Lane Kiffin Shares Crazy Story About Thinking Nick Saban Might Fight Him

Lane Kiffin apparently believed Nick Saban might swing on him during an argument during his time at Alabama.

Saban stepped away from the college football world and retired following this past season ending. He finished his career with seven national title rings, and will go down as the greatest college football coach in history.

With his retirement, plenty of interesting and never-before-heard stories are surfacing. Lane Kiffin might have the best, and it involves thinking Saban might try to fight him during a butt chewing.

College football fans all remember the infamous video of Saban torching Kiffin on the sidelines. Turns out there was a different situation that sounds much more serious.

Lane Kiffin shares incredible Nick Saban story.

During an Alabama practice when Kiffin was OC, he decided to slide in a bunch of trick plays into the lineup and it worked. The Crimson Tide's offense lit up the defense, but that didn't make the program's leader happy.

"We had a really good day on offense, ran some reverses, threw a double pass and had all these touchdowns, and he said that all I was trying to do was win the drill and trick the defense and not help the team. I was like, 'Isn't that the point in good-on-good situations on offense, to see if you can move the ball?' He was furious," Kiffin told ESPN in a profile of his former boss.

The next day, Kiffin attempted to prove a smart-ass point and dial it way back, and as you'd expect, that also didn't make Saban happy at all.

Lane Kiffin shares wild story about Nick Saban losing his temper on him. (Credit: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel-Knoxville/USA Today Sports Network)

"Stubborn old Lane, I ran the most generic, basic, under-center offense I could, sort of their old-school offense they ran under Joe Pendry. And the defense killed us. We'd be third-and-8, and I'd have the quarterback under center," Kiffin explained. Nick Saban wanted answers, but not the one Kiffin was ready to offer.

The current Ole Miss coach told him, "'I'm just running what I thought you would want me to run against the defense.' Again, it was just me being smart-ass me."

It was off to the races from there. Kiffin told ESPN that Saban cleared out the room of everyone else, and he seriously worried things might turn physical.

"I have to sit there, and he is screaming at me, standing over me screaming as I'm sitting in my chair. I thought he was going to fight me physically. So, yes, I got a lot of ass-chewings, but that's the biggest one and one that no one saw. But I deserved it."

Lane Kiffin shares crazy story about thinking Nick Saban might try to fight him. (Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)

As much as we all like Nick Saban, I can't say I'd like his odds in a fight against the Ole Miss coach. Nick Saban is a very small man. His height is listed online at 5'6" and that might be generous.

Kiffin also weighs more. Given he has the height and weight, it's hard to imagine things would have ended well for the Alabama legend if things had turned physical.

Of course, it's highly unlikely they would have. This is just another example of Saban's legendary temper. The man has a short fuse, and when it blows, it's impossible to miss.

The good news for Kiffin is that it all worked out in the end. He left Alabama for FAU and then took the Ole Miss job. He's turned the Rebels into a very solid program and has 29 wins over the past three seasons. It turns out Nick Saban lighting a coach up like a Christmas tree might build some character. Hopefully, more and more of these stories continue to come out. They will truly never get old. Let me know your reaction at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.