"He was so strict on everything": $14M worth Lane Kiffin offers insight on Nick Saban's coaching style years after getting fired
Nick Saban was arguably one of the most influential coaches in college football. During the span of his 28-season career, the former Alabama coach has mentored multiple now-star head coaches like Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning, Steve Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin's relationship with Saban wasn't easy. The Ole Miss coach (worth $14 million per Celebrity Net Worth) was hired by Saban as an offensive coordinator, and the relationship lasted from 2014 to 2016.
During a conversation with Theo Von posted on Wednesday, Kiffin opened up about his time at Alabama and shared how it took him a little time to adjust to Saban's processes.
"Whatever he says goes. His way is very like, this is the way, there's no open discussions about it, and I'd worked for Pete Carroll as an assistant, so that's all I knew. It's just totally different. So, like, you come in, you have an open discussion, ask questions, so it's like you're questioning the process, so I didn't really know how it worked right away.
"He was so strict on everything, like the team, with the players, and coaches, like, nothing, nothing changed. We won a national championship, and there's a 7:30 staff meeting the next morning. He's like, 'We're behind,' you know, because we won the championship, everybody else was recruiting, we're behind."
After working together for nearly three seasons, Saban fired Kiffin and replaced him with Steve Sarkisian before the 2017 College Football Playoff Championship Game, which Alabama lost.
Despite their rocky relationship, Lane Kiffin still has massive respect for Nick Saban and doesn't shy away from praising him occasionally.
Lane Kiffin on whether Nick Saban can come back as a head coach
Nick Saban shocked the football world when he announced his decision to retire after 17 years as Alabama's head coach.
However, soon after retiring, Saban found a way to still be involved in the world of college football and joined the College GameDay panel as an analyst.
When asked whether he thought Saban would make a coaching comeback, Lane Kiffin said he believes he can come back as an NFL coach because he's so good at it.