Lane Kiffin has made himself a very popular man in Mississippi after taking over the Ole Miss Rebels in 2020 and leading them to their first double-digit win season since 2015 in 2021, winning 10 games and earning a Sugar Bowl berth.
And while the pressure is on Kiffin to finally break through and bring his Rebels to the promised land—or at least a College Football Playoff berth—barely missing out last year as the No. 14 team in the country, the third team out behind Alabama and Miami.
Lane Kiffin Opens Up About Past Tension With Nick Saban and Their Relationship Today
But before Kiffin was at Ole Miss, he learned behind Alabama legend Nick Saban, spending a few years in Tuscaloosa as offensive coordinator. And while his exit was a little rocky, being relieved of his duties just a week before the 2017 CFP National Championship, the two still talk, he said on “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.”
“Yeah, we do,” Kiffin said. “He’s not a big like text but we talk every once in a while.”
Kiffin told Von he sees his time there as an important learning experience.
“No, you got to call him. He did just learn how in the last like two years to text. He had never texted before. Ever. Like when I was an assistant coach there, he was just like, ‘I’m not texting.’ He just refused. It was like that old school,” Kiffin said.
“Like he’s got those old school things that aren’t changing. Then I got a text like two years ago from him that said ‘good luck’ or something like that.
“And I was like to the group, ‘Dude, I got a Saban text.’ This is amazing. This is Vanderbilt beating Alabama. Like, this isn’t supposed to happen. Never thought I’d see this day, and then Kirby [Smart] is like, ‘Yeah, I got one earlier this year too.’ He’s learned how to text.”
At times, Kiffin added, there was friction between them, but looking back on it, he realizes that Saban was right, comparing their relationship to that of a parent and child.
“You get one or two words,” Kiffin said. “But that relationship is almost in a wake like how you can struggle sometimes like maybe when you’re in it with a parent and then you get older, you get out of the house. And then you’re like, ‘Dang, man. He was onto something. He was right on those things.’ So, I look back, I was there for three years.
“There was friction initially. I look back, it was all my fault. I’m the assistant. He’s the head coach. Whatever he says goes… his way is very like this is the way. There’s not open discussions about it and stuff and I’d worked for Pete Carroll as an assistant. So, that’s all I knew, and it’s just totally different.
KEEP READING: Lane Kiffin Details What Sets SEC Coaching Apart From Other Conferences
“So, you’d come in you’d have an open conversation. Then you’re questioning the process. No, I just was asking. So, I didn’t really know how it worked right away. So, it took a little time… It was just something I wasn’t used to, that way. So, it took a little bit of time.
“But now that I look back, he was so strict on everything kind of in a parent way, like with his team, with the players, with the coaches, nothing changed. He wouldn’t — we won a national championship and there was a 7:30 staff meeting the next morning. I’m like, ‘What are we meeting on?’ He’s like, ‘We’re behind.’
“Because we won the championship and everybody else was recruiting, we’re behind… 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.”
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