Nick Saban spent Saturday morning in Oxford addressing the chatter around the advice he gave Lane Kiffin as Kiffin moved from Ole Miss to LSU.
Speaking on “College GameDay,” Saban said he regularly fields calls from coaches looking for guidance on big career decisions, and he framed his approach as a series of questions rather than a directive.
“I have coaches call me all the time and ask me for advice about what they should do,” Saban said Saturday to Rebels fans booing him. “Typically, I ask them questions:
“Where do you think you can win? Where do you think you fit?
“I also say why can’t you win at where you are now? You have a great quarterback.
You have a great running back. You’re in the playoffs.
You have a chance to win the national championship.
“So, why do you have to go someplace else?
Saban said he doesn’t tell coaches where to go, then leaned into the moment with the crowd in Oxford.
Kiffin, in his introductory comments as LSU’s coach, said he had leaned on advice from coaches he had worked under, naming Pete Carroll and Saban as part of that process.
“You know, coach Saban kind of coached at another place in this conference, so I can’t ... I can’t really say exactly what he said, but I’ll say I think the world of Coach Saban, and I respect him,” Kiffin said to laughs from the gathered media at the time. “And so, there’s a reason I’m here.”
Kiffin spent three seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator from 2014 through 2016 under Saban, and the Tide won the national championship in the 2015 season. Kiffin was then fired before the 2017 College Football Playoff national championship game after taking the Florida Atlantic job a few weeks earlier.
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