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Lane Kiffin compares working under Nick Saban to going ‘back to school’
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Lane Kiffin has revitalized the culture at Ole Miss. But it’s been well-documented that the path has been anything other than smooth sailing.
Following in the footsteps of his legendary father, Lane Kiffin became a hot commodity in the coaching ranks, orchestrating one of the country’s top offenses at USC under Pete Carroll. Then, at 28, came his first head coaching gig: a disappointing run with the Oakland Raiders. After Oakland, Kiffin spent a season at Tennessee before his controversial departure for the top job at USC after Carroll went to the Seattle Seahawks.
We all know how that turned out.
Kiffin, on Ryan Clark’s The Pivot podcast, talked about eventually joining Nick Saban at Alabama following his firing at USC and the difference between Carroll’s laid-back, player-friendly manner and Saban’s more hard-lined approach.
“Who gets those opportunities, that basically my two runs as assistant coach between the head jobs is Coach Carroll for six years before I get the Raiders job … Now I get to be the offensive coordinator for Nick Saban … It’s like I kind of had to go back to school almost as a student again.”
As it turns out, Kiffin’s made the grade. After a brief stint at Florida Atlantic put him back in the head coaching ranks, his body of work at Ole Miss over the past 5 seasons speaks for itself.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
