Lane Kiffin’s introductory press conference at LSU began with the typical coach-speak one expects from such an event, with Lane thanking LSU’s top brass and his family, and expressing his disappointment with how things ended in his previous role at Ole Miss.
He also mentioned speaking with Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry — which he did with a grin — and finally explained how he decided to take the job in Baton Rouge.
The decision was made with the support of a couple of Kiffin’s mentors: current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll, who told Lane that his dad would want him to take the job, and another, more surprising mentor was someone Kiffin ended things on bad terms with: Nick Saban.
Clearly, the pair’s bad blood has since been washed away. When asked what his mentors shared with him that helped him make his decision, Kiffin replied with humor.
“Coach Saban kind of coached at another place in this conference, so I can’t really say exactly what he said,” Kiffin quipped, “I’ll say I think the world of Coach Saban, and I respect him, so there’s a reason I’m here.”
This is a far cry from how things ended between Kiffin and Saban at Alabama, which featured public jabs from Kiffin about his three years on Saban’s staff and culminated in Kiffin’s abrupt dismissal from the role. He already had a new job as the head coach at Florida Atlantic University, which made it difficult for him to balance the two roles. Saban’s statements to the media seemed tame, but according to ESPN, things had been incredibly tense between him and Kiffin for some time.
All of that now seems to be water under the bridge, which just goes to show how much Kiffin has grown since then. He’s always had the mind for football; by all appearances, it seems that his maturity has been what’s kept him from real success. Based on his improved relationships with people like Kiffin, along with his seeming genuine regret for his abrupt exit in Oxford, it seems Kiffin has managed to remedy that final issue.
That decision to leave Ole Miss is another reason Tigers fans should be excited. Kiffin could have stayed in Oxford, become the winningest coach in school history, and retired with the field named after him. But Kiffin isn’t complacent. He wants to win the big one, and he knows he has the opportunity to do so at LSU.
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: How Nick Saban influenced Lane Kiffin to be LSU football’s head coach
