and Kansas coach of the same name.

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OwlAccess.com reports that Weis will be the youngest coordinator in FBS and possibly the youngest in modern college football history.

Kiffin, who was once the youngest NFL head coach in the modern era at 31, sees many similarities between himself and Weis.

“He’s way ahead of his time in how he sees the game, his football IQ and just his overall intelligence,” Kiffin told ESPN. “He’s been around the game with his dad being a coach, a lot like I was when I was growing up, and has a bright future.”

Kiffin’s father, Monte, is a longtime college and NFL coach, most notably as defensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2008. He’s currently part of his son’s staff at FAU.

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Weis was on Kiffin’s staff for roughly one month last season before he left the program to join the Atlanta Falcons staff as an offensive assistant.

He was originally set to be the Owls’ tight ends coach in 2017 before leaving for the NFL. He was set to make around $50,000 with FAU but is now in line for a substantial increase.

The offensive coordinator position became open for FAU when Kendal Briles left the role for the same position with Houston. Kiffin predicted that Briles would leave during the offseason so he began calling some plays late last season for the Owls.

Both Kiffin and Weis are expected to call the plays in 2018. In addition to his role as offensive coordinator, Weis will also serve as the team’s quarterbacks coach.

While with the Falcons, Weis served under offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who has many ties to Kiffin. Sarkisian replaced Kiffin as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017 and replaced him as USC’s head coach in 2014.

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Weis was on that Alabama staff in both 2015 and 2016 as he served as an offensive analyst. Prior to that, he served as a summer volunteer intern with the New England Patriots in 2014. Weis’ father spent nine seasons as a coach on the Patriots and won three Super Bowls with the team.

The two Weises worked together with Kansas, where the elder was the head coach from 2012 to 2014 and his son was a team manager. They were also together at the University of Florida in 2011 when Weis Sr. was the offensive coordinator and Weis Jr. was an offensive quality control coach.

The Owls recently completed the most successful season in program history, which dates back to 2001. They won their final 10 games to finish 11-3 to win Conference USA. They then defeated Akron 50-3 to win the Boca Raton Bowl. It was the largest margin of victory in any of this past season’s 40 bowl games.

In December, Kiffin signed a 10-year contract extension with the school.

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Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009.
Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009 and previously worked for ESPN, CBS and STATS Inc. A native of Louisiana, Ross now resides in Houston.
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