Lane Kiffin Gets Brutally Honest About Working For Nick Saban, 'Friction' In Relationship: WATCH
Working for Nick Saban sounds like the height of intensity, judging from Lane Kiffin's experience.
The former Alabama coach is rightly considered the greatest coach in the history of college football. He won six rings in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide and one national title in Baton Rouge during his time with the LSU Tigers.
Winning comes at a high cost, and Saban ran his teams with an iron fist. Get in line or get the hell out. Kiffin experienced that personally during his time with Saban in Tuscaloosa.
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Lane Kiffin opens up about working for Nick Saban.
Kiffin spent three years in Tuscaloosa working for Nick Saban, and was responsible for modernizing Alabama's offense. However, the relationship was definitely…..testy at times. Now, the former Alabama OC is opening up about what it was like working for the greatest coach to ever pick up a whistle.
Kiffin explained, in part, the following when discussing Saban's intensity and lack of interest in hearing suggestions from assistants:
"No, no, it's not like a suggestion box. 'Here's a good idea.' You know, so, it was just something I wasn't used to that way. It took a little bit of time, but now that I look back, I'm like, okay, he was so strict on everything. Kind of like in a parent way. Like, with his team, with the players, coaches, nothing changed. We won a national championship, and there was a 7:30 staff meeting the next morning. I'm like, 'What are we meeting on at 7:30 the next morning?' He's like, 'We're behind, you know, because we won the championship. Everybody else was recruiting. We're behind.' And I was like, 'What are we doing?' But now I look back and be like like, it's why he is what he is. It's why he was so great because it was, like, the standard never changed no matter what. And then that took me some time to understand."
The current Ole Miss coach also admitted the early "friction" in his relationship with Saban was "all" his fault.
You can watch Kiffin's comments about working with Nick Saban starting around 39:00, and make sure to let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
In case you didn't already know, Nick Saban is an incredibly intense person. That's what it takes to succeed at the highest level of college sports.
Let's remember Saban famously declared that Alabama football "is not a democracy." That's a mindset that seems lost in the current era of sports.
Now, players are handled with care out of fear they might transfer. That nonsense didn't fly during the Saban era in Tuscaloosa.
Fortunately for Kiffin, it all worked out for him. He was able to rebuild his career during his time at Alabama, had a short stint at FAU and is now crushing it at Ole Miss. He owes a lot of thanks to Saban for how his career worked out, and he clearly knows that. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.