Lane Kiffin Describes His Relationship With Nick Saban
With all of the coaching changes happening around college football, Lane Kiffin's name keeps popping up for Power 5 jobs. Maybe it's just a social media dream scenario, but the former Florida Atlantic head coach has been making his media rounds in recent days.
On Wednesday, Kiffin joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about his upcoming Conference USA championship game, the Tennessee opening, and of course his relationship with Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
"Good," Kiffin said of the relationship with his former boss. "We left on - I'm not going to say perfect - but, you know when you have the last 26 times we walked on a football field together we were 26-0. We came together when he hired me and he said he wanted to change the offense and thought they'd become stale and old school.
"I think we did that. Three SEC championships, go to the playoff all three years and three SEC Offensive Players of the Year. I'd call it a pretty successful marriage."
Kiffin has become one of the most vocal - and entertaining - coaches on Twitter, and he's used Saban's rat poison comment for material. But Kiffin explained that he's only using it to motivate his team much like he saw in Tuscaloosa.
"(Saban)'s the best motivator in the world. I don't know if you guys realize, when he complains at you guys and goes off on his tangent about you guys are rat poison because you say his team is so good and everything, he loves that because he's using that - no he is, I've been there - he's using that in the team meeting later that day to tell everybody 'don't believe it, don't buy into this rat poison, don't listen to you guys.' He's using that."
That motivation has worked many more times than it hasn't, but the Crimson Tide needed something else on Saturday night against Auburn. Kiffin didn't miss the chance to point that out.
"I don't know if he misses me. Maybe on third down the other night."