Lane Kiffin gives unique insight on adjusting to Nick Saban, Alabama way

Since his departure from Alabama, Lane Kiffin has spoken glowingly about his relationship with Nick Saban. The two developed a unique bond – although it took Kiffin some time to get used to working with the greatest to ever do it.

Kiffin recalled the early days of his time in Tuscaloosa and the Alabama way. Now the Ole Miss head coach, he previously worked under Pete Carroll as an assistant before becoming a head coach from 2007-13.

By moving back into an offensive coordinator role, Kiffin had to adjust. But there was an additional learning curve under Saban.

“That relationship’s like almost in a way how you can struggle sometimes – maybe when you’re in it with a parent and then, you get out, you get older and you get out of the house,” Kiffin said on This Past Weekend with Theo Von. “Then, you’re like, man, he was on to something. He was right on most things. So I look back, I was there for three years. There was friction initially. I looked back, it was all my fault. I’m the assistant. He’s the head coach. Whatever he says, goes. … His way is very, this is the way. There’s not open discussions about it and stuff.

“And I had worked for Pete Carroll as an assistant, so that’s all I knew. And it’s just totally different. So like you come in, you have an open conversation and you’re questioning the process. No, I just was asking, have you looked at this? I didn’t really know how it worked right away, so it took a little bit of time.”

Kiffin specifically recalled the day after Alabama won the 2015 national championship. Saban called a staff meeting, like normal, at 7:30 the following morning. Even after the celebration, he wanted to make sure the program was in position to succeed on the recruiting trail despite playing late in the season.

At the time, Kiffin wondered about the value of such a meeting. But as he looked back on it, he understood Saban’s point. He didn’t want to get complacent after victories, and that wasn’t just after winning championships.

“It took me some time to understand, too, when we were winning and playing really well, coaching really well, he was harder on you because he didn’t want you to have relief syndrome. … He just always had this way of thinking like, you never relax. So he went above and beyond to make sure people didn’t have that. We’d win a game and he comes in and just rips us. They were like, man, we played great, coached great. That was because he was guarding against that because he knew that could happen.”

Lane Kiffin on Nick Saban: ‘There’s a reason he’s the greatest’

When Lane Kiffin left Alabama to become the head coach at Florida Atlantic, the Crimson Tide were in the midst of a 26-game winning streak. During that time, he saw plenty of fiery Nick Saban moments in the locker room – although that wasn’t the case after losses.

“When I’d left, we’d won 26 straight games,” Kiffin said. “We hadn’t had many losses. But I do remember the three losses that we had over the three years, he actually, after those, was calm. That’s when we didn’t get ripped because he’s like, ‘They’re going to get ripped anyway. I don’t need to. I need to when they’re feeling good about themselves, bring them down.’

“I didn’t really understand that at first. Now, I look back going, man, there’s a reason he’s the greatest.”

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