Yes, Steve Sarkisian will be a member of Alabama’s coaching staff.

Alabama coach Nick Saban was asked about reports of Sarkisian joining his staff Monday and said he was glad to have Sarkisian as part of his organization as an offensive analyst.

“We talked about really quite a while ago and I told him that we’d love to have him as part of the organization. He’s going through some personal things himself to get himself in a very positive position and wants to continue to do those things in the future,” Saban said during his press conference. “And professionally he loves coaching and so we thought it would be a good thing for our organization — look I’ve known him for a long time and he’s a very, very good coach. So to make a contribution to being an analyst here and having some input and things that we could do better would be a real positive for our organization.”

Sarkisian rejoins former USC compadre and current Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin on Alabama’s staff. Sarkisian and Kiffin were co-offensive coordinators at USC before they each became head coaches. Sarkisian, who also coached Washington, eventually succeeded Kiffin after Kiffin was fired as USC’s head coach during the 2013 season.

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Sarkisian took a leave of absence and was ultimately fired during the 2015 season. He sought treatment for alcohol issues — he blamed remarks at a 2015 preseason event on a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol — and Saban said Monday that he thinks Sarkisian “understands the consequences that he deals with professionally if he has any issues or problems.”

USC was 12-6 in Sarkisian’s 18 games as head coach. Sarkisian was 34-29 at Washington from 2009-2013. He told TMZ in August that “life’s good” and that he was looking forward to an analyst role with Fox Sports as it would keep him around football. That analyst role is presumably off the table now that he’s back in coaching.

We’re projecting here, but the addition of Sarkisian to the offensive staff could give Alabama the ability to have a relatively seamless transition if Kiffin leaves for a head coaching job in the near future. After all, Kiffin is just 41 and could be an attractive hire for a school looking to make a splash with a new head coach.

In his two-plus years at Alabama, Kiffin has done a great job with the offense, maximizing an abilty to capitalize on mismatches. If Kiffin leaves, Sarkisian could take the role of offensive coordinator and largely keep the same system in place.

Alabama beat Sarkisian and Kiffin’s former employer 52-6 in Week 1.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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