For a third straight year, Alabama prepares to play Clemson in the College Football Playoff while one of its coordinators has one foot out the door.

Last year, Lane Kiffin and head coach Nick Saban agreed to part ways before the national championship game because Saban felt his then offensive coordinator was not all in and was focused more on his new head coaching job at Florida Atlantic than he was Alabama.

Two years ago, Kirby Smart was juggling back-and-forth between his new job and Georgia, while preparing the Tide’s defense for their national championship clash against the Tigers.

This year, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, who replaced Smart, is doing a juggling act of his own after accepting the head coaching position at Tennessee last Thursday.

“I think each individual handles a circumstance like this relative to how they can stay focused on two things,” Saban said. “I remember when I went to Michigan State as an assistant coach way back in 1994, I think, I was at the Cleveland Browns, we were in the playoff hunt, and Bill made it as accommodating as he could for me, to have someone who helped as a secretary to do all the things, handle all the things, so I could focus on doing what we need to do for our players.

“Most of the really good coaches that have great competitive character are always going to do what’s best for the players. I mentioned earlier, Kirby certainly did a good job of that. I’m sure Jeremy will do a good job of that this year.”

Over at Clemson, Swinney has not had to worry about change over too much. In fact, he has not lost a coordinator at all during the Tigers’ three straight playoff runs, including this year. The last coordinator he had leave the program before a bowl game came in 2014 when Chad Morris, now the new head coach at Arkansas, left Clemson to become the head coach at SMU at the time.

Clemson did lose defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks and defensive ends coach Marion Hobby last season, but neither one departed until after the Tigers’ won the national championship. Brooks retired from the game, while Hobby moved back to the NFL and took a job as Jacksonville’s defensive ends coach.

Since 2013, Morris is the only coach Swinney had to replace during bowl prep, which is perhaps a big reason why Clemson has won a bowl game for straight seasons, tied for the longest streak in school history. That year, Swinney promoted Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott as co-offensive coordinators and brought in Brandon Streeter to coach his quarterbacks.

By the way, Clemson beat Oklahoma 40-6 in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl.

Keep in mind, it’s not like people are not coming after Swinney’s assistant coaches, especially with the Tigers playing for and winning national championships the past three seasons. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables name, who has been at Clemson since 2012, has been linked each of the last two years to major head coaching job vacancies, but no one has been able to pull him away from Clemson.

Elliott and Scott were both rumored to have been interviewed for head coaching jobs at non-power five schools after the ACC Championship Game, but neither has left and those jobs have since been filled.

“It’s rare and it is uncommon in this business,” Swinney said when asked about the continuity of his staff. “We have had great continuity. This is a great place to work and a great place to live and raise your family. You know, that just kind of comes with the territory. I don’t really get too caught up in all that stuff, but whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”

Swinney says if one of his coaches is to ever get an opportunity to be a head coach or wants to be a head coach, he will be willing to help and will be happy for them.

One thing that has helped Clemson keep its continuity within its staff is the way Swinney has built it. Like with Elliott and Scott, he has promoted and developed his staff from within the program.

“It is just familiarity and relationships. You are not starting over as far as who we are as a program. People know the philosophy and they know the way we do things,” he said. “The recruiting relationships … those things you really don’t have gaps in that stuff. Sometimes you can hand the baton off and keep rolling.”

The Tigers have kept things rolling when they have handed off the baton to a new coach. Todd Bates came over from Jacksonville State in Alabama to replace Hobby as the defensive ends coach and Clemson currently leads the nation in sacks and is third in tackles for loss.

Defensive ends Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant have combined for 16 sacks and 31.5 tackles for loss so far this season.

“What a great fit he has been,” Swinney said. “He has done an awesome job and has hit the ground running. He has brought great energy in here.”

As for what Alabama has continued to do, despite having to replace five assistant coaches in recent years, Swinney says it just speaks to Saban and the culture he has developed in Tuscaloosa over the years.

“You may have turnover on your staff, but the head coach is always going to set the philosophy,” Swinney said. “I think as long as you have stability there, even if you have some change in the coaching staff, if you have a good plan and you have something you believe in and you are good enough, you should be able to maintain some consistency and that is a great credit to Coach Saban.

“He has had a ton of change to his staff since he has been there. It seems like every year, but at the end of the day, it all starts with him. He knows what he wants and he knows what it looks like. He is going to run the program the way he wants to run it and it is the same thing here. It is really no different. It makes it lot easier when you are on the same page right out of the gate, but when you have change, I embrace that, too.”